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Subject: Re: Mai Tai
From: Nidal
Posted: Mon Dec 18. 2006, 13:54 UTC
Followup to: "Re: Mai Tai"  by walters  (Mon Dec 18. 2006, 09:11 UTC)
Allow me to help Walters. In my mind their are only 2 "versions" of the Mai 
Tai, The Trader Vic version (my personal fav) or the Donn Beach version. I'm 
sure you'll find the recipes in the link that G has given you. Anyway, to 
answer your other questions: 

1. Never us Amaretto in a mai tai, the drink calls for orgeat syrup which is a 
non-alcoholic almond sugar. It works particularly well with rum and balances 
the sour (the lime). FYI Amaretto is not almond; it's made with apricot 
kernels.

2. Curacaos. Orange curacao is basically a liqueur (about 60% proof) made with 
the peel of bitter oranges. I think that this works well as again it 
compliments the rum & the almond flavour in the mai tai. 

3. See point 1!

4. Trader Vic used a 17yr old Wray & Nephew which has been "out of stock" for 
decades. Many bartenders mix together a golden rum with a dark rum to get a 
similar flavour. Personally I use an aged rum and find that Mount Gay XO works 
particularly well. I would also say that Appleton V/X works well (and it's 
cheaper), Appleton Extra is also great, Goslings Gold is another but i 
wouldn't recommend a white rum, white rums (especially the standard ones) 
simply don't have the taste/flavour profile that a mai tai commands. Malibu, 
hmmmmm, well, strictly speaking Malibu isn't a rum, it's a coconut liqueur and 
has no place anywhere near a mai tai! Spiced rums tend to reply on Vanilla for 
their "spice" so you might find it a little too sweet, although Four Square is 
a great spiced rum. 

5. Rums are different due to production. Most of the rums that one would use 
in a mai tai are molasses based, but the aging process in the Caribbean 
produces different flavour profiles due to the barrels used, temperature etc 
etc.

6. A mai tai (IMO) doesn't need sugar as you're using the orgeat.

7. I don't really know what you mean by "roll" but to make a Mai Tai, put your 
rum, orgeat, curacao and FRESH lime into a shaker with ice, shake it nice and 
hard and strain into a double old fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. I 
would never blend a mai tai.

8. If you wanted to make a "pre-mix" i guess you could get a bottle 4:1 
rum/curacao if you wanted to. Get 2oz of that into a shaker, but a mai tai is 
easy to make so i wouldn't bother. And slushy? I don't know, leave it on the 
bar for 5 mins!

Hope all that helps.

N


www.duskbar.co.uk
www.montgomeryplace.co.uk


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