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 received this recipe from Instagram user Dolla Slice 4 Lyfe and thought I’d give it a try.
Dolla Slice Mai Tai
¾ oz lime
½ oz Orgeat (liber & co)
¼ oz 1:1 Demerara simple syrup
½ oz el dorado 12
½ oz Hamilton pot black Jamaican
1 oz goslings
½ oz dry curaçao (Ferrand)
Pebble ice & blend (cracked ice and shake is fine too)
I don’t have any El Dorado in house, so I used Pussers 15 yr instead. This is a pretty sweet Mai Tai, so it goes down easy.
Years ago, this was the Orange Curacao I started using for Mai Tais and other cocktails. The brand doesn’t have a great rep in the craft cocktail community, and the cheap price is not a sign that this is a premium spirit. DeKuyper is 30% ABV and made from orange, lemon, and curacao fruit. Plus coloring, I’m sure.
Tasting this neat, I felt that this was lacking character but in a Mai Tai it actually works perfectly well. It doesn’t add any unpleasant flavors, and in a blind taste test against my preferred Ferrand Dry Curacao I had a very difficult time choosing a favorite. In fact, both times when I split hairs to declare a victor the Mai Tai I chose was the one with DeKuyper. More taste comparisons to come.
I do prefer my Orange Curacao to have a higher ABV, so DeKuyper being only 30% means it won’t be my recommended brand. But if you’re looking to send $11 for a bottle rather than $28, this doesn’t seem to be a bad option.
Skipper Nate at Trader Sam’s suggested this, and after two fabulous Mai Tais how could I say no?
The Tia Mia is basically a Mai Tai where 1 oz of rum is replaced by Mezcal. This agave spirit hasn’t been my favorite (I’ve only recently warmed to Tequila), since its signature “smoky” taste isn’t really my thing. Certainly in this format, where the Mezcal is tempered by some Jamaican rum and the sweeteners, it is more palatable. But I probably wouldn’t choose this normally, since with ratio the Mezcal was still very much up front.
Spicy/smoky is not really my thing, but if you like Mezcal then give the Tia Mia a try.
Anyone else find it ironic that the preferred brandy for a Wisconsin Old Fashioned is from California?
There was an online discussion started recently by Maxton Kennedy, current bar manager at Forbidden Island and previously from The Kon-Tiki in Oakland and Tiki Tolteca in New Orleans. Notably, Maxton also previously had a stint at the French 75 Bar in NOLA.
Maxton’s premise was that many are making the French 75 incorrectly, since most published recipes use Gin rather than the French spirit, Cognac. It does seem like if the cocktail is a French origin, then the pair of Cognac and Champagne would make sense.
This idea intrigued me and so without getting into the politics we made these side by side. I also did a poll on my Instagram stories, which split 60/40 in favor of Gin.
French 75
½ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Gin or Cognac
Top with 1 oz Champagne
I tried both and to me the Gin version with Beefeater Gin tasted better than the one with Ferrand Cognac. Perhaps different spirits in each category would have given a different result, but among these two the floral notes from the Gin seemed to work better with the Champagne.
Though, honestly, straight Champagne tasted better than either.
Inspired by the Hot Mai Tai recipe developed years ago by Giuseppe González, this is something that I tried and liked more than I expected. The lack of Lime juice places additional focus on the Orgeat and Orange Curacao, and for this cocktail the ratio below seems to be optimal.
The whipped topping calls for the addition of Macadamia Nut Liqueur, though Amaretto isn’t a bad option. How much to add will be your choice, but I did at least half an ounce of liqueur to go into a ¼ cup of cream.
Some recipes of this type call for the use of an Irish Coffee glass, but I thought this iconic two-faced glass goblet would be more appropriate. This means that the volume of liquid is higher than in some recipes you might find.
Hot Mai Tai
⅔ oz Orgeat
1 oz Orange Curacao
2 oz Aged Jamaican Rum (Appleton Reserve)
Dry shake and then pour into glass mug. Top with hot water.
Top with whipped cream with Macadamia Nut Liqueur
Add a few drops of Orange Bitters on top of the cream
I made some fresh Molasses Syrup to replace the one that was in the back of my fridge for a couple years. I enjoy a few cocktails that use this ingredient, most notably the Pampanito cocktail at Smuggler’s Cove (the recipe is in the book, too). Molasses adds a certain bite to the cocktail that seems appropriate during winter.
I am lazy when it comes to making syrups but this one is pretty easy.
Molasses Syrup:
2 cups Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp. Mild Molasses
1 cup Hot Water
Combine all ingredients and stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Let cool, then bottle.
The Molasses Mai Tai was a riff I tried a couple years ago that I figured would be great, and it turned out better than I expected. This is inspired by the Pampanito, which originally used the same Appleton Reserve 8 rum called for here.
Molasses Mai Tai by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Molasses Syrup
½ oz Orange Curacao
2 oz Aged Jamaican Rum (Appleton Reserve 8)
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake and dump into double rocks glass and garnish with Mint Sprig and reserved Lime shell.