Mai Tai
I’m allergic to pineapple. I know it doesn’t seem like that big a deal, but whenever I decide to visit somewhere tropical it becomes something of an issue. I start to see pineapple salsas over fish, pineapple desserts or worst of all cocktails made with pineapple juice. While I can usually avoid the first two with ease, the third is a little harder. See, there’s nothing better than sitting on the beach sipping a cocktail. So, I’ll grudgingly look at the menu because I know out of the 10 or more choices, there will only be one or two that won’t have pineapple.
Why am I talking about tropical vacations and pineapple? Well, I was in Hawaii a few weeks ago and it was wonderful! But the one thing everyone kept saying to me was “make sure you have a mai tai for me”. I would love to have a mai tai or two for my friends, but every mai tai I’ve ever seen on any menu has pineapple juice in it. So I smiled and promised I’d have a cocktail for them, just not a mai tai. But then I discovered something that made me jump for joy. The original mai tai recipe doesn’t have any pineapple juice in it. Not. One. Drop.
Now just because the original recipe doesn’t contain pineapple doesn’t necessarily mean that the bartender will know how to make it. But here’s the awesome thing about Hawaii and the resort we were staying at – every time I told the bartender I wanted a mai tai but was allergic to pineapple juice he or she smiled and said no problem, they’d just make the Trader Vic’s version.
The Trader Vic’s version (which is believed to be the original) doesn’t have pineapple juice in it. Why doesn’t it have pineapple in it? Because according to Vic Bergeron, the cocktail’s creator, he needed a new rum drink at his bar in Oakland. “I thought about all the really successful drinks – martinis, manhattans, daiquiris, all basically simple drinks. I took down a bottle of 17-year old rum. It was J. Wray & Nephew from Jamaica-surprisingly golden in color, medium bodied, but with the rich pungent flavor particular to the Jamaican blends.” He believed the flavor of the rum was so good, it didn’t need to be overpowered with the heavy addition of fruit juices and flavorings. So he took a fresh lime, added some orange curacao, a dash of rock candy syrup, and a dollop of orgeat for its subtle almond flavor. He added some shaved ice and shook it vigorously to produce the classic drink. He then handed the drink over to two friends from Tahiti who happened to be visiting. His friend took one sip and said, “Mai tai roa ae” which means “out of this world, the best’ in Tahitian. And so the Mai Tai was born.
Although created in Oakland, California in 1944, Bergeron sold the recipe to a few high end hotels in Hawaii in the early 50’s and that’s how the cocktail became associated with the tropics. Everyone wanted a mai tai and if they were traveling west, they were guaranteed a taste. Unfortunately, once Hawaii became a state in 1959, the quality of the mai tai seriously declined. People couldn’t wait for the taste of the tropics, so bartenders on the planes were forced to serve up the drink quickly. That meant diluting the rums and adding more “tropical” flavors like pineapple juice and sweet syrups. And what was once a delicious cocktail, turned into something resembling cough syrup. There are still a few bars around that serve the classic cocktail, like the Tiki Ti in Los Angeles, the Halekulani in Waikiki and the Aulani Resort in Kapolei. But if you just can’t jump on a plane and head to Hawaii, make your own classic Mai Tai. As with most things, once you taste the original, you’ll never go back.
Mai Tai
Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 oz. Meyer’s Dark Rum
- 1 oz. gold rum
- 1/2 oz. orange curaco
- 1/2 oz. Orgeat syrup
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 oz. simple syrup
Directions:
- Pour all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously for 1 minute. Strain into an old fashioned glass over crushed ice. Garnish with a slice of lime and a sprig of mint and serve.
