I really like Hawaii. It's been an amazing place to vacation, and I've gone back enough times now to have written about it more than once.
One of the ways I've felt like I'm actually on vacation is a Monkeypod Mai Tai. That, however, is a bit more than I can just make myself on a weekend. So here's my own version, inspired by my local Cane Tiki Room up in Paso Robles. It's a sip of the place I wish to be.
Photo: Mai Tai in Honolulu by Johnny Silvercloud, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The spec
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Lime juice (fresh, or bottled with no added sugar) | 1 oz |
| Dark or spiced rum | 1 oz |
| White rum (agricole if you have it) | 1 oz |
| Orgeat | 0.75 oz |
| Curaçao | 0.5 oz |
Shaken.
A few notes on where that differs from the standard build:
- Fresh lime is best, but bottled works. I've been using bottled 100% lime juice and it's been great. Just check the label: lime juice and nothing else, no added sugar. The orgeat and curaçao already bring plenty of sweetness.
- Orgeat is usually 0.5 oz. I go to 0.75 because a good orgeat is the thing you actually want to taste, and the extra quarter ounce of lime keeps it from getting too sweet.
- Split the base. The dark half brings molasses and oak, the white half brings the bright grassy edge. Agricole is distilled from fresh cane juice instead of molasses, and it's exactly what this drink wants.
The float, if you're feeling dangerous
That dark layer on top of the drink in the photo is a dark rum float. It isn't part of my spec, but it looks great and it makes the drink a good bit stronger.
To add one, shake and pour the drink as usual, ideally over crushed ice so the float has something to rest on. Then hold a spoon upside down just above the drink and slowly pour about 0.5 oz of dark rum over the back of it. The rum spreads out and sits on top instead of mixing in. The first few sips are mostly rum, so pace yourself.
What I'm pouring
Both halves come from Kuleana Rum Works on the Big Island. I chose them for their Hawaiian heritage, since a drink meant to taste like Hawaii should use rum that's actually from Hawaii. They're also just amazing.
Hōkūlei takes the dark slot. It's a blend of seven rums aged 18 months to 18 years, and it already carries a lot of clove, nutmeg, and vanilla, so you can skip the spiced rum and still get the baking spice.
Hawaiian Rum Agricole takes the white slot. Unaged, pressed from heirloom Hawaiian kō grown on their own farm, all green banana and lemongrass. Not cheap, and any decent agricole gets you most of the way there.
That's it. 🍹