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Bitter Mai Tai

Double old fashioned glass18% ABV

Campari meets dark rum, orgeat and lime in a bittersweet tiki classic from 2011 — sunset in a glass, with an edge.

Bitter Mai Tai cocktail in a rocks glass

Ingredients

Servings
1
Units

  • Dark rum, preferably Jamaican30 ml
  • Campari30 ml
  • Curaçao, orange curaçao15 ml
  • Lime juice, freshly squeezed30 ml
  • Orgeat22.5 ml
  • Mint, for garnish (optional)1 sprig
  • Lime, for garnish (optional)1 wheel

Method

  1. Fill a double old fashioned glass with crushed ice so it chills while you mix.
  2. Add the rum, Campari, curaçao, freshly squeezed lime juice and orgeat to a shaker.
  3. Add a small scoop of crushed ice and whip-shake for 5–10 seconds.
  4. Pour everything, including the ice, into the glass and top with more crushed ice.
  5. Clap the mint sprig between your hands to wake its aroma, then place it in the drink with a lime wheel.

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Credit Jeffrey Morgenthaler

About this drink

Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s modern classic from 2011 replaces one of the Mai Tai’s rums with Campari, discovering that bitter orange works beautifully with both orgeat and Jamaican funk. The result is a tiki drink for grown-ups: tropical, but never cloying.

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Orgeat

Ingredients

  • Almonds, blanched, sliced100 g
  • Water, hot500 ml
  • Sugar400 g
  • Orange flower water1 tsp

Method

  1. Toast the almonds in a dry pan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant. The toasting is where the depth comes from.
  2. Tip the warm almonds into a blender with the hot water. Pulse until finely chopped, then blend for two minutes.
  3. Strain the almond milk through a cloth or a fine sieve, pressing the last of it out of the pulp. Measure off 350 ml.
  4. Warm the almond milk and sugar in a pan over medium-low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Do not let it boil.
  5. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the orange flower water and cool. Keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

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