Mai Tai (Trader Vic's) Cocktail

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (261 ratings)

Garnish:

Half lime shell, mint sprig and fruit stick (skewered pineapple cubes and Luxardo Maraschino cherry)

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain into glass filled with crushed ice.

2 fl oz Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years
1/2 fl oz Orange Curaçao liqueur
3/4 fl oz Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
1/3 fl oz Giffard Orgeat Syrup
1/4 fl oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
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Hazardous ingredients

Giffard Orgeat Syrup is potentially hazardous to those with allergy or intolerance.

Review:

We love Daiquiris and this is basically a classic Daiquiri with a few bells and whistles.

History:

In 1934, Victor Jules Bergeron, or Trader Vic as he became known, opened his first restaurant in Oakland, San Francisco. He served Polynesian food with a mix of Chinese, French and American dishes cooked in wood-fired ovens. But he is best known for the rum-based cocktails he created.

One evening, in 1944, he tested a new drink on two friends from Tahiti, Ham and Carrie Guild. After the first sip, Carrie is said to have exclaimed, "Mai Tai-Roa Aé", which in Tahitian means 'out of this world - the best'. Hence, Bergeron named his drink the Mai Tai.

Vic's original Mai Tai was based on 17 year old Jamaican J. Wray & Nephew rum, which in his own book he describes as being "surprisingly golden in colour, medium-bodied, but with the rich pungent flavour particular to the Jamaican blends". Vic's recipe calls for "rock candy" syrup, an old term for the type of strong sugar syrup I prescribe here at Difford's Guide: two parts sugar to one part water. The term 'rock candy' refers to the fact that you can dangle a piece of string in the syrup to encourage crystallisation and make rock candy.

This recipe is adapted from Victor Bergeron's 1974 Trader Vic's Rum Cookery & Drinkery.

Mai Tai (Trader Vic's original)
2 ounces seventeen-year-old J. Wray & Nephew Jamaica rum
½ ounce Holland deKuyper orange curacao
½ ounce French Garier orgeat
¼ ounce rock candy syrup
Juice of 1 lime
Hand-shake and then garnish with half of the lime shell inside the drink and float a sprig of fresh mint at the edge of the drink. The drink should be chilled nicely with a considerable amount of shaved ice in a 15-ounce glass

Victor Bergeron, 1974

Story behind the Mai Tai cocktail

Nutrition:

One serving of Mai Tai (Trader Vic's) Cocktail contains 279 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 21.04% alc./vol. (42.08° proof)
  • 24.2 grams of pure alcohol
Difford's Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Buy direct from
the_whisky_exchange store logo
£ -.--

Makes a minimum of ... cocktails
Just £ -.-- per cocktail*

* This list may not include all required ingredients.
Price per cocktail is an estimate based on the cost of making one cocktail with the available ingredients shown above and does not include any postage charges.
Buy direct from Difford’s Guide
Difford's Easy Jigger
£8.72 £8.72 exc VAT
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