Post #75128 by thejab on Sun, Feb 8, 2004 4:49 PM

Last night I made a few Mai Tais from the Don the Beachcomber book's recipe:

1.5 oz. Appleton Estate rum (I used Extra this time as I was out of Special and V/X)
1 oz. Cuban rum (I used Havana Club 3-year but the recipe suggests Pusser's as a substitution if it's unavailable)
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice (I used bottled)
1/4 oz. Falernum (I used John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum - it's the best!)
1/2 oz. Cointreau
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash Pernod
Shake with 1 cup cracked ice and pour contents into double old-fashioned glass. Add shell of squeezed lime, four sprigs mint, and pineapple spear.

My dilemma was how much Pernod to add. A dash, according to Trader Vic's bartender guide, is an eighth of a teaspoon when measuring bitters, but it's 1/4 ounce when measuring simple syrup, grenadine, orgeat, or lemon juice. The first batch I made I used 1/4 oz. per drink and the Pernod flavor was too strong. The next batch I made I used 1/8 teaspoon per drink and I couldn't tell there was Pernod in it. I would say that it depends how much you like the taste of Pernod, but it shouldn't be too noticeable, so I would think that about a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon would be enough.

What do you think?