Mai Tai

How we make it.

1 ounce dark rum
1 ounce gold rum
1/2 ounce orange curaçao
1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 ounce orgeat
Garnish with fresh mint

Why we make it.

If life isn’t naturally fun I have to make it fun. It’s a compulsion. Mixing rum with lime and orgeat is sometimes how I do that. Rum is not an all the time flavor, but every once in a while, a rum cocktail brings that playful burst of the islands to your ordinary _fill-in-the-blank_ . Rum cocktails aren’t really meant to suit or enhance where you are, they’re meant to take you where they’re from. Some flavors are like that. I think that's why mid-century cocktail culture was littered with Mai Tais. GI’s coming home from Hawaiian posts had discovered something great and tried to bring its breezy air back to lighten the moods of suburban basement bars via cocktail shaker. Their ingredients may have missed the mark on the authenticity front, but their fun was timeless, and I love them for trying. We make this classic Mai Tai - just from time to time - to break that spirit down to the studs. No pineapple juice or cherries, but I hope you'll smell the breeze.

My grandfather, Campbell Foster, member of the Mai Tai generation.