Post #526437 by The Gnomon on Tue, Apr 27, 2010 7:59 AM

A bigger question is how to get an authentic Mai Tai at all, anywhere.

None of the rums that VJB Jr ever used in his original and subsequent adjustments is available today. The 17 year old J. Wray and Nephew Jamaican rum he used was having consistency issues so he changed to other rums as needed to preserve the integrity of the Mai Tai flavors.

While J. Wray and Nephew distillers are still in the game, along with plantation partner Appleton Estate, none of the rums today seem to reflect the distant relatives that the Trader used while working his craft. Instead, we are relegated to employ all sorts of other rums in all sorts of combinations in an effort to match the elusive qualities that the Mai Tai once possessed.

The orgeat that the Trader used is no longer available, so we have to use substitutes, most of which does not seem to fit the descriptions of what went into the original Mai Tai.

The orange curaçao he used, I believe was DeKuyper in the beginning, but when the quality of the product became a problem, he switched to Bols. I myself use Bols because it's the best I can find locally. I'm pretty sure that if the Trader was alive and well today, he would have switched from Bols to something else long ago. Like so many other products, the Bols of today is not nearly as good as the Bols of yesteryear.

There is the question as to whether or not the Trader used Persian Limes or Key Limes. The recipe calls for the juice of one lime, however, there seems to be possibly too much juice if you use a Persian Lime, whereas it is not too much if you use a Key Lime. On the one hand, it seems possible that he used Key Limes because one lime provides a good amount of juice. On the other hand, the most commonly available limes are the Persian variety, which is understood unless otherwise specified, which the Trader did not, so it is a question.

The drink is sweet enough without the addition of Rock Candy Syrup, which is a required component of the Mai Tai. The use of RCS in the presence of the mildly sweet orgeat and extra sweet orange curaçao is one indication that the Trader might have used Persian limes. The RCS seems to have a balancing effect upon the copious juice from one Persian Lime, whereas, by using a Key Lime, the resulting drink can be a little too sweet.

Then there is the matter of shaved ice. Shaved ice is completely different from crushed ice. Crushed ice is a mass of small ice chips. Shaved ice is paper thin and a fluffy mass like snow. Shaking a drink with shaved ice is totally different from shaking one with crushed ice.

Finally, you'll need a sprig of mint. Most likely, he used mentha sachalinensis, but then again the use of common garden mint is an assumption, since he never specified otherwise.

When you put all of these things together, it is hard enough to make an authentic Mai Tai yourself. You then have to wonder, how would you know that you're drinking an authentic Mai Tai even if someone makes you one.

Your best bet is to know that your bartender is using all of the correct ingredients as far as you know and hope you enjoy whatever the result happens to be.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2010-04-27 08:03 ]