These Are Best to Rums Make a Classic Mai Tai

Unlike many tropical cocktails that rely heavily on fruit juice and syrups, the balance of aged rum, lime juice, orgeat, and orange curaçao in a Mai Tai was crafted with intention.

The Mai Tai can be traced to 1944, to the original Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California. The bar’s namesake purveyor, Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron, created the drink to showcase the now-legendary J. Wray & Nephew 17-year Jamaican rum.

“Trader Vic himself noted that the creation of the drink started with the rum, rather than the other flavors,” says Martin Cate, co-owner of San Diego’s False Idol and San Francisco’s Smuggler’s Cove. “He wanted to accent the taste of long-aged, pot-still Jamaican rum, so he was judicious in both the quantity and volume of the supporting ingredients.”

The rum that made the drink

The cocktail quickly became a hit for Trader Vic’s. Unfortunately, there was a dwindling supply of J. Wray & Nephew 17, which the Jamaican distillery had discontinued.

“The 17-year expression was rare and in limited supply,” says Kevin Beary, beverage director at Three Dots and a Dash in Chicago. “By the 1950s, Trader Vic ran out of the stock and had to find replacements, leading him to experiment with blends to approximate the same flavor.” 

Trader Vic switched to the Wray & Nephew 15-year, but that also ran out. He went through multiple blends in hopes to approximate the same flavor profile. One of his blends combined an aged Jamaican rum with another aged rum from Martinique, which is the style that many modern bartenders have adapted.

With the 17-year J. Wray & Nephew extinct, bartenders have continued to blend rums to approximate Vic’s original recipe.

“Unfortunately, over time, this led them to stray further and further from the original, until they ended up with a recipe featuring a light rum base and a dark rum float,” says Adam Sandroni, director of finance and development at Good Lion Hospitality, and a bartender at Test Pilot in Santa Barbara, California.

As bartenders continued to play a game of telephone with the recipe, the name “Mai Tai” became a catch-all term for any tropical drink, synonymous with resorts in Hawaii.

“You’ll find places that are making Hawaiian-style Mai Tais with pineapple that are non-traditional, not using anything with too much rum character, but rather basing the drink around the sweetness of the juices,” says Ricky Ramirez, owner and bartender at The Mothership in Milwaukee.

The original 1944 Mai Tai recipe remains a classic. Its rum-forward profile is balanced, complex, and delicious. That it serves as a vehicle for good rum has made it a favorite of bartenders, who craft unique blends or use specific rums to create their take on the classic. But there are some guidelines that home bartenders should keep in mind as they attempt to craft the perfect Mai Tai.

What to look for in a Mai Tai rum

Not any rum will work in a classic Mai Tai. The original recipe was crafted to support a heavily aged, funky Jamaican rum. To make the best possible Mai Tai, choose a similar flavor profile, either from a single rum or a blend.

“Some bartenders prefer Jamaican rums that are higher [in] esters (organic compounds that contribute to a rum’s flavor) than Wray & Nephew, from producers such as Hampden Estate,” says Cate. “While this isn’t historically traditional, it can still make a great Mai Tai. Some bartenders use agricole rum from Martinique, which isn’t traditional, but still makes for a great drink.”

“The philosophy behind a Mai Tai definitely depends on who is making it,” says Sandroni. “Personally, I prefer a simpler approach of a great rum with a strong backbone, fresh lime, a good orange liqueur, and quality orgeat.”

Some styles of rum should be avoided, as they change the flavor profile of the drink.

“Avoid anything that is competing with vodka in the rum category,” says Ramirez. “Nothing white that doesn’t have any characteristics. You want the rum’s flavor to come through in the Mai Tai.”

The Mai Tai was designed to showcase a great rum, so we asked these bartending experts for their favorites to use in a classic, Trader Vic’s-style Mai Tai. Here are their recommendations.