Add fresh ice to the glasses and divide the contents of shaker between them. Add garnish
2 orange wheels, 2 maraschino cherries
Sip
Smile
Enjoy
Notes
You can adjust recipe to serve as many people you want. To make a pitcher: Serves many!
3 cups gold rum
1.5 cup Cointreau
1 cup Amaretto
1 cup simple syrup
8 - 10 limes juiced
1/2 gallon orange juice
Helpful tips
Be aware this cocktail is mostly booze so it is "potent," as my grandmother liked to say.
I prefer a premium orange liqueur like Cointreau but you can also use triple sec or orange curacao.
When I make these for my family, I make them in bulk as there are usually between 14 - 20 people to imbibe this tasty cocktail. In that case, I'll use triple sec to economize.
This recipe is for two mai tais, but in the notes section, I tell you how to modify the recipe to make a pitcher.
Make your own simple syrup as it is so easy - Boil equal amounts of water and sugar - Add one cup of water and one cup of sugar to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature and simmer for five minutes. Let it cool before using it in a cocktail.
Mai tais are usually served with crushed ice, but I prefer ice cubes. Use what you prefer.
For garnish you can either just add a lime wedge, maraschino cherry or if you want to get fancy like me, cut a thin wheel from an orange, fold it in half and spear the orange slice and a cherry on a martini pick.
Amaretto is an almond flavored liqueur. Orgeat syrup is a non-alcoholic almond syrup and is usually in the mai tai that you get in restaurants, but it's not as easy to obtain from a store. So, I have replaced the orgeat flavor with an easier to find liqueur, hence the Amaretto. And truthfully, I enjoy it just as much as if I used the syrup.
Using Amaretto will increase the alcohol content. (See the first point in the helpful tips.)