An Authentic Hawaiian Mai Tai Recipe

The creator of this particular version is not known, but was allegedly used at the Honolulu Sheraton Moana Surfrider. The original Mai Tai was created by Victor J. Bergeron in 1944 by combining 2 ounces of 17-year-old J. Wray Nephew rum with juice from one fresh lime, 1/2 ounce each of Holland DeKuyper Orange Curacao and French Garnier Orgeat, and 1/4 ounce Rock Candy Syrup. The mixture is hand shaken and poured over shaved ice with a fresh mint garnish and 1/2 the lime rind.

Bergeron used the recipe in his Trader Vic's starting in 1948, and later introduced the Mai Tai to Hawaii in 1953 in the Royal Hawaiian, Moana and Surfrider Hotels. This version no doubt derives from that 1953 origin.

An Authentic Hawaiian Mai Tai

1 oz. Royal Hawaiian Light Rum, or any light rum.
1 oz. Demerara Rum (Lemon Hart 86)
1 oz. Orange Curacao (Bols)
Dash French Orgeat Syrup
Dash Rock Candy Syrup
Juice of half a Lime
1/4 oz. Lemon Juice
Orange Juice

Fill large (14 ounce) glass with ingredients, then add crushed ice and orange juice. Garnish with mint leaves and perhaps fruit on a skewer.

As a postscript, it is worth noting that Trader Vic's has a Mai Tai mix which is featured on their Web pages. For more information, or to learn more of the history of the Mai Tai, please see the Trader Vic's Mai Tai history page at http://www.tradervics.com/maitai1.htm

A Not-so Authentic Mai Tai Recipe

As a final note, I'll add that while I was in Maui in August, 2000, I had a very simple drink sold as a Mai Tai which simply had POG (Haleakala Dairies' Passion fruit (known in Hawaii as lilikoi), Orange, and Guava juices) with a shot of light rum over ice and a Meyer's Dark Rum float over the top. It was actually quite good for so simple a recipe. Now if you can just find POG on the mainland...

This document may be found at: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/indiv/gdh/cooking/bev_s_mai-tai.html/
Comments and suggestions welcome.
Last revised Tuesday, 26-Sep-2000 13:49:26 PDT.

Garrett Hildebrand -- gdh@uci.edu