As I mentioned in the other Mai Tai cocktail recipe, I believe Don the Beachcomber to have originated the cocktail known as the Mai Tai. That being said Mai Tai translates to good so it is very conceivable that cocktails were developed independently but named the same thing. In the Mai Tai recipe, I explained that I believe what became known across the country as the Mai Tai was most definitely the Beachcomber version, because the Trader Vic’s Bartender Guide 1947 does not even list the cocktail at all. The other thing that give the advantage to the Beachcomber recipe is the color. The Don the Beachcomber version includes Angostura Bitters which gives its version of the Mai Tai a reddish tone. The Trader Vic’s official version should have no red notes. Most of the versions that proliferated around the country were reddish like the Mr. Boston 1970 guide lists with grenadine.
And whenever it comes to these kind of things don’t be so rigid you forget to have fun. Everything should be executed well but we aren’t saving lives. Have fun. Tiki drinks are supposed to be fun. Get fun glasses. Make fun garnishes. Put an entire jungle on your drink like they do at the Samoan Pub.
Scene is from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Ingredients
1 oz gold rum (impossible to tell what the original would have been but I suggest El Dorado 5 year)
1 1/2 oz Meyers’s Plantation rum
1 oz grapefruit juice (the original does not designate but I prefer the red ruby grapefruit)
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz Cointreau (the original calls for cointreau by name)
1/4 oz falernum
6 drops Pernod or Herbsaint
Dash of Angostura bitters
Garnish
4 mint leaves (4 mint leaves? Boring. Have fun. Umbrellas, Pineapple, star fruit, go nuts!)
Glassware
12 oz double old fashioned glass
Assembly
Fill a shaker with crushed ice. Measure lime and grapefruit juice, falernum, cointreau and rums and add to shaker. Shake until cold and pour the entire contents into the glass. Garnish.
Suggestions
This one looks really cool layered so try shaking the ingredients minus the rum and pouring into the glass, then shaking the rums separately and straining them on top. If you are having friends over have a ball with your garnishes. Use cherries, pineapple wedges, Pineapple leaves, lime husks.