Skip to main content

The Mai Tai - an opinionated review.

It seems, that the Mai Tai got quite a revival these days. I seen it on quite a lot of menus - unfortunately in the most despicable recipes and ingredients lists.

Let’s first of all state, what the Mai Tai isn’t: the Mai Tai isn’t your typical tiki drink. For sure - it started in a Tiki restaurant - and it has been the creation of one of the two most iconic Tiki fathers - it was either way Don the Beachcomber or Vic “Trader Vic’s” Bergeron.

And while nobody seems to know, who really have been the first who named their cocktail “Mai Tai” - only Trader Vic provided the iconic recipe, which has been copied, simplified and abused.

Look, the Beachcomber recipe is the typical Tiki drink - which is far too strong, uses far too many ingredients - you get the point. No - this isn’t a rant about Tiki drinks...

Trader Vic’s Mai Tai is a combination of great aged funky rum, quality orange liqueur, orgeat and fresh lime - and maybe a hint of hyper concentrated sugar syrup. That’s it. It is a bit like a daisy or a fancy sour. You can taste the rum - the orange liqueur and orgeat syrup (which is a fancy almond syrup) are just supporting the rum aromas. It is an amazing concoction.

However - if you strip away the greatness - not much is left. Far too many bars are using two different rums - non of them particularly good quality products.

So how ddid the confusion with the two different rums started? Well - it started all in Trader Vic’s - the original rum: Wray Nephews 17 years old has been never intended to be a mass product - and soon the stocks were depleted. Next in line has been Wray Nephews 15 years old - which has been though also depleted with the success of the cocktail (and the Trader Vic’s bar restaurant chain).
After that, somebody seemed to have had the idea, to mix a Rhum Agricole with a dark Jamaican rum, to achieve the same aromas of the original cocktail. My experience for sure denies to believe for one second, that this worked. Further there were a lot of bars, which didn’t even had simple Rhum Agricole.
Additionally there has been (in other bars) the misconception about ingredients: a pineapple piece has been the original garnish in a Mai Tai from the humble beginning - but bartenders seemed to confuse the garnish with an additional ingredient: pineapple juice. Don’t even ask me, who had the idea to add simply stupid ingredients like grenadine...

Long story short - the best way to return the credit to the Mai Tai, is using one great rum. For the moment we are using at Noir Appleton 21 years old (as the 18 years old is no longer available). And it is a great Mai Tai - for sure not cheap, but incredible complex and classy.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to use citric acid - and why you might not want to use it anyway!

To be honest, I shied away of this topic, because I think, people can misinterpret this - big time. I don't want to be part of the problem - I want to be part of the solution!  But when Chris, over at A Bar Above  discussed this subject- I literally could not resist to join into "the discussion". Here is the video: I - however take a bit slower approach than Chris. What is citric acid? Chemical Compound Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C6H8O7. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. Wikipedia Formula: C6H8O7 Molar Mass: 192.124 g/mol Melting Point: 153C Density: 1.66 g/cm3 Boiling point: 175C Soluble in: Water Why is it controversial? In my "mixology world" it is controversial, as citric acid is the stuff, which makes the nightmarish sour mix [ preferably in powder form ] sour. Yeah - citric acid is the main ingredient in one of the most

Agar-Agar Clarification

Not often, I am posting here things, which are clearly not my ideas... However Dave Arnold is clearly a mad scientist [no, he really is!] - and he posted amazing stuff on his website www.cookingissues.com - no - don't click now - just follow the link later. One of the most impressive posts about mixology, besides of demystifying the mechanics of shaking, were clarification techniques. Look, after him, you could use a centrifuge [which would set you back a couple thousand bucks] and a chemical compound, which solidifies sediments. I am not a fan of that. Then there is gelatine clarification; this works quite well [I tried it several times my self] - you gelatinize a liquid [with little gelatine only], freeze it, thaw it [in the fridge] over a colander and a muslin cloth. Thats it. Unfortunately this has several problems: Gelatine is made out of animal bones - hence it is neither vegetarian nor vegan, which you won't usually expect of a beverage. You have to freez

King Robert II Vodka

Who would knew, that I am reviewing a budget vodka here - on the opinionatedalchemist.com. But this isn't a normal review. I skip the marketing perception and use this product to cut directly to the case: Vodka is a "rather" neutral, colorless, "rather" flavorless and odorless distilled beverage from any agricultural source - and depending on the country, it has a minimum of 37.5% and 40% abv. As I said time and time again before: at times it is absolutely nonsense to talk about premium and luxury, when the original product doesn't really "hold this promise". Luxury water can have luxurious marketing, luxurious packaging, can be even rare and slightly more expensive "to produce". However really it is just water. Maybe it has some nuances to normal water - however those nuances (in a blind-test) are pretty small. Vodka is extremely similar - and the chain of evidence (despite a lot of people trying to proof otherwise) makes it re