Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's)
Muddle; Shake ∙ 4 min ∙ 19.5% ABV ∙
The Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's) shakes Jamaican overproof and white rums with triple sec, falernum, lime, pink grapefruit and muddled mint, over crushed ice.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- In the base of the shaker, lightly muddle: Fresh mint leaves 12 pcs
- Add the remaining ingredients: Jamaican-style overproof aged rum 45 mlWhite rum 30 mlTriple sec 20 mlFalernum liqueur 15 mlLime juice 30 mlPink grapefruit juice 30 mlAngostura aromatic bitters 2 dashes (opt.)
- Shake with ice
- Strain into the glass filled with crushed ice
- Garnish with a mint sprig
Tips
- Press the mint gently, just enough to release its oils; mash it hard and it turns bitter and grassy.
- Squeeze the lime and pink grapefruit just before shaking. At 30 ml each they carry the drink, and juice squeezed hours ahead has lost its aroma.
History
The Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's) traces to Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, the Hollywood restaurateur later known as Donn Beach, who is said to have first served a Mai Tai-style drink at his original Don the Beachcomber's bar. Accounts date that drink to 1933 or to the 1950s. It used a longer list of rum, citrus, falernum and spice than the drink that later made the name famous, in the rum-heavy, multi-ingredient style Beach used across his tiki menu. He later maintained that Trader Vic's more famous Mai Tai had grown out of his own earlier creation.
The name is more widely tied to Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron, who is credited with mixing his Mai Tai in 1944 at Trader Vic's in Oakland, California, around aged Jamaican rum, orange curaçao, lime and orgeat. The origin remains disputed. Beach's drink shares the name, but its richer combination of rums and juices sets it apart from Bergeron's simpler formula.
