How do you make a decent Mai Tai?

Question

I can't seem to figure it out.

I want to make it like they do at the bar!

Ideas?

Answer 1

I ran the bar at my oldest friend's luau this past summer, and made a TON of mai tais. I'll start with the classic, and then offer some variations we've tried that were popular.

For all these, you'll need a dark rum (I prefer Gosling's Black Seal, it has a great molasses aroma and a richer flavor than Myer's or Bacardi Dark); a medium rum (my preference is for Mount Gay Barbados rum, but you can get by with most medium rums); and either 151 rum, coconut rum, or both.

You'll also need fresh or frozen pineapple juice, orange juice (optional), and wedges of lime (1/8 of a lime in each wedge).

To make the classic mai tai:

1 shot dark rum
1 shot medium rum
4 oz. pineapple juice

Mix rums and pineapple juice over ice. Squeeze in the lime wedge, then float a tablespoon or two of 151 rum on top. For the real luau look, skewer a wedge of orange and a maraschino cherry on a paper umbrella and hang it over the side of the glass.

Art Bar Mai Tai

This is the way they make it at the Art Bar in the Newmark Theater in Portland, Oregon -- not perhaps the most tropical location in the world, but DANG, this is a good Mai Tai:

1 shot dark rum
1 shot medium rum
1 shot coconut rum
4 oz. pineapple juice
1 wedge lime

Mix ingredients over ice, serve with an orange slice. This ended up being the way I made most of the mai tais at our party last summer. The coconut makes it just incredibly tropical; again, serve these with paper umbrellas for that special "Tiki Bar TV" look.

Mai Tai Sunrise

1 shot dark rum
1 shot medium rum
1 shot coconut rum
2 oz. each pineapple and orange juice
1 tablespoon grenadine

Mix all ingredients except grenadine over ice, then pour grenadine in a slow stream into the middle of the glass. The grenadine will sink to the bottom. Serve this with a stirrer or straw so that the drinker can mix it up; as the grenadine comes up from the bottom to mix with the orange-pineapple juice, you get the "sunrise" effect.

Kauai Mai Tai

So the same friends who hosted the luau spent Christmas on Kauai, and came back with tales of Mai Tais made with half and half. Basically, it was the Art Bar Mai Tai (the coconut rum being significant here), but with two twists: they were blended rather than on the rocks, and they had been blended with an ounce or so of half and half.

They made one for us, not blended and with bad mixer, and they were STILL pretty good. I imagine that with real pineapple juice they would be terrific... but it's the middle of winter in Portland, so I'm mostly concentrating either on red wine to have with hot stews and soups, or a hot drink I call the Almond Joy:

1 shot coconut rum
1 shot dark rum
1 shot almond liqueur
Hot cocoa

Pour liquor in a mug, then pour in hot cocoa. Garnish with whipped cream. Repeat until you no longer care that it's 35 degrees and raining. :-)

Aloooooooooooooha and have fun trying out Mai Tais!

Answer 2

2 ounces rum
1 ounce triple sec
1 tablespoon grenadine
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon powdered sugar