Post #234894 by PiPhiRho on Tue, May 30, 2006 11:59 PM

Well, Gee, I don't know what to tell you.

I have had many a mai tai mixed the Trader Vic's way. I have had them mixed at Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills and Emeryville. I have had them mixed by other TC mixologists. I have mixed them myself. None of them were made with El Dorado demerarra and Blue Curacao, and none of them ever tasted like poop.

A Vic's Mai Tai is going to be very sensitive to the ingredients that you put in it. If you put bad stuff in it, you're going to get a bad result. Demerarra and Myers's are both dark rums. While 17 year old Wray and Nephew has not been available since the 40s, there are reasonable substitutes. If you want to use demerarra, then use it instead of the myers's and use a better aged rum. That at least should help. And in my experience, Blue Curacao and Orange Curacao are not exactly the same. If you can't find orange curacao you could try it with triple sec or cointreau. They're not the sam, either, but the result might be better. Throw in a dash of orange bitters to make it a little less sweet.

It's still not going to taste anything like the Mr and Mrs T mix, though. Never will no matter what you mix it with (except, of course, if you mix it with the Mr and Mrs T mix).

[ Edited by: PiPhiRho 2006-05-31 00:11 ]