Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's)
Ingredients
- 12 fresh Mint leaves
- 1 1⁄2 oz Overproof aged pot still rum
- 1 oz Bacardi Carta Blanca Superior White Rum
- 3⁄4 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur
- 1⁄2 oz Difford's Falernum liqueur
- 1 oz Lime juice
- 1 oz Pink grapefruit juice
- 2 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Method
Glassware:
Serve in an Old-fashioned glass
Prepare:
- Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
- Prepare garnish of mint sprigs bouquet.
Method:
- Gently MUDDLE mint in base of shaker (just to bruise).
- Add other ingredients and SHAKE with ice.
- STRAIN into glass filled with crushed ice.
Garnish:
- Garnish with mint sprigs bouquet.
History:
It is claimed that Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt first served this cocktail in 1933 at his Don The Beachcomber's bar in Hollywood, California. This is eleven years earlier than Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron's Mai Tai origin story.
In his 2014 Potions of the Caribbean, Jeff Berry recounts that Don "told Edward Brownlee [a Tiki-carver and friend of Don] that Vic had derived the Mai Tai's flavour profile from a punch that Vic had particularly liked at the Beachcomber's: "The Q.B. Cooler was the basis for a cocktail he took with him, and he called it the Mai Tai." Fred Fung, who worked as Vic's executive assistant for 41 years, disagrees. "Vic did copy Don The Beachcomber's look. He did go down and copy. But the Mai Tai, he did concoct that, and Carrie Guild did name it."
