Mai Tai

The Mai Tai is a Tiki classic! Probably one of the most famous cocktails of the Tiki style, it's actually not too tough to make, despite the Tiki style often being known for being complex and over the top. The recipe is based on White and Dark Rum, which are easy to come by. The only really unusual elements in this drink are Orange Curaçao and Orgeat/Almond Syrup - neither of which aren't actually that weird. It's probably this, or the Fog Cutter, that's a good introduction to Tiki.

The only challenge you may have with this cocktail is getting a the float of the Dark Rum. You don't want to mix the Dark Rum with the rest of the drink, and may take some practice. This is for both taste and appearance reasons, so work on it and get it right.

Total Time 5

Ingredients

30 mL White Rum
15 mL Orange Curaçao
30 mL Lime Juice
15 mL Orgeat/Almond Syrup*
30 mL Dark Rum
Garnish with lime wedge and mint leaves

Instructions

Pour White Rum, Orange Curaçao, Lime Juice, and Orgeat into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until cold.
Strain into a rocks glass with ice.
Float the Dark Rum over the top of the drink. You don't want to mix it with the drink, rather you want it to float on top; it may be easier to pour the Dark Rum over the back of a bar spoon.
Garnish, enjoy.

Notes

*You can buy Orgeat or learn how to make it here.

The Mai Tai is a classic Trader Vic's cocktail recipe from the 1940's. As Trader Vic kept his recipes a secret, there were a lot of variations to the "official" recipe as other bars tried to make something similar but had to guess how to make it. Because of this you may have seen slightly different ratios, or even different ingredients for this very famous cocktail. We've tried to stay relatively true to the original, but, as with anything, it's more important that you like the drink than it is to stay extremely true. So make the drink you like and enjoy.

Our Review of the Mai Tai

The Mai Tai is one of those Tiki cocktail classics that everybody needs to try at least once, and then fall in love with and have again. There’s a reason why the Mai Tai is such a well known cocktail and considered a Tiki classic: it’s really damn good.

Compared to something like the Zombie (which is also brilliant), the Mai Tai is actually quite simple. Sure, there’s more to a Mai Tai than a lot of other cocktails, but really the only stand out “hard part” is the dark rum float, and that’s actually simple!

On another note though, there are more than a few different versions of the Mai Tai. Don Beach had one, Trader Vick had one, and other bartenders have really made this cocktail their own over the years. Of course I haven’t tried every single one, but every version I’ve tried I’ve enjoyed. The version in this recipe is a good version of the Mai Tai that works well for home bartenders, but feel free to go down the rabbit hole with this cocktail. There’s a lot to find there.

Or, if you want to just play around with different rums in the Mai Tai, that works well too. Orgeat can have a lot of flavour, but rum has more, and getting some funk going with some interesting rums can really turn this cocktail into something else.

I also like the Mai Tai because Tiki cocktails can often seem difficult or overly complex for novice cocktail makers. But, as I’ve stressed, the Mai Tai isn’t too bad. It doesn’t even take that many ingredients… if you don’t have them all, it’s a good excuse to get those one or two bottles. And those extra one or two bottles will greatly expand the cocktails you can make at home. More ingredients, more cocktail recipes.

Obviously I like the Mai Tai, so there’s no real reason to say more. If you’ve never had a Mai Tai, make one tonight. You’ll be sure to enjoy it. Hopefully it starts you on your Tiki cocktail journey and gets you going on some other great and wild cocktails.

10/10

Review by Chas

We have plenty more cocktail recipes if that’s what you’re after!

Take a look below for a bit of a guided tour of more cocktail recipes. We’ve curated some links for you to consider, as we think it’s what you may like:

All Tiki cocktail recipes: let’s stick with the Tiki! If you like the Mai Tai, you may like some other Tiki cocktails. We have a few recipes for you to look at.

All Rum cocktail recipes: the Mai Tai has two types of Rum in it: White Rum and Dark Rum. Take a look at all our Rum recipes.

Top 10 Rum cocktail recipes: if you prefer to not have to scroll through dozens and dozens of cocktail recipes, we have our favourite ten Rum recipes for you to check out.

Top 20 classic cocktail recipes: we think the Mai Tai is a bit of a classic (hopefully you agree). Of course we have some favourite classic recipes, so, if you want to know what those are, have a look.