Category: Recipe

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Grapefruit Mai Tai

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.

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Mia Cravatta

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.

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Bloody Valentine Cocktails

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.

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Sidewinder’s Fang

A much better cocktail and garnish than the same cocktail I tried making last week. This classic tropical cocktail is great if you have oranges but you really need to pair it with a bold rum. This time I used 2 ounces of the Hamilton Navy Strength 114 Proof rum, which is a mix of Demerara and Jamaican rums.

Sidewinder’s Fang
1½ oz Lime Juice
1½ oz Orange Juice
1½ oz Passion Fruit Syrup (Liquid Alchemist)
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz Demerara Rum
3 oz Club Soda
Shake with ice, then float the club soda. Garnish with orange peel snake.

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Ti Punch with Rhum JM VO

Quite good with a small slice of lime and a dash of BG Reynolds Demerara Syrup.

Rhum JM isn’t as “grassy” as some Martinique Agricoles can be, so is more to my taste. This one was pretty good, and I have enjoyed the VSOP and XO expressions as well.

The rum is a tasting from the Forbidden Island Kill Devil rum list.

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Assertive Mai Tai

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.