Post #548702 by CincyTikiCraig on Mon, Aug 16, 2010 12:25 AM

I recently wrote a post on my new cocktail blog, http://cincinnaticocktails.com about my favourite cocktail, the Mai Tai. One of the items that I touched on in my post was the drink’s Orange Curaçao component. Here’s my basic Mai Tai recipe:

1oz Appleton V/X
1oz Rhum Saint James Extra Old Rum Agricole
½ oz Curaçao
½ oz Orgeat
A bit more than 1/2 oz Lime Juice

Sometimes I’ll use LaFavorite Vieux as the Agricole instead of St James. If I'm making cocktails for company sometimes I’ll splurge on Appleton’s Reserve or 12yr for the Jamaican rum.

After much experimenting, I’ve found Senior and other neutral sprits based Curaçaos to be too sweet in the Mai Tai. DeKuyper is cheap and out of the question to pair with my good rums. Ditto for Hiram Walker, Leroux and the other denizens of the liquor store's bottom shelves. After much experimenting, I have settled on using Stock’s GranGala as my go-to Curaçao in a Mai Tai. GranGala is similar in style to Grand Marnier in that it’s made on an brandy base. Curaçaos come in two styles, those that are made with a brandy base (such as Grand Marnier, Marie Brizard Orange Curaçao, Torres Grand Orange and Stock’s GranGala), and those that are made with a neutral grain spirit base (such as Senior, Bols, Hiram Walker & DeKuyper). Grand Marnier, in fact, was originally called “Curaçao Marnier” on it’s label for many years. I like a brandy based Curaçao in my Mai Tai as the brandy base adds richness, viscosity and complexity to the finaldrink. I’m able to get GranGala for $16.00/750ml bottle here in the Cincinnati area, which is far less expensive than Grand Marnier, and I find GranGala to be drier and less ‘syrupy’ than Marnier as well.

I was very happy to find that Rhum Clement has returned to the local market after a 2+ year absence. I picked up a bottle of Clement’s "Creole Shrubb" Orange Liqueur today as I wanted to try it in a Mai Tai. Firstly, the Shrubb is unique in that it’s a Curaçao thats made on a base of Clement’s Rum Agricole. That makes the Shrubb closer in style to the Grand Marnier, et. al. style of Curaçaos than to the neutral grain styles of senior etc. I rushed home and made a couple of Mai Tais with the Shrubb, and was ultimately disappointed with it in my drinks. The Shrubb came off as being too sweet and too bright, and it’s orange notes were too dominate in the final cocktails. The Shrubb also rounded off the pointy edges of my Mai Tai-the ‘funky’ (and I mean that in a good way) Agricole notes were muted by the Shrubb, and the drink was too ‘smooth’ and lacking in character. I made the same drink at the end of the night with the GranGala, and the results were flavourful, balanced and delicious.

Considering that the GranGala is priced at $16.00 and the Shrubb at $31.50 around here, I’ll be sticking with GranGala. What are some of you fellow TC’ers using for Curaçao in your Mai Tais these days? Anyone using the Shrubb, and if so are you getting better results than I did??

Mahalo,

Craig

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2010-08-16 14:50 ]