Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
This fab new book is from famed bartender Chad Austin. The tone is clearly not for everyone, but if you love great cocktails this is a key resource.
The cocktail is a Mai Tai variant called Emotional Drake Meme. High proof Jamaican rum, Demerara rum, banana liqueur, Orgeat, lime, Ango. Delicious!!
That’s the lesson tonight. I’m sampling rums from the Forbidden Island Kill Devil rum list. I loved Dos Maderas 5+5 but wanted to try it in a Mai Tai. But my cocktail was an extra large version since the lime gave so much juice. So I added a little Martinique Rhum that I didn’t love when served neat, but put together in combination with Dos Maderas it turned into a great Mai Tai.
As you can see I haven’t used this liqueur much. I think I’ve only cracked it twice.
Always measure your citrus in cocktails.
This lime gave over two and half ounces of juice! Enough for one big Mai Tai and one regular one.
“Juice of one lime” from the original Mai Tai recipe is an in exact measure. Use 1 oz or maybe ¾ oz in your Mai Tai. Always.
This cocktail is featured in this wonderful new book The United States of Cocktails. Each state is given a few pages highlighting key bars, traditions, and of course regional cocktail favorites. The material from California and Hawaii passes muster with me, giving me the confidence that the material from other states is authentic and noteworthy.
The Brandy Old Fashioned is the prototype example that author Brian Bartels has used when describing the book on some podcasts. So, I thought I’d give it a try.
Wisconsin’s Brandy Old Fashioned
2 Cocktail Cherries
1 Orange Slice
¼ oz Simple Syrup
3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
2 oz Brandy
7up Soda
Muddle the fruit, sugar, and bitters. Then add crushed ice and top with brandy. Then float with 7up. Alternatively, use Sour mix in place of 7up, or use half soda and half 7up.
This was pretty good, but I kept sucking up pieces of cherry. So I decided to make a variant with the same flavors but without pulp/fruit.
Wisconsin’s Brandy Old Fashioned (modified)
1 oz Orange Juice
¼ oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Maraschino Cherry Juice
3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
2 oz Brandy
7up Soda
Shake Orange Juice, Bitters, Simple Syrup, and Brandy with crushed ice. Dirty dump into a large glass and top with more crushed ice. Top with 1-2 oz of 7up and then float 1 oz of Maraschino Cherry Juice.
I liked my version better, though neither puts the Brandy as forward as I would like. I didn’t use the regional favorite, Korbel, however.
We have a new feature on the website, the 5 Bottle Rum Challenge.
The challenge is to have just five rums in your collection, each for a specific purpose. We had a great discussion with some knowledgable rum enthusiasts and hope you enjoy.
No Elvis party at Forbidden Island this year so we made some Blue Hawaii cocktails. Almost as good as a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
I made Lemonade out of Lemons, or rather a good Mai Tai out of a “meh” Rum.
I cracked open a rum sample from my Forbidden Island Kill Devil list and tasted it neat as is my usual practice at home. This rum will remain anonymous but suffice to say I can thank of several aged expressions from Puerto Rico that I like drinking, but this rum wasn’t one of them.
So, I switched gears and made a Mai Tai with the rum instead. So much better, and it allowed me to use this FABULOUS new glass from B-Rex that is now available from Forbidden Island. What a great design! And this glass is a little smaller than the Double Old Fashioned / Mai Tai glasses that I have a million of.
Fixed It Mai Tai
1 oz Lime Juice
¼ oz Demerara Syrup
½ oz L’Orgeat almond liqueur
½ oz Clement Creole Shrubb Orange liqueur
2 oz Aged Puerto Rican Rum
The cocktail from @8armatl in Atlanta is called Fuck Trump. It’s the only cocktail on their menu today. I am pleased to make it at home here in California.
Bourbon, Orange Liqueur, Lime, Bitters
I look forward to visiting 8ARM sometime soon. Georgia, we will be pleased to come spend our tourist dollars in your state.
Looked like I picked the wrong year to quit drinking booze. We are all very upset by the insurrection and attempted coup in WDC today.
This Navy Grog is for Mrs Mai Tai. I made my own too. Too early to drink. Too crazy not to.
I am disgusted by the traitors and deplorables. I urge law enforcement to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law – and also to look at the police that seemed to have a lax approach today. We all know how things would have been different had the skin color of the “protesters” had been different.
Here is the recipe if you want to numb the pain.
Ultimate Mai Tai Navy Grog
¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Grapefruit Juice
1 oz Honey mix
½ oz Pimento Dram (Hamilton)
½ oz Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1 ½ oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum
1 ½ oz Demerara Rum (Lemon Hart)
Shake with crushed ice. After pouring into glass, top with 2 oz of Soda