Warning: don’t try these at home.

So in my first post,I gave the recipe for the proper Mai Tai. I also stated that there were many versions that weren’t any good. “A tragic waste of rum” I said. Well,I ran into one of these lately,and thought it would be a good idea to explain WHY these attempts at a Mai Tai were bad,instead of simply trashing them. So here are two very wrong Mai Tais and why they’re wrong. The more you know….

This is the Mai Tai recipe from the site of Dumas rum. I was recently given a bottle of this as a tip at work. It’s decent rum,although I think the 12yr Appleton is smoother. It worked ok in a Mai Tai,but I’m sticking with my English Harbor. Anyway,I was curious about it since it was a local rum,and looked up their site. And I’m sorry but that it not the way to make a Mai Tai. First off,three shots of rum are really going to put some kick into it. The Mai Tai is a relaxing cocktail,not a high octane drink like a Zombie. Then there’s the extra sweet and bitter with no sour. A little simple syrup goes a long way,so a half ounce is kinda a lot. Then they use three quarters of an ounce of triple sec instead of curacao which will add some bitter. Then there’s the additional sweet of the orgeat,but no lime juice to balance with sour. This is not going to be an easy sipping drink you’re going to want on the regular. It will,however,be an excellent recipe for a hangover. So I’m going to skip mixing this one.

Here we have a glass available on Etsy.

Isn’t that handy that the glass has measuring lines to make it easy to mix a cocktail? Too bad you won’t want to drink it. There’s basically no sweet in it at all. It’s going to be super tart and you’re just going to have to choose between forcing it down or waste the rum down the sink.

Seriously folks,trust me on this. You want to stick to the original recipe. There’s good reason why the Trader stuck with it. Cheers!