Post #356230 by Kona Chris on Sun, Jan 20, 2008 9:34 PM

So I was thinking about making a Mai Tai tonight when I realized that I didn't have any limes on hand. Not to be foiled by this, I noticed that I did have lemons. Now lemons and rum aren't exactly what I would call the best combination (although I'm sure there are drinks in which it works) but lemons and bourbon... now there is a classic combo. So I decided that I was going to make a drink with the same proportions as a classic TV's Mai Tai, but substituting Maker's Mark and lemon juice. The maple syrup in this case was because I couldn't find my bottle of cane syrup... Not sure where that went. But it worked quite well. So here's what I did:

2 oz Maker's Mark
1 oz fresh lemon juice
.5 oz orange curacao
.25 oz orgeat
.25 oz real maple syrup

Shake it till the steel frosts, or your hand freezes, whichever is first.

This drink was WAY better than I could have hoped for! Let's just say it is going to go into regular rotation. If you like bourbon, I highly suggest giving it try! Now I just need to come up with a name for it... Hmm... What about calling it a Kentucky Mai Tai? "Colonel Vic's Kentucky Mai Tai" has a nice ring :D

I would guess that this comes in somewhere between a bourbon sidecar and a whisky sour, yet still quite different from both. Regardless, it is very good.

Chris

[ Edited by: Kona Chris 2008-01-20 21:46 ]