Creole Shrubb & The Mai Tai

I recently wrote a post on my new cocktail blog, http://cincinnaticocktails.com about my favourite cocktail, the Mai Tai. One of the items that I touched on in my post was the drink’s Orange Curaçao component. Here’s my basic Mai Tai recipe:

1oz Appleton V/X
1oz Rhum Saint James Extra Old Rum Agricole
½ oz Curaçao
½ oz Orgeat
A bit more than 1/2 oz Lime Juice

Sometimes I’ll use LaFavorite Vieux as the Agricole instead of St James. If I'm making cocktails for company sometimes I’ll splurge on Appleton’s Reserve or 12yr for the Jamaican rum.

After much experimenting, I’ve found Senior and other neutral sprits based Curaçaos to be too sweet in the Mai Tai. DeKuyper is cheap and out of the question to pair with my good rums. Ditto for Hiram Walker, Leroux and the other denizens of the liquor store's bottom shelves. After much experimenting, I have settled on using Stock’s GranGala as my go-to Curaçao in a Mai Tai. GranGala is similar in style to Grand Marnier in that it’s made on an brandy base. Curaçaos come in two styles, those that are made with a brandy base (such as Grand Marnier, Marie Brizard Orange Curaçao, Torres Grand Orange and Stock’s GranGala), and those that are made with a neutral grain spirit base (such as Senior, Bols, Hiram Walker & DeKuyper). Grand Marnier, in fact, was originally called “Curaçao Marnier” on it’s label for many years. I like a brandy based Curaçao in my Mai Tai as the brandy base adds richness, viscosity and complexity to the finaldrink. I’m able to get GranGala for $16.00/750ml bottle here in the Cincinnati area, which is far less expensive than Grand Marnier, and I find GranGala to be drier and less ‘syrupy’ than Marnier as well.

I was very happy to find that Rhum Clement has returned to the local market after a 2+ year absence. I picked up a bottle of Clement’s "Creole Shrubb" Orange Liqueur today as I wanted to try it in a Mai Tai. Firstly, the Shrubb is unique in that it’s a Curaçao thats made on a base of Clement’s Rum Agricole. That makes the Shrubb closer in style to the Grand Marnier, et. al. style of Curaçaos than to the neutral grain styles of senior etc. I rushed home and made a couple of Mai Tais with the Shrubb, and was ultimately disappointed with it in my drinks. The Shrubb came off as being too sweet and too bright, and it’s orange notes were too dominate in the final cocktails. The Shrubb also rounded off the pointy edges of my Mai Tai-the ‘funky’ (and I mean that in a good way) Agricole notes were muted by the Shrubb, and the drink was too ‘smooth’ and lacking in character. I made the same drink at the end of the night with the GranGala, and the results were flavourful, balanced and delicious.

Considering that the GranGala is priced at $16.00 and the Shrubb at $31.50 around here, I’ll be sticking with GranGala. What are some of you fellow TC’ers using for Curaçao in your Mai Tais these days? Anyone using the Shrubb, and if so are you getting better results than I did??

Mahalo,

Craig

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2010-08-16 14:50 ]

Thanks Craig for the analysis and explanation - not just "I like so and so because it's yummy," but some thought provoking discussion. Makes me wanna go run some experiments. I always thought of Grand Marnier as something different from either curacao or triple sec, but it's interesting they used to call themselves a curacao.

Haven't tried GranGala, but it sounds worth trying. There's so many orange base liqueurs that it's pretty overwhelming. Also, I've noticed that straight side by side comparisons of comparable liqueurs by themselves often don't necessarily correlate to the sensations revealed when they're mixed in a drink. I love Senor Curacao, but could imagine how it could come off a little too sweet, so in that kind of case I sometimes err on the side of a lighter portion. I also like Marie Brizard.

Scottes Rum Pages has an interesting analysis of various orange based liqueurs. He's on TC sometimes, and participated in this old TC thread, around the same time.

Have you tried the Santa Teresa rum-based orange liqueur? I've heard good things about that, but like the Creole Shrubb it's also pricey like the dickens so I've never tried it.

-Randy

I adore the shrub 'sub' --
My current love affair:

13 year Mai Tai

1oz Rhum JM 1997 Martinique
1oz Smith & Cross Jamaican
1/2 oz Rhum Clement Creole Shrub
1/2 oz Trader Tiki Orgeat
3/4 oz fresh key lime juice

On 2010-08-16 13:50, Melintur wrote:
I adore the shrub 'sub' --
My current love affair:

13 year Mai Tai

1oz
1oz Smith & Cross Jamaican
1/2 oz Rhum Clement Creole Shrub
1/2 oz Trader Tiki Orgeat
3/4 oz fresh key lime juice

Craig,

I've been playing with Smith & Cross as well. If the S&C were an older rum it might just make the perfect Mai Tai-it's flavourful and funky (again, funky = good in this case). I've been combining the S&C with some older Appleton rum (12 year combined with S&C 50/50), then adding the Agricole and other ingredients. It makes for one hell of a Mai Tai! The Rhum JM 1997 Martinique isn't sold in these parts-what is it like? The agricoles that we have available around here are St. James, Neisson, LaFavorite & Clement, and the St. James & Clement lines just became available again.

Cheers,

Craig

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2012-04-22 19:23 ]

Since this seems to be a combo post of "what's your favorite curacao and why" and "what's your favorite personal Mai-Tai recipe", here goes...

Favorite curacao: Marie Brizard
Why? I think this review sums it up pretty well. I only recently got a bottle of Senior Curacao of Curacao and haven't yet subbed it in a Mai-Tai. Drunk straight, I was slightly disappointed. It seems sweeter, thicker and more orangey than MB and seemed to lose that drier bitter orange of MB that I like so much. That was only a first impression, so I'll play with it some more.

Personal favorite Mai-Tai recipe?

1 oz Smith & Cross
1 oz Clement Rhum Vieux Agricole VSOP (say that 3 times fast!)
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz Marie Brizard orange curacao
1/4 oz orgeat (I use Teisseire due to homemade orgeat's relatively short shelf life.)
1/4 oz rich (2:1) simple syrup

I personally favor a slightly stronger Mai-Tai than the standard without adding to the liquid volume. And at 114 proof, S&C does the trick nicely.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and don't forget the FRESH MINT!!

[ Edited by: GatorRob 2010-08-16 15:52 ]

By the way, nice looking blog Craig. Haven't read the articles yet, but it sure looks purty! I've bookmarked it for later reading (

On 2010-08-16 15:56, GatorRob wrote:
By the way, nice looking blog Craig. Haven't read the articles yet, but it sure looks purty! I've bookmarked it for later reading (

Thanks for the compliment GatorRob!

I wish that I could find Marie Brizard around here, I think that their products in general are top notch, and their Curaçao in particular is fantastic. The whole Brizard line seems to be getting harder and harder to locate anywhere in the nation.

I agree about the MB...when I first started out making Mai Tais at home, I had no clue there was such a difference among ingredients, so I got the DeKuyper brand. It tasted really bad...nothing like the Trader Vic's Mai Tais I've grown to love so much. Of course, I was also using Bacardi rum...my oh my how much I've learned :)

It was only until I read about the $100 Mai Tai that I decided to invest in good ingredients...boy am I glad I did!

None of the local liquor stores carried the Marie Brizard brand, oddly enough I found it in my grocery store! Now that I know it's somewhat hard to get a hold of, I might stockpile a couple of bottles :wink:

My current favorite is the standard $100 Mai Tai recipe:

1 oz Saint James 15-year Hors D'Age Rum
1 oz Appleton Estate Extra rum
1/2 oz Marie Brizard orange curacao
1/4 oz orgeat syrup (I use Fee Brothers)
1/4 oz simple syrup (again I use Fee Brothers)
juice of 1 smallish lime
(should use mint but I never have it at the house!)

Seeing as how I'm running low on the Saint James...anyone have a recommendation of another rum to try? I'm ready to experiment :)

Rhum Clement is delicious in a Mai Tai.

Chris

On 2010-08-20 06:28, GeneriKB wrote:
...(should use mint but I never have it at the house!)

You'll spend $70 for a bottle of Saint James 15-year Hors D'Age Rum but not $4 for a mint plant and an endless supply of fresh mint? Just an observation :D

On 2010-08-20 06:59, MadDogMike wrote:

On 2010-08-20 06:28, GeneriKB wrote:
...(should use mint but I never have it at the house!)

You'll spend $70 for a bottle of Saint James 15-year Hors D'Age Rum but not $4 for a mint plant and an endless supply of fresh mint? Just an observation :D

I KNOW I KNOW!

Ok you've humiliated me into buying a mint plant, thank you (no really thank you just what I needed hehe)

GeneriKB, I've had the St Jame Amber & Extra Old, but I've never had their very old Hors d'age. I bet that it makes a fantastic Mai Tai! Just curious if you've ever tried it in the 3 Dots & A Dash ora Ti Punch?

St James Hors d'age is apparently no longer being distributed. Sub the Rhum Clement and you won't be losing a thing. That was a good tip from Jeff Berry and I'll second it.

GatorRob, St James now has a new importer. Not only are their full line of rums now available, but we are actually getting the same St James' rums that are being poured in Martinique. The arrangement with their previous importer saw different rums being exported to North America than those that are available in Martinique.

On 2010-08-20 12:27, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
GeneriKB, I've had the St Jame Amber & Extra Old, but I've never had their very old Hors d'age. I bet that it makes a fantastic Mai Tai! Just curious if you've ever tried it in the 3 Dots & A Dash ora Ti Punch?

I haven't really tried making any other Tiki Drinks besides the Mai Tai (although I've drank plenty others at Trader Vic's and other tiki bars) And ya, it makes a beautiful Mai Tai :D

Boy what a story I have for you guys! I stopped by my local liquor store to see if they had the Clements VSOP, didn't see any so I just got some organic cider (so so tasty). The cashier asked if I found everything I was looking for, so I told her about the Clements. She was like "oh we have some of that in our clearance section I think"

...

I go check it out, they have two bottles ($25 each!), a bottle of Creole Shrubb, and a bottle of Velvet Falernum! Major score! Now I have to try it out tonight :D

On 2010-08-21 23:30, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
GatorRob, St James now has a new importer. Not only are their full line of rums now available, but we are actually getting the same St James' rums that are being poured in Martinique.

Great news - now I can focus my hoarding efforts on LH