I make no apologies for loving Pumpkin Spice season, and in the past I’ve done Pumpkin Spice Mai Tais with the now discontinued Captain Morgan Jack-o-Blast rum. This year we encountered another product that’ll let you add those fall flavors to everyone’s favorite tropical cocktail.
The key ingredient is Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Butter, a blend of pumpkin, brown sugar, and fall spices. It works great as a spread on toast or english muffins, and indeed it works well in a Mai Tai. We replaced the rock candy/demerara syrup with two teaspoons of this pumpkin butter and shook it really hard with cubes to make sure everything was incorporated. Also used is the rich Grand Marnier orange liqueur, adding more bold flavors, and the standout blended rum Denizen Merchant’s Reserve.
Pumpkin Spice Mai Tai
1 oz Lime Juice
2 tsp Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Butter
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Grand Marnier
2 oz Denizen Merchant’s Reserve Rum
Heavy shake with cubes, then strain over crushed ice. Garnish with spooky swizzle and black cherries.
This cocktail is the perfect companion to the newly issued Tiki Goth Club Tiki Nomicon vol. 1, now available at tikigothclub.com. Over 30 full color pages and some great page layout means this is a steal for only five bucks plus shipping. If you like the dark side of tiki, the Tiki Goth Club that our friend Ray Wyland has been leading for the last couple of years is a must-join experience. At the very least, pick up the magazine that includes an article by yours truly about Goth/Tiki experiences in Vienna, Austria.