Mai Tai - The truth please. - Tiki Drinks and Food

K Kono Member Orlando Joined: Oct 08, 2003 Posts: 1266	K Kono Posted posted on Fri, Sep 8, 2006 6:23 PM George, you seem to have two separate questions that are being muddled together a bit. 1) Do we believe that the legend of the creation of the Mai Tai is true, or is it marketing? and 2) Do we agree that the Royal BYCC is the drink that inspired the Mai Tai? 1): No, I don't believe the story that Vic just whipped up the mai tai on a whim and happened to have some haole friends from Tahiti who were the first to try it (and thus name it). Nor do I believe in the legend behind Donn's creation of the Zombie. I think most recognize that showmanship and BS played a large part in the style of both of these icons. No way. I'd say its a much more reasonable assumption to think that they were both progeny of the old traditional daquiri. Rum, lime, sugar. The RBYCC added Cointreau and sub'd falernum for the sugar. The Mai Tai added curacao and added orgeat along with the sugar syrup. I think the best you could argue is that maybe the RBYCC influenced Vic to add an orange liqueur to the mix but that would be a stretch I think. You'd have to first show that there were no other cocktails (besides the RBYCC) prior to the Mai Tai to have rum, lime, sugar and an orange derived liqueur. Vic had several variations on the Mai Tai, from the Honi Honi to the Menehune Juice to, a little further afield, the Potted Parrot or the London Sour. It seems more intuitive to me to think of a "family" of drinks that center around booze, citrus and orgeat as a natural grouping. The falernum just throws the RBYCC into a different genus. Like if it was made with tomato juice. Just a whole different animal. As far as the "professional's instinct" in intuitively grouping drinks by similarity: make a drink with rum, lime, Cointreau and orgeat; one with rum, lime, curacao and falernum and one with rum, lime and tomato juice (just for the hell of it). Now make a Mai Tai and tell us which of the three it is most similar to. I think that in your thesis you're focusing too much on the likeness of Cointreau and curacao and too little on the huge difference between orgeat and falernum.

George, you seem to have two separate questions that are being muddled together a bit. 1) Do we believe that the legend of the creation of the Mai Tai is true, or is it marketing? and 2) Do we agree that the Royal BYCC is the drink that inspired the Mai Tai?

1): No, I don't believe the story that Vic just whipped up the mai tai on a whim and happened to have some haole friends from Tahiti who were the first to try it (and thus name it). Nor do I believe in the legend behind Donn's creation of the Zombie. I think most recognize that showmanship and BS played a large part in the style of both of these icons.

No way. I'd say its a much more reasonable assumption to think that they were both progeny of the old traditional daquiri. Rum, lime, sugar. The RBYCC added Cointreau and sub'd falernum for the sugar. The Mai Tai added curacao and added orgeat along with the sugar syrup. I think the best you could argue is that maybe the RBYCC influenced Vic to add an orange liqueur to the mix but that would be a stretch I think. You'd have to first show that there were no other cocktails (besides the RBYCC) prior to the Mai Tai to have rum, lime, sugar and an orange derived liqueur.

Vic had several variations on the Mai Tai, from the Honi Honi to the Menehune Juice to, a little further afield, the Potted Parrot or the London Sour. It seems more intuitive to me to think of a "family" of drinks that center around booze, citrus and orgeat as a natural grouping. The falernum just throws the RBYCC into a different genus. Like if it was made with tomato juice. Just a whole different animal.

As far as the "professional's instinct" in intuitively grouping drinks by similarity: make a drink with rum, lime, Cointreau and orgeat; one with rum, lime, curacao and falernum and one with rum, lime and tomato juice (just for the hell of it). Now make a Mai Tai and tell us which of the three it is most similar to. I think that in your thesis you're focusing too much on the likeness of Cointreau and curacao and too little on the huge difference between orgeat and falernum.

Post #253167 by Kono on Fri, Sep 8, 2006 6:23 PM