Best Mai Tai co*cktail Recipe (Mirage Vegas Copycat) (2024)

FAQs

What kind of rum is best for mai tai? ›

The Mai Tai is one of the most famous Tiki drinks in the world. Composed of rum, orange curaçao, fresh lime juice and orgeat (a nuanced almond syrup), it's held sway over co*cktail enthusiasts and Tiki aficionados for decades. It even enjoyed a star turn in the Elvis film “Blue Hawaii.”

By 1937, Victor renamed the restaurant Trader Vic's to monetize his acquired moniker. From there, the restaurant's success exploded along with the demand for his delicious co*cktail creations – one of which was the mai tai. Allegedly, Vic concocted the famed drink in 1944 using a 17-year aged Jamaican rum.

Mai Tai means 'out of this world' in Tahitian - it's the perfect name for this irresistibly exotic co*cktail. Combine fresh zesty ingredients with BACARDÍ Añejo Cuatro Rum for full-flavored enjoyment.

At its core, a classic mai tai recipe is meant to showcase great rum. We use a combination of white and aged or dark rums—the white rum is lighter bodied and fruity, while the aged rum brings juicy banana, vanilla, and burnt sugar notes and a richer mouthfeel.

If you're using high-quality rum in a Mai Tai, you also want high-quality Curacao. Our preferred brand is the Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, as we've found it to be a little bit more neutrally balanced in the co*cktail than some other brands.

Fill a co*cktail shaker with ice cubes. Add pineapple juice, orange juice, spiced rum, coconut rum, and grenadine. Shake vigorously and strain into a glass full of ice.

Simple. Grand Marnier is an orange liqueur in the curaçao tradition, and Cointreau is a triple sec. Grand Marnier is a blend of cognac and triple sec, so although it's not a traditional curaçao, it's a similar product. Cointreau, on the other hand, is straight up a triple sec.

Add rum, orgeat, curaçao, and rock candy syrup to the co*cktail shaker. Add 1 cup ice, cover, and shake until chilled. Place the reserved lime rind into the chilled rocks glass. Strain in mai tai and float mint sprig on the edge of the glass.

mai tai in American English

(ˈmaɪˌtaɪ ) [often M- T-] a co*cktail made with rum and fruit juices, often garnished with pineapple or other fruit or with a tiny orchid. Word origin. Tahitian, lit., good.

What is the story behind Trader Vic's Mai Tai? ›

The Mai Tai started as a rum co*cktail so popular it supposedly depleted world rum supplies in the 1940s and '50s. In 1944, when the co*cktail was invented by Victor J. Bergeron — better known as Trader Vic — it wasn't a sugar bomb. It was a simple drink created to showcase the pungent flavor of a 17-year-old J.

What Can I Substitute For Orgeat? Orgeat syrup is typically made from almonds, which is great to keep in mind when searching for a substitute. You can try making your own orgeat or almond syrup, or you can use ready-made substitutes such as Amaretto liqueur or creme d'amade.

Jamaican Rum and Martinique Rum. The original Mai Tai was made with a single long-aged Jamaican Rum. But these days you often see recipes calling for an ounce of Jamaican rum and an ounce of rum from Martinique.

The very good Duke's Vintage '44 Mai Tai is made with Koloa rums from Kauai, lime, and a splash of fresh pineapple.

White rum – White rum is the primary alcohol in a mai tai. I used Bacardi Rum, but you can feel free to substitute any brand you have on hand. Dark rum – Dark rum is also used in this recipe as a “float” on top of the finished drink. Be sure to select dark, not gold rum.

Unfortunately, 17-year-old J. Wray & Nephew rum is a thing of the past. But by replacing it with an aged Martinique rum mixed with a premium Jamaican rum, we can approximate Vic's original goal of “creating a drink that would be the finest drink we could make, using the finest ingredients we could find.”

Several Thai rum brands have garnered international acclaim. One notable name is Chalong Bay, which produces rum using traditional French distillation methods, emphasising purity and flavour. Another brand, SangSom, has been a household name in Thailand since the 1970s and is known for its sweet and herbal profile.