Ronrico Mai-Tai (1962)

This is from a print-ad circa 1962 and is noteworthy for a few reasons.

Firstly, it is a very early printed Mai Tai recipe, substantially similar to others from the mid-late 1950s. This was the original "Hawaiian Mai Tai" style that featured a split base of light rum paired with a flavorful dark Jamaica rum. I can assure you the Myers's of that era was quite flavorful, and issued at robust 97 proof! A "jigger" in this time period was usually 1 oz.

As is typical of these early Hawaiian Mai Tais, the sweeteners were used in equal portions. Dash in this case being equal to ¼ oz. While the cocktail pictured does seem to be somewhat reminiscent of a fruit salad, it is also noteworthy that there's no pineapple or orange juice. Remember, the Hawaiian Mai Tai was not born with pineapple juice.

1 jigger Ronrico White
1 jigger Myers’s Jamaica Rum
Juice of One Lime
1 dash Orgeat
1 dash Simple Syrup
1 dash Orange Curacao

I love the line "Don't waste your time making it". The person writing the copy also misspelled "Myers" rum, though they surely weren't the first and far into the future people will still be misspelling it!

[ Edited by kevincrossman on 2023-04-04 12:02:42 ]

Kind of takes away that argument that the Mai Tai devolved because bartenders didn't know how to make it. The recipe was out there for those willing to look. The multi-fruit and grenadine punches were the result of laziness.

Exactly, arriano!

There were numerous recipes published in newspapers and books like the Esquire Party Book that don't use pineapple but do use orgeat, curaçao, lime, sugar, and rum. So, absolutely, this idea that nobody knew what was in a Mai Tai is a total myth.

[ Edited by kevincrossman on 2023-04-04 14:58:47 ]