Mai Tai
This is the Mai Tai, a classic tiki cocktail created by Victor Bergeron (aka Trader Vic) at the restaurant Trader Vic's in Oakland, CA in 1944. The origin story goes that Trader Vic used a Wray & Nephew 17 year old Jamaican rum, mixed it with a few ingredients and served to his friends Ham and Carrie Guild who are from Tahiti. After trying it, Carrie Guild declared that it was "Maita'i roe a'e" which is a colloquialism that approximates to "Out of this world". After a while, supplies of this specific jamaican dwindled to where Trader Vic needed to use two rums mixed together to approximate its flavor profile (Fun fact: A few bottles of Wray & Nephew 17 year still exist. They fetch over $50,000 per bottle)
Its success wasn't immediate. In fact, it didn't gain traction until Matson Cruises hired some of Trader Vic's staff to put together a cocktail menu for the Royal Hawaiian cruises. The name caught on more than the actual mixture and the recipe was a trade secret. Other places in Hawaii started mixing rum with just about whatever and called it a Mai Tai. This unforeseen success forced Trader Vic to modify his advertisements to declare that Trader Vic's was "The Home of the Mai Tai"
When making your own Mai Tai, the question becomes what rums to use to get the right flavor profile. To do this, I mix in equal parts aged Jamaican rum and rhum agricole. The age of the rhum agricole comes down to preference and budget. Rhum agricole blanc does nicely, but a VSOP can be divine.
1 oz aged Jamaican rum
1 oz rhum agricole (blanc or VSOP)
1 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz dry curaçao
0.5 oz orgeat (use the best you can find)
0.25 oz simple syrup
Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker tin. Add ice and shake vigorously until arctic cold. Strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime hull (i.e. half of lime after it's been juiced), a sprig of mint and a cocktail umbrella to mimic an island with a tree and umbrella.
© Chase Hoffman Photography. All rights reserved.
Mai Tai
This is the Mai Tai, a classic tiki cocktail created by Victor Bergeron (aka Trader Vic) at the restaurant Trader Vic's in Oakland, CA in 1944. The origin story goes that Trader Vic used a Wray & Nephew 17 year old Jamaican rum, mixed it with a few ingredients and served to his friends Ham and Carrie Guild who are from Tahiti. After trying it, Carrie Guild declared that it was "Maita'i roe a'e" which is a colloquialism that approximates to "Out of this world". After a while, supplies of this specific jamaican dwindled to where Trader Vic needed to use two rums mixed together to approximate its flavor profile (Fun fact: A few bottles of Wray & Nephew 17 year still exist. They fetch over $50,000 per bottle)
Its success wasn't immediate. In fact, it didn't gain traction until Matson Cruises hired some of Trader Vic's staff to put together a cocktail menu for the Royal Hawaiian cruises. The name caught on more than the actual mixture and the recipe was a trade secret. Other places in Hawaii started mixing rum with just about whatever and called it a Mai Tai. This unforeseen success forced Trader Vic to modify his advertisements to declare that Trader Vic's was "The Home of the Mai Tai"
When making your own Mai Tai, the question becomes what rums to use to get the right flavor profile. To do this, I mix in equal parts aged Jamaican rum and rhum agricole. The age of the rhum agricole comes down to preference and budget. Rhum agricole blanc does nicely, but a VSOP can be divine.
1 oz aged Jamaican rum
1 oz rhum agricole (blanc or VSOP)
1 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz dry curaçao
0.5 oz orgeat (use the best you can find)
0.25 oz simple syrup
Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker tin. Add ice and shake vigorously until arctic cold. Strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime hull (i.e. half of lime after it's been juiced), a sprig of mint and a cocktail umbrella to mimic an island with a tree and umbrella.
© Chase Hoffman Photography. All rights reserved.