The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
I was inspired to make this tonight, handy since I have blood oranges. The recipes comes from the Kai Mai Tai Pin. If you love Indiana Jones and you love a good Mai Tai riff, then you’ll love the pin. The recipe is available with the pin and I can assure you it is worth the hype.
The mug is from Woody Miller and fits in great with the scary theme. Glassware by Last Rites in San Francisco.
The main professional conference I go to is virtual this spring, so I’m watching a MS Ignite webinar with a worldwide audience during my early evening. At the in-person conference there would be an opening night happy hour on the Expo floor, so no guilt in having a Mai Tai while I watch.
The rum is Papa’s Pilar Blonde which works nicely in a Mai Tai. There’s a bit of Lemon Hart as a float, just because it looks nice (and tastes nice).
Had some extra Grapefruit juice so I decided to see if replacing the Lime juice in a Mai Tai would make a difference.
1 oz Grapefruit Juice
½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
¼ oz Demerara Syrup (BG Reynolds)
½ oz Orange Curacao (Clement Creole Shrubb)
½ oz Wray & Nephew Overproof
¼ oz White Martinique Rhum
2 oz Spanish-style rum blend
The crazy mix of rums is because I’ve been pouring a lot of rums from Spanish-speaking countries into an “infinity bottle” after sampling them for the Forbidden Island rum list. You know the types of rum – solera aged, added sugar, column still mostly. Not really my favorite style of rum, so I’ve been putting them in a bottle and using them as generic lightly-aged column still rum (which means, my friends, that I’m still actually drink all 100 of those rums). Additionally, I did also recently add a bit of very grassy Martinique rhum to the infinity bottle. It actually gave this rum a bit of needed kick. The Wray Overproof was added specifically for this cocktail to just amp things up a bit.
Overall, this isn’t bad at all. You can definitely taste a lack of the brightness that Lime juice normally provides, and I’m sure I’d pick correctly in a blind taste test. But it doesn’t taste bad.
The Pipeline is a new limited time cocktail this week at Trader Vic’s Emeryville . Mrs. Mai Tai and I were planning to visit Vic’s after her COVID shot on Friday but couldn’t make it since the lines were so long. So, I got some to-go cocktails from Vic’s today and enjoyed the cool but sunny and clear Bay Area weather on the drive up to Emeryville.
I joked with Julie that the “meal” option for Trader Vic’s would be their utterly decadent peanut butter spread and crackers, but that’s exactly what I did. Three orders of peanut butter and crackers is more than a meal for some and gave us enough food to order Trader Vic’s cocktails. (note: I dearly miss the Aloha Bowl that was a staple during the initial take-out period and if anyone is listening at Vic’s – please bring it back!). The peanut butter spread at Trader Vic’s so maybe our favorite thing there – besides Mai Tais.
Pipeline is made with Overproof and Spiced Rums, Pineapple Juice, Citrus, and a bit of Blue Curacao and is the signature cocktail at the Abu Dhabi Trader Vic’s. The initial taste was unexpected and a little bit of a funny taste. Definitely not made for craft cocktail connoisseurs. But second and third hit? Well, I definitely enjoyed it. I also (surprise!) had a Mai Tai that was plenty good. Mrs. Mai Tai had the Banana Batida which hits the coconut and banana notes that she loves. I tasted this and it’s great.
This is a very tasty Mai Tai riff from Nathan Robinson (@maitaioneon) who is constantly posting interesting recipes. This one uses Blood Orange Juice, timely since they are in season. Give it a try if you have the ingredients.
MIA CRAVATTA
1 oz Light rum
1 oz Rhum agricole blanc
.5 oz Campari
.5 oz Orgeat
1 oz Blood orange juice
.5 oz Lime juice
Shake with ice.
Recipe by Nathan Robinson, based on Alex Sansone
I didn’t have Campari so I used Aperol instead (which is fine since I like it sweeter anyway). For the rums I used Denizen 3 and Clement Premiere Canne.
We have Blood Oranges so I made two cocktails that featured this deep red juice. These were tonight’s Valentine’s Day cocktails, along with Pan-Asian take-out from a place Mrs. Mai Tai recommended.
First is a Painkiller, using Blood Orange Juice in place. I guess this is maybe more purple but it still seems like a nice way to increase the visual interest.
The second cocktail is a Mai Tai variant published by Brian Maxwell on the Shaker with Spirits blog call the Mai Bloody Valentine. It’s a very good Mai Tai riff that looks great and tasted just as good.
Mai Bloody Valentine by Brian Maxwell
1 oz Aged Jamaican Rum (Appleton 8)
1 oz Aged Multi Island Rum (Denizen 8)
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Ginger Syrup
¾ oz Lime Juice
1 oz Blood Orange Juice
1 dash Angostura Bitters
Shake with Crushed ice.
Someone on Facebook described my “Ultimate Mai Tai” recipe as being “assertive.” I totally took the comment in the way it was intended, which is to say that the Ultimate Mai Tai rum blend for sure isn’t for mellow drinking. This is rum-forward, and contains a large component of high-ester Jamaican rum. Bold and rich, intended to be savored.
So, in a way, “assertive” is actually quite the compliment.
Ultimate Mai Tai by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
¼ oz Demerara Syrup (BG Reynolds)
½ oz Orange Curacao (Ferrand Dry Curacao)
½ oz Appleton 12 Rum
½ oz Smith & Cross Rum
½ oz Plantation OFTD Rum
½ oz Plantation Xaymaca Rum
For those who find this rum blend too boozy and too heavy, there are thankfully so many great options. Appleton 12 just by itself is our recommendation for a single-rum Mai Tai, which provides a more approachable yet still quite satisfying rum-forward Mai Tai.
If you have a favorite rum, try it in a Mai Tai and let us know what how it worked. We’re always looking to try new rums in a Mai Tai.