Mix #1 the Mai Tai ‘44

In 1944,Trader Vic invented the Mai Tai to showcase a 17-year-old rum imported by J. Wray & Nephew. Upon tasting the wonderful elixir,one of his friends from Tahiti said,“maita’i roa ae!”,which loosely translates to “out of this world,the best!”,and the Mai Tai was born. The Mai Tai is,in my not-so-humble opinion,the greatest of all tiki drinks. A proper Mai Tai should balance the sweet and sour so that you don’t taste any one specific ingredient. There have been many versions of the Mai Tai over the years,some delicious,some a tragic waste of rum. The correct recipe,as shown in my Trader Vic’s glass above,is as follows:

Mai Tai ’44

2oz dark rum*
1oz lime juice
½ oz orange curacao
½ oz orgeat
¼ oz simple syrup

Shake all ingredients with ice and serve unstrained in a double rocks glass.

*Some recipes use one ounce each of dark and gold rum.

My current preferred recipe is:

2oz English Harbor
1oz cold pressed lime juice
½ oz Pierre Ferrand dry curacao
½ oz Small Hand Foods orgeat
¼ oz Stirrings simple syrup

Previously I’ve enjoyed using Appleton Estate’s Signature,8,and 12yr and Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva. I prefer ‘funkier’ rums in my Mai Tais.

Mai Tais should never contain orange juice,or be blended. Triple sec is not a proper substitute for curacao. There are many recipes that play with the proportions of the ingredients,but trust me,the original recipe works the best. If you want to add some zip to your Mai Tai,you can do a float of 151 Demerara rum on top. At the original Trader Vic’s in San Fran this was called the “Old Way” because an older man who was a regular liked his like this.