The Mai Tai is the cocktail Trader Vic invented in 1944 in Oakland and that has been ruined by every tiki bar since.
Why you are pouring this tonight
The Mai Tai is the cocktail Trader Vic invented in 1944 in Oakland and that has been ruined by every tiki bar since. The real one has no orange juice, no grenadine, no neon-blue anything. It is rum, lime, orange curacao, orgeat, a touch of rich syrup, and a float of dark rum to finish.
Done correctly it is one of the great cocktails. Done with tinned pineapple juice and a paper umbrella, it is a punchbowl mistake.
What to pour it alongside
Drink with grilled prawns, jerk chicken, or any time you want to be on a holiday you cannot afford. Coconut prawns work especially well.
Notes
Orgeat is the part most home bars don’t have. Buy a bottle of Small Hand Foods or Liber & Co orgeat from a good bottle shop or online. Don’t substitute almond extract, you will get a chemical drink. The orgeat carries the cocktail.
The recipe
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