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!
