The Ultimate Mai Tai - Inspired by Garret Richard
Inspired by a Mai Tai champion
- Method
- Shaken
- Style
- Tiki
- Glass
- Rocks glass
- Time
- 5 min
Ingredients
- 45mlGold RumChairman's Reserve recommended
No Gold Rum? Light Rum — cleaner and sharper — the drink loses some body and colour
- 22mlJamaican RumCoruba recommended
No Jamaican Rum? Dark Rum — less funk but still good — or any rum you love
- 5mlDry CuraçaoGrand Marnier
No Dry Curaçao? Triple Sec — sweeter and simpler — use a touch less, and expect less orange-peel bitterness
- 30mlAcid Adjusted Pineapple Juice
No Acid Adjusted Pineapple Juice? Pineapple Juice — plain pineapple juice with a little lime juice to bring the acid
- 18mlOrgeat
- Garnish
- Mint sprig and a pineapple wedge
Make it well
Shaken, properly.
Add both rums, the curaçao, pineapple juice and to your with ice.
for 10-12 seconds.
Strain into a double rocks glass, dropping the spent lime from your acid-adjusted pineapple juice prep in with it if you have one, it adds a background lime-oil aroma without extra tartness.
Top with .
Garnish with a mint sprig and a pineapple wedge.
On the palate
On the nose it's layered, funky Jamaican rum over warm orange from the curaçao. On tasting, the acid-adjusted pineapple leads, tart and tropical where lime would be sharp, with the gold rum's caramel warmth right behind it. The orgeat rounds it off with a soft, nutty sweetness. Long finish, orange hanging about at the end. Cleaner and less fussy than the multi-liqueur versions, and honestly you won't miss them.
Where it came from
This one takes its name and structure from Garret Richard, head bartender at Brooklyn's Sunken Harbor Club and co-author of Tropical Standard, whose own Mai Tai won PUNCH's blind tastings in both 2019 and 2025. His published recipe leans on lime juice, Latitude 29 orgeat, Denizen Merchant's Reserve rum, Clément Créole Shrubb and Grand Marnier, finished with a spent lime hull and a few drops of saline, the saline especially credited as part of what won it. This version borrows his rum blend and technique but replaces the lime juice with acid-adjusted pineapple juice, simplified down to a single curaçao (dropping his Créole Shrubb) and without his signature saline, more a tribute to his approach than a reproduction of his award-winning spec.
Keep pouring
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The bartender’s note
One drink, one story, one bottle worth buying.
Thursday evening, so you have time to shop. No more than that.