On 2004-11-11 12:01, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote: Here's the text of the Nov 11 San Francisco Chronicle's article celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Mai Tai.
...According to Bergeron, he sat down with his bartender one evening in 1944 to create the world-class drink he envisioned. What they came up with was this: 2 ounces 17-year-old J. Wray & Nephew Jamaican rum, 1/2 ounce French Garnier Orgeat, 1/2 ounce Holland DeKuyper Orange Curacao, 1/4 ounce rock candy syrup and the juice of one fresh lime.
"We poured the ingredients over shaved ice in a double old-fashioned glass," Bergeron writes, "shook it well, added one spent lime shell and garnished it with a sprig of fresh mint."
The Mai Tai's popularity soon resulted in a shortage of the limited- production 17-year-old rum, so Bergeron switched to J. Wray & Nephew's 15-year- old version. When that dwindled, he stretched his remaining stock by changing the formula to 1 ounce of 15-year-old J. Wray & Nephew and 1 ounce of Red Heart or Coruba Jamaican rum. Today, one of the secrets to making a great Mai Tai is to use two rums.
This is a well known and oft reprinted story, the original recipe for Vic's Mai Tai, blah, blah, blah.
But what's this? The article goes on to describe the Mai Tai made at Vic's these days:
If you know what to ask for, the best Mai Tais are still made by Trader Vic's bartenders. Beware that if you just ask for a Mai Tai, they'll make it using a pre-bottled mix, and the drink will be lighter and sweeter, with less cherry flavor and a thinner texture. You want what they call the Original Mai Tai, which is: 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice (2 to 3 halved limes), 3/4 ounce Leroux Orange Curacao, 3/4 ounce Trader Vic Formula Orgeat syrup, 1 ounce Coruba Dark Jamaican rum, 1 ounce dark Lemon Hart & Son Demerara Rum from Guyana, and pineapple chunk, maraschino cherry and mint for garnish.
Fill a wide-mouthed glass with crushed ice. Squeeze the juice from the lime halves. Reserve one squeezed lime half. Pour in the lime juice, Leroux Orange Curacao and the orgeat syrup. Pour in the Jamaican rum, followed by the Guyana rum. Dump the contents of the glass into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Pour everything back into the glass, and garnish with a chunk of pineapple and a maraschino cherry skewered on a swizzle stick. Drop in the squeezed lime half and add a sprig of mint.
This is what they serve at Vic's when you ask for an "Original"? Hmmmm... I dunno 'bout this one. It's a mite orgeat heavy to start with and it's the first Mai Tai recipe I've seen to use Demarara Rum. Demarara has a very distinct flavor and would give this drink a very different taste than what Vic had planned. Why the change I wonder? Plus I'm assuming that "2 to 3 halved limes" is the same as '2 to 3 lime halves', which would still produce more than the 3/4 oz. the recipe calls for. This could explain why my Trader Vic Mai Tai's taste so different from the Mai Tai's made at Vic's - we're using different recipes!
But at least it's not this one:
Another Bay Area bar with some claim to the Mai Tai's creation is the Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. According to Jeff Doane, the hotel's director of sales and marketing, bartender Frank Lui helped Bergeron concoct the original Mai Tai before jumping ship to the Tonga Room, where he kept making Mai Tais for customers until the mid-1980s. Here's the recipe the Tonga Room uses today: 1 ounce Myers Dark rum, 1 ounce Bacardi 151 proof rum, 5 1/2 ounces pineapple juice, a splash of orgeat syrup, a splash of fresh lime juice and a slice of pineapple.
Fill a ceramic coconut cup with mini ice cubes. Pour in the Myers Dark rum, Bacardi 151 proof rum, pineapple juice, orgeat syrup and lime juice. Stir with a swizzle stick, garnish with the pineapple and a mini umbrella, and serve.
151?? 5 1/2 oz. pineapple juice?? Don't get me started....
I do definitely agree with a couple other points made in the article:
The hand-squeezed lime is crucial to the flavor.
Nothing pre-squeezed; you gotta get the additional oils from the shell itself in there!
The mint doesn't affect the flavor as much as the bouquet, which is part of the Mai Tai experience.
Which supports my assertion that the Mai Tai is meant to be served without straws - you've gotta get your nose into the mint when you sip!
"There is no free pour; that's one thing Vic Bergeron always insisted on, " Richter says.
Damn straight! No free pour!
And the Mai Tai discussion continues...
(I'll get off my soapbox now)
