Mai Tai trouble- dark rum over powers all other flavors

I'm having trouble with my mai tai's- the dark rum drowns out everything else! I'm using the Trader Vic recipe from Trader Vic's Tiki Party with these ingredients-
Myers's Dark Rum
Bacardi Gold Rum
DeKuypers Curacao
Torani Orgeat
Lime
Simple Syrup

The particular rums I'm using because they're the only brands sold on the island. Any suggestions on how to tweak the volumes so the flavor taste better.

Myers' is one of the most full bodied dark rums. That's great when you need that flavor. If your other rum is the gold, you'll need to change the ratio a good bit. More like 1/2 Myers and 1.5 gold. Are these really the only rums you have? If you can get some other, more mild dark, just use 2 ounces of it. Cruzan or Appleton VX or Extra. Any of the tastier darker rums.

Myers is a staple, but it is a mixer, not a sipper.

Holy crap! It looks like the only decent ingredients you have available are lime and simple syrup and even they could be questionable.

Myers's has corky overtones to it that I personally do not enjoy in dark rum. Bacardi is about as harsh as they come. Both of these rums I consider to be desperation rums, but as you say, that's all you have at your disposal.

If you don't have a measuring shot glass, you can just eyeball this, but to control the effect of the dark rum, you just have to do a little side experiment. Take a shot of your Bacardi Gold and add a half-shot of Myers's to it. Presumably that's not too much. Then just keep adding dark rum until it's as good as it's going to get. Whatever those proportions are, you need to mix up enough for your Mai Tais before hand if your blend has really odd proportions. That should take care of the dark rum flavor issue.

There was a time when TV used DeKuyper curaçao, but he abandoned it when the quality went down the tubes. He then went to Bols, which is what I use for the most part, but like deKuyper, Bols has gone downhill as well, so it is not like the Bols Orange Curaçao that VJB, Jr used himself. Hiram Walker is another curaçao that you'll want to avoid. It's pretty much just as bad as DeKuyper.

Torani seems to do well as a syrup for coffee, which means it doesn't have to be much good, which is fortunate for Torani since it isn't very good at all. You're still lucky to find storebought orgeat at all. If you can find Rose Water, Orange Flower Water, and lots of almonds, you might want to try making your own. Even if you do a lousy job, it's still going to be better than Torani.

On 2009-12-22 05:19, Wayfarer wrote:
I'm having trouble with my mai tai's- the dark rum drowns out everything else! I'm using the Trader Vic recipe from Trader Vic's Tiki Party with these ingredients-
Myers's Dark Rum
Bacardi Gold Rum
DeKuypers Curacao
Torani Orgeat
Lime
Simple Syrup

The particular rums I'm using because they're the only brands sold on the island. Any suggestions on how to tweak the volumes so the flavor taste better.

Meyer's is some powerful stuff..... if your pouring it anything other than a Coke you have to really be careful!

With those ingredients, maintaining that is all you have or can get, try this:

1/2 ounce Myers's Dark Rum
1 1/2 ounce Bacardi Gold Rum
1 ounce DeKuypers Curacao
3/4 ounce Lime
1/2 ounce Torani Orgeat
Simple Syrup to taste, between 1/4 and 1/2 ounce.

The Myers will crush most anything you add it to, so keep it on the lighter side.

The Curacao is a bit weak overall so use more. It has its own sweetness, so we will have to cut the simple syrup back.

The lime is to your taste, start with 3/4 ounce and go from there. You may want to use more to offset some of the Meyers.

I don't know what the Torani Orgeat tastes like, but based on other commercial products it will be a bit weak in the flavor a probably way too sweet.

Leaving you the simple syrup..... you may not need any at all because everything else your using is on the sweeter side.

Shake this over the finest ice you can manage, and then pour over crushed ice.

If you can get them garnish with an orange AND lime wedge/slice/chunk. The orange will help 'control' the Meyers.

As always with bar instructions... your mileage may vary. And tell us what you come up with and how.

And maybe you can send smoke signals to the second island on the right and see if they can get you some better curacao.

Thanks for the help guys, I'm going to mix another one up tonight after work and see what happens. I'm going to switch to Bols, unlike the rums we do have both Bols and DeKuypers on the island so I can switch easily enough. The orgeat I had to have a friend in the states mail to me and she had to drive 40 minutes to find a place that sold it. Everyone else thought she was crazy when she asked for it! Thought she was making stuff up.

[ Edited by: Wayfarer 2009-12-22 22:22 ]

I tried again, as per the recipe above and it tastes more tart now but I'm getting there.

On 2009-12-26 17:11, Wayfarer wrote:
I tried again, as per the recipe above and it tastes more tart now but I'm getting there.

Tart is good! That means your close.

If the Meyer's is under control then you can start adding a bit more simple syrup to get it where you want.

Or....

Add a wee bit more Meyer's keeping everything else the same and you'll go from tart to sharp.

Keep working it and let us know what you end up with!

Is there a reason you're choosing to use Bacardi? I would suggest using Cruzan, instead of Bacardi; it's a far better mixing rum at an equivalent price point.

As for Meyers, I concur with what everyone else is saying; it's a heavy handed ingredient (and too much of a distracting flavor, IMO). A favorite float rum of mine is Coruba (distilled by Wray & Nephew), because it contains so many of the qualities that are prized in a dark Jamaican rum, and "plays well with others". The biggest problem with it, though, is its sometimes hard to come by, as well as being a higher price point, but it's worth it.

On 2009-12-27 09:27, Haole'akamai wrote:
As for Meyers, I concur with what everyone else is saying; it's a heavy handed ingredient (and too much of a distracting flavor, IMO). A favorite float rum of mine is Coruba (distilled by Wray & Nephew), because it contains so many of the qualities that are prized in a dark Jamaican rum, and "plays well with others". The biggest problem with it, though, is its sometimes hard to come by, as well as being a higher price point, but it's worth it.

Hey, that's what I was going to say.

Re: Coruba

The biggest problem with it, though, is its sometimes hard to come by, as well as being a higher price point, but it's worth it.

Well, here in Orygun, Coruba's not hard to find, and $4 to $5 CHEAPER than Myers (and without sales tax, too).

The only reason I'm using Bacardi & Myers's is because those are the only rums of their kind sold here. I'd love to use Cruzan or any other kinds of rum for drink making. I'm just thankful we have these at least.

Okay Okay... now see what you did... I was trying to be good and not have one tonight... oh well..:wink:
I'll give those ingredients a try and see what I come up with.. Just for the sake of a fellow TC member...

Mahalo

On 2009-12-27 22:28, Wayfarer wrote:
The only reason I'm using Bacardi & Myers's is because those are the only rums of their kind sold here.

Oooooh, my deepest sympathies. I'd say it's time to move my friend. :) Then again, you could be enjoying 72 degree weather on a quiet sun-drenched beach and then who cares...

BUT, if you insist on staying on your island, heed the advice you're receiving and your Mai-Tais may just reach that wonderful "Aha!" moment.

On 2009-12-22 05:19, Wayfarer wrote:
I'm having trouble with my mai tai's- the dark rum drowns out everything else! I'm using the Trader Vic recipe from Trader Vic's Tiki Party with these ingredients-
Myers's Dark Rum
Bacardi Gold Rum
DeKuypers Curacao
Torani Orgeat
Lime
Simple Syrup

The particular rums I'm using because they're the only brands sold on the island. Any suggestions on how to tweak the volumes so the flavor taste better.

Don't worry about it as long as it tastes good. I consider myself a decent mixologist and I've pretty much given up on mixing the perfect mai tai, which i've only had at one place, the Halekulani. They somehow pull off the perfect balance of sweet and tart with strong almond notes. In attempts to replicate, I've made my own orgeat with double and triple the amount of almond extract called for, but once mixed, the essence never shows up any more than usual. Get yourself some demerara, make some allspice syrup and move on to the Navy grog. Tastier drink and more fun to perfect, IMO.

I think I have the Mai Tai down as good as I can get it with the ingredients on hand. It's sweet but with a sting of dark rum and lime to it. I noticed the almond on my first taste but it sort of blended in by the second.

1/2 ounce Myers's Dark Rum
1 1/2 ounce Bacardi Gold Rum
1 1/2 ounce DeKuypers Curacao
3/4 ounce Lime
3/4 ounce Torani Orgeat

Since the Torani is so sweet I just upped the amount of it to replace simple syrup.
The only other change I made to the suggested dosage was an extra 1/2 oz of Curacao.

Thanks for all the help and advice!

Maybe I'm missing something, but which "islands" are you on? Surely not the Hawaiian Islands because you can get all kinds of rum there. I always opt for Whalers Dark Rum for the mere fact that it is the brand used by the bartenders on Waikiki back when I had my very first Mai Tai. It's not the most expensive by any means but works really well as a float with the other ingredients. A bit more syrupy than Meyers, but then again that's kind of what you want for a float. Also always use a mint sprig when you can. It's the little touches that make it come alive.

I'm on Diego Garcia, Chagos Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory. It's basically a US Navy Base / Perfectly preserved piece of paradise. Oh, and home of the Autobots, but don't tell anybody.