Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's)
Muddle; Shake ∙ 4 min ∙ 22.6% ABV ∙
This Mai Tai variation adds muddled mint and pink grapefruit juice to the classic rum, orange liqueur and lime, strained over crushed ice. Bracingly cold and lightly bruised with herbal fragrance, it balances a bittersweet citrus tang against a warming, high-proof punch that lingers on the finish.
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
- Shake with ice
- Strain into the glass filled with crushed ice
- Garnish with a mint sprig
Tips
- Muddle the mint leaves lightly and briefly — just enough to release the oils, not so hard it turns bitter and grassy.
- Squeeze the lime and grapefruit juice fresh just before building — pre-juiced citrus flattens the tart top notes this recipe relies on.
- Shake hard and strain over fresh crushed ice so the drink stays cold without over-diluting before serving.
History
This version of the Mai Tai 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 in 1933 at his original Don the Beachcomber's bar in Hollywood. Built from a longer, more elaborate list of rum, citrus, falernum and spice than the drink that later made the name famous, it was part of the rum-heavy, multi-ingredient style Beach used across his tiki menu, and he later maintained that Trader Vic's more famous Mai Tai had grown out of his own earlier creation.
The name Mai Tai itself is tied to Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron, who is credited with mixing the drink in 1944 at his Trader Vic's restaurant in Oakland, California, naming it after a Tahitian phrase of approval, and building it around aged Jamaican rum, orange curaçao, lime and orgeat. Bergeron and Beach disputed for years over who truly originated the Mai Tai, a rivalry the two men are said to have settled between themselves in 1970, with Bergeron widely credited afterward as the drink's inventor. This Beaumont-Gantt's rendition keeps the name but follows Donn Beach's earlier, richer combination of rums and juices rather than Bergeron's simpler, curaçao-and-orgeat-based formula.
