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
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.
A little comparison testing at Ultimate Mai Tai HQ. I compared the following juices: White Grapefruit (bottled), Red Grapefruit (fresh), and Pomello (fresh).
To compare the juices I made three Brown Derby cocktails.
Brown Derby
1 oz Juice
¾ oz Honey Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1½ oz Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
½ oz Makers Mark Bourbon
Shake with ice and then strain
The cocktail is delightful and for us a nice change of pace from the rum drinks that we normally make.
Both Mrs. Mai Tai and I preferred the Brown Derby with the Red Grapefruit, as it seemed brighter and sweeter. Which is odd because tasting the juice just by itself I felt it was more tart than the Pomello. Meanwhile the Brown Derby with Pomello did have a noticeable tartness that was not particularly balanced. The White Grapefruit version was inoffensive but not really as flavorful as with the fresh squeezed juice. The bottled juice for sure doesn’t seem as good as fresh-squeezed.
The Pomello gives less juice than its size might indicate.
I love our local grocery store brand Egg Nog. So thick and creamy and pairs well with most spirts. I saw that Nathan Robinson posted a Nog recipe that featured Jamaican rum and Bourbon so I gave it a try. I liked it but it wasn’t creamy enough for me and I thought it used too much Bourbon, so I flipped up the spirits.
Ultimate Egg Nog
1 egg
¾ oz Heavy Cream
¼ oz Milk
½ oz Demerara Syrup
¼ oz Brandy
½ oz Bourbon (Wild Turkey 101)
1 oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend
2 dashes Grated Cinnamon
2 dashes Grated Nutmeg
Dry shake all ingredients, then shake with ice. Strain into small glass and top with grated nutmeg
Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend is equal parts Appleton 12, Smith & Cross, Plantation Xaymaca, Plantation OFTD. Best single rum option for this recipe: Smith & Cross.
This one was much more to my liking, and Mrs. Mai Tai liked it better too. Give it a try. Thanks Nathan for the inspiration.
Still working out the kinks on this one. I riffed on a recipe shared online but this was missing something. Going to keep trying with unsweetened cranberry juice next.
Holiday Cocktail
2 oz Cranberry cocktail
1 oz Orgeat
½ oz Vanilla Syrup
¼ oz Ginger Syrup
½ oz Pimento Dram
2 oz Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
Spash Soda
Finally getting around to trying this cocktail from the Grog Log and originally from the long, lost Kahiki in Ohio. It’s a slightly exotic Whiskey Sour, so quite pleasant but not very complex or daring.
1 oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Passion Fruit Syrup
¼ oz Grenadine
1½ oz Bourbon (Makers Mark)
Flash blend with 8 oz crushed ice
Syrups by BG Reynolds
Glassware by B-Rex
For a while now I’ve been extolling the virtues of Valencia Orange Juice in cocktails. So much sweeter and flavorful than standard bottled orange juice or even fresh squeezed from Navel Oranges. Blood Oranges seem to be in season, so I thought I’d make my favorite OJ-forward cocktail and see how it compares.
Blood Orange Eastern Sour
¾ oz Lemon Juice
2½ oz Blood Orange Juice
¼ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Sugar Syrup
2 oz Bourbon (Wild Turkey 101)
I really liked this version. Obviously the first thing you see is how deep the red color of the Blood Orange juice is. The flavor is a little bit more tangy than the Valencia but still works well with the rest of the ingredients. I might up the Orgeat by another ¼ oz if I make this again. If you can find Blood Oranges, give this a try.
Took another run at the Eastern Sour, a Trader Vic’s original from the 1950s. This is a tweaked version of a Whiskey Sour using Trader Vic’s signature ingredient, Orgeat. The pairing of Orange Juice alongside the Lemon Juice also adds an additional dimension, though due to the volume can be risky depending on what your Orange Juice tastes like.
When I had this last time I didn’t find it sweet enough. But I made a few adjustments. This time, I used fresh Valencia Orange juice, which I find sweeter than typical store-bought OJ. I also upped the Orgeat and used Demerara rather than Simple Syrup.
Eastern Sour (original Trader Vic’s Recipe)
¾ oz Lemon Juice
2½ oz Orange Juice
¼ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Sugar Syrup
2 oz Bourbon
Shake with crushed ice and sink spent orange and lemon shells into the drink.
Eastern Sour (modified)
¾ oz Lemon Juice
2½ oz Orange Juice (fresh Valencia Orange)
½ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Demerara Syrup
2 oz Bourbon (Maker’s Mark)
Shake with crushed ice and sink spent orange and lemon shells into the drink.
