This recipe is part two of my New Orleans Mixology Monday post. For the complete story behind this drink, please click here.
¾ oz Wild Turkey rye
¾ oz Clear Creek apple brandy
¾ oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
¼ oz Strega
2 dashes cinnamon tincture*
1 large strip orange peel
Stir ingredients over cracked ice. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass and garnish with orange peel.
*To make cinnamon tincture, soak 4 ounces whole cinnamon sticks in 16 oz grain alcohol for three weeks. Strain solids and bottle.
One question I'm often asked is "Do you have any drink-related book recommendations?" Well, funny you should ask, I've compiled a list of the ten books every professional bartender or home mixologist should own. I keep every one of these close at hand and have read most of them several times. I suggest you do the same.
It's always mojito season somewhere, so this advice is timely in your area about half the year. Wether you're making them or simply enjoying them, this advice will help you look like a pro in no time at all.
The flavors of the Richmond Gimlet are imbued with sunshine. Fresh mint mingling with the herbaceousness of gin and the tartness of lime have made this drink a Eugene classic for many years now.
You'll get a lot of snarky advice on this site about how to make a proper drink, but if you ever need to know what not to do, this is the video for you.
The world of booze can be mystifying to people that don't work in bars or around alcohol all the time. I hear a lot of assumptions about the industry I'm in that are - much like 90% of what you hear in bars - completely false. Here are a few you've probably heard yourself.
The debate rages on: Should we try to look cool and crack open the Boston shaker or be tidy professionals and use the Hawthorne strainer the way God intended? Be sure to leave your two cents in the comments section.
The traditional garnish for a Pisco Sour is a couple of drops of bitters in the foam, but I've never been particularly impressed with the way these few paltry drops of bitters sat in their little egg-white mattress and didn't play along with the rest of the drink. I envisioned a Pisco Sour with a uniformly-distributed bitters-scorched foam: slightly crisp as the fire burnt the sugars, and slightly warm as the foam insulated the rest of the frosty cocktail from the heat. A pisco creme brulée in a glass!
I get so many visitors looking for tips on how to write a bartending resume that I thought I should finally post a tutorial on how to write your own. Click the headline to read more.
I always love showing up to a party with a gallon jug of pre-mixed margaritas, so I've decided to share my recipe. This margarita recipe is the perfect blend of strong, sweet, and sour. But be warned: this recipe packs a serious punch.
There isn't much I can say about this video that hasn't been said already. If you've read anything I've written about cocktails, you'll understand why this video symbolizes everything wrong with the state of bartending in America today. Watch and learn, but be warned: this one isn't for the feint of heart.
About Me
My name is Jeff Morgenthaler and I'm the head bartender at Bel Ami in Eugene, Oregon.
I'm 36, I've been tending bar for 12 years and writing about it for 5. Mixing drinks has become something of a passion for me in recent years, and I strive to elevate the experience of having a drink from something mundane to something more culinary.
The writing I do here is intended as a work in progress. My recipes are like my opinions: they are constantly being revised and refined as I work them through my mind and my fingers. Comments and participation are encouraged, so please don't feel the need to tread lightly here.
Victor Bergeron - Trader Vic - created this drink back in the 40s, and is quoted in the 1947 edition of his Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide as saying, “Anyone who says that I didn’t create this drink is a dirty stinker.”
When I visited Trader Vic’s in Beverly Hills, I watched their skilled mixologists closely to try to learn the secrets of this drink (shaved ice is key here, kids) but I recently found the recipe online here.
When made properly, the Mai Tai is a smooth, slightly sweet, and potent concoction - and well worthy of our sophisticated palates (heh).
1.5 oz light rum
1 oz dark rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
.75 oz orange curaçao or triple sec
.5 oz orgeat (almond syrup)
.5 oz simple syrup
Build this drink in a wine glass, stirring just enough to mix, before finishing the drink with crushed ice and floating the dark rum on top. Garnish with an orange wedge and maraschino cherry.
Comments
3 Responses to “Mai Tai”
15 Aug 2006 at 5:58 pm 1. Anonymous
Shouldn’t the dark rum should be “J. Wrays Nephew” a favorite of Trader Vic? And the triple sec be the orginal orange cuarcao, no longer sold off the island?
[…] Jenny and I started with Mai Tais, and Sarah grabbed a Maui Fizz. The drinks were, in one word, amazing. Absolutely incredible. The Mai Tai was the best I’ve ever had, way better than mine. I’ll print the recipe here when I get home to my Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. They came with crushed ice and we gulped them down in two seconds. The Maui Fizz was light, refreshing, and flash-blended. […]
[…] is variable. You can to garnish yours Mai Tai with orange wedge and maraschino cherry (flag) (as Jeffrey Morgenthaler), with lime shell and sprig of mint(as Trader Vic) or exotic […]
Things are really starting to ramp up for the 75th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition on December 5th! Today I received a package from the folks at Old Forester bourbon, who are showing their support of my favorite day by releasing a limited edition Repeal Day bottling of their whiskey.
From the press release:
“Repeal […]
15 Aug 2006 at 5:58 pm 1. Anonymous
Shouldn’t the dark rum should be “J. Wrays Nephew” a favorite of Trader Vic? And the triple sec be the orginal orange cuarcao, no longer sold off the island?
24 Jan 2007 at 12:57 pm 2. Jeffrey Morgenthaler » My Pilgrimage to Trader Vic’s
[…] Jenny and I started with Mai Tais, and Sarah grabbed a Maui Fizz. The drinks were, in one word, amazing. Absolutely incredible. The Mai Tai was the best I’ve ever had, way better than mine. I’ll print the recipe here when I get home to my Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. They came with crushed ice and we gulped them down in two seconds. The Maui Fizz was light, refreshing, and flash-blended. […]
12 May 2008 at 11:06 am 3. Mai tai - roa ae!
[…] is variable. You can to garnish yours Mai Tai with orange wedge and maraschino cherry (flag) (as Jeffrey Morgenthaler), with lime shell and sprig of mint(as Trader Vic) or exotic […]