Mixed Drinks

Pimm’s cups and spicy margs are our go-tos in the summer

I make (and drink) a lot of Mai Tais during the summer months. A few points:

- the 17 year rum is no longer made and hasn’t been available for decades. For a single bottle of rum, I recommend the Denizen 8 year - which is specifically crafted as a blend for Mai Tais. Another option would be an aged Jamaican rum, like the Appleton estate 12 year. You can blend in some Rhum Agricole if you want to make your own mix
- Skip the rock candy syrup and get all of your sugar from the orgeat. 3/4 ounce of Liber & Co is as good as it gets from store bought brands
- that orange curaçao is cheap shite. Buy Pierre Ferrand’s dry curaçao if you can find it, use Grand Marnier if not
- garnish with a mint bouquet and half of your juiced lime shell turned upside down. It should represent the palm trees growing on an island.

My preferred recipe:

2 oz Denizen 8 year
3/4 oz Liber & Co Orgeat
1 oz lime juice
1/2 ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Garnish with a mint bouquet and juiced lime shell over pebble ice

I’ve been on a Mai Tai kick lately. My current recipe is below:

2 oz Appleton 12 rum
1/2 oz Liber & Co Orgeat
1 oz lime juice
1/2 ounce Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Serve with fresh mint and spent lime.

Bartender at Latitude 29 made me one recently with what I believe was Smith and Cross rum and some aged Rhum JM Agricole which was probably the best mai tai I have ever had.

Lots of information at Ultimatemaitai.com. Play around with different rums and ingredient ratios to see what you like best.

A Mai Tai is easily one of the greatest cocktails of all time if you stick to the real recipe. But when it comes to my favorite rum cocktail, the title goes to the Hurricane.

My go-to Hurricane recipe:
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup (I use Passion Reàl)
• 2 oz Worthy Park 109
• 2 oz Hamilton White Stache