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Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!
That's Hawaiian for "Happy New Year!". I'll be ringing in the new first Tiki Tuesday broadcast next week (might try to do a broadcast Thursday or Friday this week) on the seventh, so I am putting this thread up for folks to ask questions.
Also, I do not mean to toot my own horn but I think I made a pretty `ono (delicious) set of mai tais and crab rangoon (a recipe I have featured here on the Tiki Tuesday Lounge before) for our family's new years luncheon.
If I haven't shared the Mai Tai Recipe before, this is the original one without any orange juice, grenadine favored by the pretenders to the tiki drink throne.
Developed by "Trader Vic" Bergeron, the drink has a complex and strong flavor that befits it's authentic 40s origins. The name is claimed to be from a couple visiting from Tahiti who exclaimed "Mai Tai roa ae" (amazing) who had been the first to taste Vic's concoction.
Making this yourself will beat any "Mai Tai" syrup mix or airport bar cocktail imitation that you're likely to encounter. It's also my Hawaii loving grandmother's favorite drink, so who am I to argue? The Mai Tai is THE tiki drink, the one that launched a thousand very cheesy faux-Polynesian imitators.
The recipe
Since it originally used a now out of circulation rum, it's flavor has been recreated by folks like Beachbum Berry in his tiki drink revival books.
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 ounce orance Curacao (an orange liqueur that can be found most anywhere)
1/4 oz orgeat syrup (an almond flavored syrup that can be found in most larger liquor stores)
1/4 oz simple sugar syrup (I sub with agave syrup)
1 oz dark jamaican rum (use Myers)
1 oz Martinique Rum*
Shake the above ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with crushed ice and pour unstrained into a large glass. Put a half shell of one of your juiced limes in and you are good to go, with an authentic Trader Vic Mai Tai.
*While you can certainly substitute an amber rum for this, if you can find it or have it shipped to you having an actual Martinique rum is highly recommended. The island of Martinique specializes in what is called Rhum Agricole, which is made from cane sugar instead of the traditional molasses distillation of most rums that has a wonderful flavor that can't be duplicated. If you cannot get ahold of it where you are, a haitian rum like Five Star Rhum Barbancourt or a Jamaican Amber like Appleton V/X will do in a pinch.
