Superb Summer Sippin'

It's been awhile.  Sorry.  A lot has happened in between the last post and this post.  We sold our house and bought a new one.  We moved.  That in and of itself consumed about 2 months of our collective lives.  We had to pack up the hooch for awhile and it wasn't as easily accessible for a couple of weeks, which put a dent in the cocktailing.  But then I got this:

 

Bar angels sang when I brought home this consignment piece to hold my liquor.  Yay!  So we are back in business, and summer time is a great time to experiment with the fruitier side of drinking, imo.  We have made some delicious scratch margaritas in the interim, and there will be plenty of Pimms cups and G&Ts too, so don't expect posts about those.  But with the heat comes ample opportunity to imbibe, sit in the backyard, and take it all in.

Tonight, I made a Mai Tai.  My first experience with the Mai Tai was in Hawaii in January.  I was pleasantly surprised by this very refreshing fruit friendly drink. But given that it was January, once I got home, I was not very inspired to make them in freezing weather.  I did purchase some Orgeat, in anticipation of warmer temps and tonight I broke it out, in honor of triple digits.  Yay Texas.  There are about as many iterations of the Mai Tai out there as there are bartenders.  One thing I am clear on, the original did not have an abundance of juices added, as many tiki tenders are wont to do these days.  Trying to remain as true to history as I could with what was in my cabinet, I decided to try an old school Mai Tai, and I was not disappointed.  It was refreshing without being overly sweet.  The original recipe calls for Trader Vic's Rock Candy Syrup, which I did not have so left out.  The other ingredient called for is Orange Curaco, and I only have blue.  Both are orange in flavor, but I will save the blue for a Blue Hawaii.  So I used Grand Marnier in lieu (in luau?) of the Curaco.  I thought it worked.


For 2 drinks:


2 oz Mt Gay Rum
2 oz Black Seal Dark Bermuda Rum
juice of 2 limes
1 oz Orgeat syrup
1 oz Grand Marnier (substitute for Orange Curaco)

Shake with ice cubes and pour over crushed ice.  Garnish with some sort of fruit slices (I had lime wedge and maraschino cherry).

Find a nice place to sit outside at sunset and enjoy!