Mai-Tais, for a crowd and on a budget?

How do you adjust the recipe so as to make them reasonably classic (that your guests who've never had one can see what the fuss is about) for a lot of people, but without breaking the bank?

Sticking to a cost effective but accurate recipe, I might suggest:

-Rum: Cruzan Aged Light and/or Cruzan Aged Dark
-Curacao: DeKuyper or Hiram Walker
-Lime: Juice actual limes still
-Orgeat: Monin. Try to avoid Torani as that's the most sugary (if so, use only Orgeat and no simple syrup).
-Simple: I'd leave out altogether if using cheaper orgeat, or make it at home. 1 cup water + 1 cup sugar.

I've found that a 50/50 mix of Appleton VX and Coruba, or even Appleton Special if you like, delivers a pretty nice, distinctively Jamaican rum flavor for less than 20 bucks for each bottle. As for the orange liq, there's a brand out there called Royal Montaine that's brandy based and spiced, like Ferrand's dry curacao and the other big name orange liqs, but it goes for 20 bucks per liter. You still have to use fresh limes, but shop around and see if you can find a store that's selling limes individually and pick out the biggest ones. POTC says that Trader Vic's makes an acceptable orgeat, but you can cheat and make a huge batch at home by just making a simple syrup with plain almond milk instead of water and giving it a few drops of almond extract.

An excellent and affordable rum combo is Appleton Estate Signature and Mount Gay Eclipse. We killed off a bottle of Denizen Merchant's Reserve one night and switched to that combo and were very surprised at how good it was. It's now one of a few go-to combos for us and certainly the most inexpensive ($35 for the two bottles in my neighbourhood).

If you can find it, Merlet triple sec from France is excellent and usually runs in the low $20 range.

On 2017-02-13 11:57, jokeiii wrote:
How do you adjust the recipe so as to make them reasonably classic (that your guests who've never had one can see what the fuss is about) for a lot of people, but without breaking the bank?

Jokeiii, all the recipes sound very tasty.
Here’s my tip: 1, estimate the # of drinks you’re gonna make.
2.Combine both rums into a suitable glass container with a cap.
3. same for the orgeat, curacao, and simple syrup if you’re using it ( see KKockas tip).
4.Squeeze Limes into a container. I use (Tang) Pitchers that I pick up at thrifts.
5. Prepare the garnish. Do 1 through 5 2-3 hours prior to the party
6. invite me.
I use a 16 ounce glass measuring vessel and several shakers. You’re going to look so cool Mixing the drinks. Get a guest to help get the ice in the glasses and shake the shakers.
Have fun
Btw, you never have too much lime juice. They are fairly cheap at ethnic market. Figure bout 1 lime per drink

If you really want to cut corners and make a big batch:

• 1.75 liter Coruba
• 4 bottles Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix
• Fresh Lime Juice (about 22 squeezed limes)

Laugh or cringe, but I've made this before for a party and had nothing but compliments from newbies and tikiphiles alike.

I've posted this before in other places.

Here in ATL at TV, unless you order a '44 they make it from Mai Tai Concentrate (a step up from that crappy mix), lime juice and their crappy dark rum.

Best I have come up with to replicate the concentrate
5oz Water
1.25 cups sugar
3tsp almond extract
1.5tsp orange extract
0.5tsp vanilla extract
Food grade caramel coloring, the concentrate is really dark
Stir continuously and slowly bring to boil and then remove from heat once sugar is dissolved.

Mix 1.25oz concentrate with 1-1.25oz lime juice and 1.5oz ea Bacardi Black Rum and Myers or TV Dark Rum if you can get it.

It taste almost like what you get at the bar here in Atlanta.

If you are planning a trip Thursday is $6 Mai Tai night and they have a band.

On 2017-02-14 09:35, arriano wrote:
Laugh or cringe, but I've made this before for a party and had nothing but compliments from newbies and tikiphiles alike.

Hey, a party is a party, and as long as people are having fun, that's all that matters. That's been one of the neatest things I've encountered as I "get into" tiki stuff --- everyone is so cool and friendly!

The recently reformulated Plantation Original Dark Rum is now a really excellent 1-rum option for a quality budget Mai Tai. It now has some pot still Jamaican in it as well as Trinidad and it's much tastier than sll or most of the economy two rum combos you'll try. I get it locally for $17 per 750 ml. With the money you save you can splurge a bit on the Curacao (I'm a Ferrand Dry convert) and the orgeat.

[ Edited by: Sunny&Rummy 2017-02-16 04:45 ]

Mahalo to all, will report on how everything turns out.