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) |
Recipe contains the following allergens:
- Giffard Orgeat Syrup – Nuts
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)
Victor Bergeron, 1974
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
Nutrition:
279 calories
Alcohol content:
- 1.6 standard drinks
- 19.18% alc./vol. (38.36° proof)
- 22.1 grams of pure alcohol
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