Post #750196 by AceExplorer on Wed, Sep 2, 2015 1:37 PM

bkrownd - don't let anyone discourage you, you're right on track by experimenting the way YOU want to do it. You're absolutely right, you shouldn't call your project an authentic Mai Tai, but you can call it "inspired by" and you should be fine. Anyone who tells you otherwise is, to quote Trader Vic, a dirty stinker. You can grow into the fancier stuff later just like the rest of us here did at one time.

On the subject of rums, however, I would discourage use of spiced rums in favor of using good base rum and then adding the spices and flavorings in carefully measured proportions. Some flavorings like cinnamon syrup are very easy to make. Falernum is also easy to make, but has more steps and is more time consuming. Falernum may require a Microplane grater for zesting the limes, and you can "grow" into doing this later. (Don't fear it - it's fun to make, and actually difficult to mess up if you follow instructions carefully.) Again, on the rums mentioned earlier, Kraken is a very heavy flavor and I rarely use it, but I do have a bottle in my bar because it mixes well with coke for my few non-cocktailian friends.

Cheers and HAVE FUN!