Mai Tai

My first job in high school was at a Tiki restaurant in Key Largo with the Polynesian fire dancers, Pu-Pu platters, and tropical drinks…
I recently found Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari, “America’s leading authority on tropical drinks and Polynesian pop-culture” on Amazon and have started to collect the myriad ingredients necessary to recreate these tropical libations.


I found most of the rums at Martin’s Wine Cellar, though I still need a good Demerara 151 for Zombies.


Mise for the Mai Tai: Aged Martinique and aged Jamaican Rum, lime juice, simple syrup (in the Grolsch bottle), Orgeat syrup, and Cointreau [A fine, colorless, orange-flavored liqueur made from the dried skins of Curaçao oranges grown on the island of the same name in the Dutch West Indies. The Generic term is Curaçao, and if redistilled clear is called triple sec. "...before Prohibition the Cointreau bottle still read Cointreau Triple Sec. The liqueur was not only the first triple sec, it's how the term was coined. After imitators reproduced the signature square bottle and imprinted the words "Triple Sec" in the Cointreau typeface, Cointreau dropped the words from their bottle. The premium liquor has long since transcended the category, but that's how it started out...the first and best triple sec. ... Use generic triple sec only if you are short on cash."].