Post #426831 by donhonyc on Fri, Jan 2, 2009 6:17 PM

I'd recommend checking out the Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai--he was big into grapefruit, and the Mai Kai's drink menu is basically Don B's next of kin. Or, take the usual Mai Tai recipe and cross-polinate it with their Barrel o Rum recipe.

Here's the DTB Mai Tai:

2 oz (or 1/4 cup) water
3/4 oz or 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 oz or 2 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz or 2 tablespoons sugar syrup
1 oz or 2 tablespoons dark rum
1-1/2 oz or 3 tablespoons golden rum
1/2 oz or 1 tablespoon Cointreau or triple Sec
1/4 oz or 1/2 tablespoon Falernum syrup
2 dashes or scant 1/2 teaspoon Angostura bitters
1 dash or scant 1/4 teaspoon Pernod or other anisette-flavored pastis

I think I tried this once and wasn't crazy about it. Then again, I may not have. It's all a blur. Call me crazy but this recipe does not taste like the Mai Kai Mai Tais. I've tried to replicate both Mai Kai and Trader Vic's drinks at home with not much luck. I don't drink the Rum Barrel too often when I'm at the Mai Kai, but the one in Grog Log seems to ring some bells when I've made it. The Test Pilot in Grog Log seems to be close to the Jet Pilot at Mai Kai, and I'll be damned if it's not a close cousin to the Trader Vic Mai Tai. In fact the Test Pilot in Grog Log tastes almost the same as the Mai Tais they serve at Trader Vic's. Am I wrong or is the original Trader Vic formula Mai Tai NOT the one they serve at the TV bars and restaurants? By now I have that taste pretty memorized and it ain't the one at the TV bars.