How far in advance can I mix up batches of mai tais?

We're having our housewarming party on 4/13 for our Tiki Acres Ranch. I'd like to measure and mix all the basic ingredients for mai tais ahead of time as much as possible. That way, come the 13th, I can simply pour the pre-measured mix into the shaker, shake it up, and pour over cracked ice, instead of the 1/4 oz of this, 1/2 oz of that, while everyone stands around waiting.

I'm using the recipe that Donhonyc posted:

1 oz. Lime juice
1/4 oz. Curacao
1/2 oz. Trader Vic Orgeat
1/4 oz. Trader Vic Rock Candy Syrup
2 oz. Myer's Dark Rum

But the question is, how far in advance can I mix the ingredients without having it go bad or oxidize or something else unpleasant? Or can I mix SOME of the ingredients but leave others out until the last minute (such as the lime juice)?

Mahalo
Janet

I believe you can successfully mix everything but the lime juice a couple of hours before your party. Just be sure to store the mix in an old, clean bottle or covered pitcher - don't just leave it open to the air.

Also search TC for this thread: Recipe: tiki drinks to bottle for party (sorry - I can't get the hyperlink to work). There's a whole bunch of links towards the bottom of the page that might give you some good advice. When you start bulking mixing drinks, flavors - especially sweetness - tend to fall out of balance and need adjustment.

Enjoy.

Janet,

I wouldn't serve mai tais made more than a few hours before the event. I've pre-made a batch and they were still good 3-4 hours later. But I wouldn't push it beyond making them the morning of the day the event was schedule.

By the way, I have a couple of tips: (1) double the amount of curacao to 1/2 oz. per drink, and (2) call HEB Central Market and order the amount of fresh lime juice you need by the gallon. If you need less, just call ahead and make sure they have the amount you need. This will save you the trouble of hand-squeezing, and the mai tais made with CM's fresh-squeezed juice are just as good as if you squeeze the limes yourself.

Good luck with the party!

We make up our Mai Tai's by the pitcher, often at least a day in advance. When in Hawaii, we have a least one full pitcher going all the time. We even did this for both of our kid's wedding receptions. Here is the best "knock your hat in a creek" Mai Tai recipe:

Kick this up to whatever proportions you wish. We often do six or twelve times, since pineapple juice comes in 6oz cans.

1oz Bacardi Light
1oz orange juice
1oz pineapple juice
1oz sweet and sour
dash of Grenadine
1/2 oz Myers Dark Rum
1/2 oz Bicardi 151 Rum

Serve this on the rocks and you WILL have a rockin' good time! Caution: This can easily lead to severe "lippage."

Aloha & Enjoy!

On 2008-04-05 21:04, JanetMermaid wrote:
But the question is, how far in advance can I mix the ingredients without having it go bad or oxidize or something else unpleasant? Or can I mix SOME of the ingredients but leave others out until the last minute (such as the lime juice)?

The lime juice is your greatest stumbling block to premixing...... Fresher is better, ask most everyone here.

What you can do is this....

Since you are using a single rum, that is done.

Mix everything else but the lime and cover or bottle. This is your 'mix' and you can do this the day before, but the morning of is better.

Squeeze your limes as close to the party as your scheduling will allow. It sounds like you have an option to buy squeezed from your local market, that is an excellent idea as long as it really is fresh from today.

Then, at party time, pour 2 measures of rum, 2 measures of Mix, 2 measures of lime, ice and shake, pour, repeat. That gets them from your bar two at a time with little effort during the party, and is simple enough you can get a trusted party guest to continue the process while you attend to your hostessing.

From your recipe that would be 4 oz rum, 2 oz mix, 2 oz lime.

Or, you can mix them up in a pitcher, but you will have to do your own math based on the size of your vessel.

As an alternate suggestion, and this is based on the 'refinement' of your guests..... ( and the size of your party, this works better for bigger parties)

Use a high quality bottled lime option like Joe & Nelly's Key-Lime. Mix your curacao, orgeat, syrup and lime by ratio into a vessel/bottle. You will probably need more sugar so make one and taste test. This is your 'mix' and should be done the morning of the party.

To make, it is one measure of rum, one measure of mix, per Mai-Tai, ice, shake, serve. Works equally well in a pitcher at volume.

(Tip... if you are going to mix in a pitcher, over pour your rum just a wee bit to make up for the large volume of ice and the melt you will get by the bottom of the pitcher.)

Good luck with the party! Take pictures! Tell us what method you finally chose and how it worked for you.

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm expecting 50 people. And because our ranch is a one hour drive from Austin, I don't want to mix the mai tais too strong. I figured on cutting back on the rum just a bit, so I don't lose any friends through accidents on their way home.

I already figured on getting fresh lime juice from Central Market.

Now, how about daiquiris....? :wink:

Yeah, I'll have one. Thanks.

But seriously, what's to prep if you're already buying lime juice? Rum, lime juice, simple syrup, ice - not much to a daiquiri. Your only real choice is whether to serve straight up in a cocktail glass or frozen like a slushie.

On 2008-04-06 18:01, JanetMermaid wrote:
Now, how about daiquiris....? :wink:

Mmmmmmmmm...... daiquiris! Yummy!

Enjoy the party! The house looks amazing, I wish I could be there for the party.

OK, I need help here. I'm trying to increase ingredient quantities for a large batch of drink mixer, but I know that all ingredients don't increase at the same ratio. I'm not good at figuring this out, especially since I don't make these very often, and this is the largest party I've hosted.

I've given up on frozen drinks -- blenders are too slow for large groups and no one rents a frozen drink machine in my area. Rental companies in Austin want to tack on an extra FIFTY BUCKS for travel!

So, I'm going to serve mai tais, daiquiris, and pina coladas over cracked ice. Here are the recipes I plan to use -- unless there are better pina colada and daiguiri recipes for serving on the rocks. I would truly appreciate help in what ingredient ratios to use for mixing a gallon at a time.

Another thought is to buy mixes (mai tai mix, pina colada mix), which would make my life a LOT easier. But are there any mixes that are any good?

Pina Colada

4 oz. fresh pineapple juice
3 oz. light rum
2 oz. coconut cream
2 cups crushed ice

Pour all of the ingredients into a blender. Blend briefly at high speed. Strain into a glass and serve. Garnish with a slice of fresh pineapple and a cherry.

Mai Tai

1 oz. Lime juice
1/4 oz. Orange curacao
1/2 oz. Trader Vic Orgeat
1/4 oz. Trader Vic Rock Candy Syrup
2 oz. Myer's Dark Rum (1 oz for lighter drink)

Combine ingredients and shake Pour over cracked ice and garnish with a cherry and umbrella

Daiquiri

1 1/2 oz light rum
1 tbsp triple sec
1 1/2 oz lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1 cherry
1 cup crushed ice

Combine all ingredients (except for the cherry) in an electric blender and blend at a low speed for five seconds, then blend at a high speed until firm. Pour contents into a champagne flute, top with the cherry, and serve.

It'll store for days in the fridge, no problem. Just like any fresh juice, the lime juice is what may go off. Premix the mix and save the liquor until you pour it, otherwise, you may not serve them all and you pour booze down the drain, not just mixer.

For my birthday party I wanted to make Mai Tai's for my guests. Well, I wasn't going to take the time to mix up 20 drinks individually, at least not by measuring every ingredient for every drink. Instead, I pre-squeezed the limes about 2 hours ahead of time (20oz from 16 limes) and stored the juice in an empty Orgeat bottle. I then mixed the rums (I used 20oz of Pyrat XO & 20oz of Brugal), 10oz Curacao, 5oz orgeat, and 5oz rock candy syrup together in a separate container. For each drink I poured 3oz of the rum mixture, and one ounce of lime juice into the shaker with the crushed ice, shook and served normally with garnish. It worked VERY well, and produced extremely consistent drinks that tasted great!

I would think that if you wanted, you could keep a pre-mixed bottle of rum, Curacao, orgeat and SS in your fridge, and then just squeeze one ounce of lime juice to make yourself a Mai Tai.

As a side note, not all of the drinks got used that night, so I mixed the left over lime juice in with the rum. I had one drink the next day that tasted fine, but over the next couple days it definitely went downhill. I'm certain that this was due to the lime juice oxidizing.

Also, I'm not really sure that you want to use 2oz of Meyer's - but I understand you not wanting to break the bank on rum for 50 people. Perhaps using 1oz Meyer's and 1oz Cruzan Dark (which really isn't dark)? If you have it locally, Coruba or Gosling's is a better choice than Meyer's, IMHO.

On 2008-04-07 06:02, JanetMermaid wrote:
..But are there any mixes that are any good?....

Not really. Some better than others, some really suck. Dont know what brands you have available so I can't recommend one over any other.

It all comes down to your guests. If you are serving 'fine cocktails' to a typically beer drinking crowd, then mix is cool because that is about all 'they' are expecting.

If you are serving 'fine cocktails' to a crowd that typically drinks fine cocktails, the mix will be understood by virtue of being at a large party.

Ultimately it comes down to this.... If you are going to go to the trouble to mix some drinks for your guest, make them the best drinks you can. I am sure you have at least one or two people on your guest list that you trust enough to allow behind your bar, chat them up and get them to lend you a hand. It will make it more interesting for everyone and you can even make it a bit of the entertainment to bring in 'tonight's special guest bartender'.

Good luck! And your drink menu sounds really yummy.

Another option on rum is 1 oz. Myers and 1 oz. Appleton's V/X. You can get a handle of V/X (1.75 oz.) for $28.

One thing to remember syrups are heavy and they will sink.

Make sure to stir the FULL container before you take some out. If not, the booze will rise to the top and the syrup will go to the bottom. Don't scoop some out of your batch and then just shake that amount because the first ones will be strong and the rest of them will be too sweet.

Also just pre-cut the limes in a container and put it in a bowl. Fresh lime makes a big difference and is a nice garnish.

I would think that if you wanted, you could keep a pre-mixed bottle of rum, Curacao, orgeat and SS in your fridge, and then just squeeze one ounce of lime juice to make yourself a Mai Tai.

Would it really need to go in the fridge? Orgeat and the SS (well, if you're at least using TV rock candy) never go in the fridge.

I am curious about premixing all but limes. I go for a 2 week surf trip in the fall and bring all of the bottles to mix mai tais. It begins to take up a bunch of space.

On 2008-04-09 14:52, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

I would think that if you wanted, you could keep a pre-mixed bottle of rum, Curacao, orgeat and SS in your fridge, and then just squeeze one ounce of lime juice to make yourself a Mai Tai.

Would it really need to go in the fridge? Orgeat and the SS (well, if you're at least using TV rock candy) never go in the fridge.

I am curious about premixing all but limes. I go for a 2 week surf trip in the fall and bring all of the bottles to mix mai tais. It begins to take up a bunch of space.

It doesn't 'have' to go in the coldbox, but it is a good idea. It really depends on your orgeat. If you are using a commercial orgeat, or at least one that is shelf stable for those of you making your own, mix all you want. Pour your mix, add fresh lime, shake, pour, enjoy.

And, yes, you should shake or stir well before use because the rums will rise to the top of your mix.

It doesn't 'have' to go in the coldbox, but it is a good idea. It really depends on your orgeat. If you are using a commercial orgeat, or at least one that is shelf stable for those of you making your own, mix all you want. Pour your mix, add fresh lime, shake, pour, enjoy.

And, yes, you should shake or stir well before use because the rums will rise to the top of your mix.

Thanks!