Tag: orgeat

rum

Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai | A Delicious Holiday Tiki Cocktail

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This Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai is a delightful combination of tiki flavors and holiday vibes. If you've been looking for the perfect holiday tiki cocktail to keep you feeling warm on the inside this season, look no further!

This Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai is a delightful combination of tiki flavors and holiday vibes. If you’ve been looking for the perfect holiday tiki cocktail to keep you feeling warm on the inside this season, look no further!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

Like many other cocktail bloggers, I’m constantly scrolling through my Instagram feed looking for inspiration from my #drinkstagram fam. Some of my favorites, like the Mezcal in Maui and the Summer Sipper, are recipes made by my friends that I’ve tweaked just a tad. I’ve got drink recipe after drink recipe saved on my IG but I don’t think I could ever get through all of them at this point!

Every now and then I see a drink recipe that not only stands out but that I also happen to have all the ingredients for. I didn’t waste much time before making this one. I hope you won’t either.

Sarah over at theboozyginger.com shared this Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai recipe on her Instagram a few days ago. I knew immediately that I had to recreate it. Tropical flavors with a hint of holiday flair? Sign. Me. Up. Sarah’s recipe originally called for dark rum but I used spiced rum to give it a little extra warmth.

I love the holiday and Christmas seasons. But I’m a warm-weather girl to the core. Don’t mishear me, though– I do want it to be cold on Christmas Day. And maybe New Years. But after that, I’m done with the cold. Bring back the sun. Blessedly, I live in Texas so I don’t have to put up with low temperatures for too long. But for those days when I wanna embrace the holiday season while dreaming of warmer weather, I’ll be drinking this holiday tiki cocktail.

If you’ve never had a traditional, classic Mai Tai, you should definitely make one. The original recipe is worlds different than most of the Mai Tais you’ll ever find at a restaurant. The only difference in ingredients between a classic Mai Tai and this Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai is the cranberry juice (go figure) and the cinnamon syrup. And pleeasse don’t be intimidated by the cinnamon syrup– you can make your own with just 3 ingredients: cinnamon sticks, sugar, and water. Yup. This post walks you through the easy steps.

This Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai is a delightful combination of tiki flavors and holiday vibes. If you've been looking for the perfect holiday tiki cocktail to keep you feeling warm on the inside this season, look no further!

If you make this Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai, be sure to comment below and tag me on Instagram. Seeing y’all reshake these recipes makes me so happy!

Ingredients for a Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai

  • 1 oz white rum
  • 1/2 oz dark rum (I used spiced rum for extra warmth)
  • 1/2 oz orange curaçao or orange liqueur
  • 1/2 oz lime juice
  • 1 oz cranberry juice
  • 1/2 oz orgeat (if you want to make your own, here’s a recipe)
  • 1/2 oz cinnamon syrup (find the easy recipe here)

How to Make a Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a glass* filled with ice. Garnish with a lime wheel and fresh cranberries if you have them.

*I used a lowball because I really wanted to show off my vintage Christmas glass but I had an ounce or so of the cocktail left in the shaker. You may want to use a highball or Collins glass instead.

Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai

This Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai is a delightful combination of tiki flavors and holiday vibes. If you've been looking for the perfect holiday tiki cocktail to keep you feeling warm on the inside this season, look no further!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 3 mins
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Equipment

  • cocktail shaker

Ingredients
  

  • 1 oz white rum
  • ½ oz dark rum (I used spiced rum)
  • ½ oz orange curaçao or orange liqueur
  • 1 oz cranberry juice
  • ½ oz lime juice, fresh
  • ½ oz orgeat
  • ½ oz cinnamon simple syrup*

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
  • Shake well and strain into a glass** filled with ice.
  • Garnish with a lime wheel and fresh cranberries if you have them.

Notes

*Make your own cinnamon simple syrup with only water, sugar, and cinnamon sticks. Find the recipe here.
**Use a highball or Collins glass. If you use a lowball glass, you’ll have some cocktail left in your shaker.
Keyword cinnamon, cinnamon simple syrup, cranberry juice, dark rum, lime, lime juice, mai tai, orange liqueur, orgeat, rum, spiced cranberry mai tai, spiced rum, white rum

Looking for other tiki and tropical cocktail recipes? Check out the Jungle Bird, Mezcal in Maui, the Daiquiri, and my Easy Colada.

This Spiced Cranberry Mai Tai is a delightful combination of tiki flavors and holiday vibes. If you've been looking for the perfect holiday tiki cocktail to keep you feeling warm on the inside this season, look no further!
brandy

Japanese Cocktail | A Classic Cocktail That’s Been Around For 160 Years

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Learn how to make a Japanese Cocktail- the famous 3-ingredient classic cocktail that has been around since the 1800s. It's made with cognac, orgeat, and bitters.

The Japanese Cocktail is a famous classic that has been around since the 1800s. The original recipe, written down in Jerry Thomas’ book How To Mix Drinks in 1862, lists cognac, orgeat, and bitters as the 3 ingredients. Later renditions have added lime juice or water but there’s a reason the original recipe has stood the test of time.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like!

Despite being named the Japanese Cocktail, this drink’s ingredients lean more French than anything else. Thomas, the original creator of the Japanese Cocktail, was supposedly inspired by the first Japanese delegation to the United States who were staying at a hotel near his bar in 1860.

Known as one of the original kings of cocktails, Jerry Thomas enjoyed playing with ingredients behind the bar. The Japanese Cocktail is Thomas’ riff on an Old Fashioned. The cognac* used in place of whiskey adds a fruity flavor, while the orgeat lends a nutty, fuller mouthfeel than the traditional sugar cube. Both recipes include bitters, a small but powerful ingredient that has an uncanny ability to blend flavors seamlessly. The end result is a simple yet indulgent libation.

Learn how to make a Japanese Cocktail- the famous 3-ingredient classic cocktail that has been around since the 1800s. It's made with cognac, orgeat, and bitters.

You might be able to tell that I used homemade orgeat in this recipe because the color of my cocktail is a lot more opaque than it typically is. You definitely don’t have to make your own, though. Small Hands makes a great orgeat and thanks to Amazon, you can have it at your doorstep in a couple days. If you do want to try making it yourself, the recipe post I linked to has a from-scratch version and a cheater’s version.

Thomas originally served his Japanese Cocktail in a lowball glass with an ice cube to help his drink further resemble an Old Fashioned. These days, it’s customary to serve it “up” in a coupe glass.

Learn how to make a Japanese Cocktail- the famous 3-ingredient classic cocktail that has been around since the 1800s. It's made with cognac, orgeat, and bitters.

If you want to know how to make a Japanese Cocktail the traditional way, you can see the original recipe down below. As I mentioned earlier, there are a few different renditions that have surfaced in recent years. You can add 1/2 ounce of chilled water to drink to dilute it a bit (since it’s pretty strong) or you can add 1/2 ounce of lime juice to the drink to brighten it up. I’ve yet to try it with lime juice or water but I plan on doing so soon since I need to use up my orgeat pretty soon. Let me know how you end up making this one.

*Quick note about cognac: I’ve discussed in another brandy cocktail post that cognac and brandy are one and the same. Similar to France’s claim on the word “chardonnay”, cognac can only be called cognac if it hails from the Cognac region of France. Otherwise, it’s brandy.

Learn how to make a Japanese Cocktail- the famous 3-ingredient classic cocktail that has been around since the 1800s. It's made with cognac, orgeat, and bitters.

Ingredients for a Japanese Cocktail

How To Make A Japanese Cocktail

Add all three ingredients to a cocktail shaker or cocktail glass filled with ice. Stir to incorporate the ingredients and to chill the ingredients (cocktail recipes without citrus are never shaken). Strain into a coupe glass. Express the lemon peel over the top of the glass before and placing it in the glass.

Japanese Cocktail

The Japanese Cocktail is a 3-ingredient classic cocktail that's been around since the 1800s.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 mins
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 2 oz cognac or brandy
  • ½ oz orgeat*
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1 lemon peel, to garnish

Instructions
 

  • Add all three ingredients to a cocktail shaker or cocktail glass filled with ice.
  • Stir to incorporate the ingredients and to chill the ingredients (cocktail recipes without citrus are never shaken).
  • Strain into a coupe glass.
  • Express the lemon peel over the top of the glass before placing it into the glass.

Notes

*Here are two recipes for homemade orgeat or you can buy some on Amazon here.
Keyword angostura bitters, brandy, orgeat

Looking for another recipe to use orgeat in? Check out the Mai Tai. The Mai Tai is perhaps the most iconic cocktail that uses orgeat as an ingredient.

rum

Mai Tai |A Classic Cocktail Recipe That’s Been Lost in the Mix

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Learn how to make a classic mai tai, the most infamous tiki drink that dates back to the 1940s. Comparable in fame perhaps only to the Piña Colada, the Mai Tai is a drink that everyone's heard of. But the classic Mai Tai recipe is a far cry from the ones frequently mixed up at chain restaurants and bars.

The Mai Tai is a classic, if not THE classic, tiki cocktail. Comparable in fame perhaps only to the Piña Colada, the Mai Tai is a drink that everyone’s heard of. It’s popular for good reason. It’s freaking delicious. But the classic Mai Tai recipe is a far cry from the ones frequently mixed up at chain restaurants and bars.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

Today, most Mai Tais served at chain restaurants are going to be made with artificial syrups & mixes, multiple fruit juices, and are extremely sweet. If that’s your thing, that’s cool. But if you’re been around Girl & Tonic for a minute, you’ve caught on to the fact that I’m not typically a sweet fruity drink kinda girl.

That’s one reason I stayed away from this classic tiki drink. In fact, I’ve never had one until I made one myself. My town has zero tiki bars, much less a craft cocktail bar, so any time I want to have a good cocktail, I’ve either gotta make it myself (not complaining) or drive an hour+ to the next town that’s got a much cooler cuisine and drink scene.

The only thing I’m bummed about is that I waited THIS long to make a Mai Tai. It’s a good thing Texas summers last until October because I need to enjoy the drink on several more occasions.

Learn how to make a classic mai tai, the most infamous tiki drink that dates back to the 1940s. Comparable in fame perhaps only to the Piña Colada, the Mai Tai is a drink that everyone's heard of. But the classic Mai Tai recipe is a far cry from the ones frequently mixed up at chain restaurants and bars.

Similar to drinks like the Daiquiri and Whiskey Sour, the Mai Tai’s reputation has been tarnished by the use of commercial syrups and anything but fresh ingredients. Thankfully, the rise in craft cocktails in recent years has led to a resurrection of the original recipes of classic drinks.

The Mai Tai is a creation claimed by the two original tiki masters, Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic. You can read more about how these two men created the tiki culture in this great article by Thrillist. I think I’m gonna go with Trader Vic though, because he famous said that anyone who doesn’t believe that he created the Mai Tai “is a dirty stinker”. I don’t wanna be a stinker.

Trader Vic, born Victor Bergeron, said he created this drink in the spur of the moment when entertaining some Tahitian friends. Supposedly, one of them took a sip and said “Maita’i roa a’e” which means something along the lines of “the best” and “out of this world”.

The Mai Tai was made to showcase an incredible 17-year-old Wray and Nephew rum. There was no internet to break back then, so I guess you could say that the Mai Tai broke the world. It literally ran out of that rum. Then the recipe started calling for 15-year-old Wray and Nephew rum. And then the world ran dangerously low on that rum, too. People just couldn’t get enough of the Mai Tai. So the recipe was adapted to a mix of Jamaican rum and Martinique rum.

Learn how to make a classic mai tai, the most infamous tiki drink that dates back to the 1940s. Comparable in fame perhaps only to the Piña Colada, the Mai Tai is a drink that everyone's heard of. But the classic Mai Tai recipe is a far cry from the ones frequently mixed up at chain restaurants and bars.

Interestingly enough, the Mai Tai recipe didn’t have any pineapple or orange juice until the mid-1950s when Trader Vic modified the drink to appeal to wider tourist crowds who were frequenting the Hawaiian location of his bar. That recipe was called the Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai but over the decades it began to be used in place of the classic Mai Tai recipe.

The original recipe required garnishing the Mai Tai with half a lime and a sprig of mint to symbolize a palm tree on an island. Trader Vic apparently hated the little umbrella garnishes and wanted them nowhere near his drinks. I like ’em because I like all things miniature, but to honor the man, I restrained myself this time.

Also, I’ve gotta say it– every time I see the word Mai Tai, I think of Matt Birk asking Andy Dalton if he can make him one in this Bad Lip Reading video. Skip to 0:43 if you want to know what I’m talking about.

If you make this classic Mai Tai recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram! And if you’ve had both a modern-day Mai Tai and a classic Mai Tai, let me know in the comments how they compare.

Learn how to make a classic mai tai, the most infamous tiki drink that dates back to the 1940s. Comparable in fame perhaps only to the Piña Colada, the Mai Tai is a drink that everyone's heard of. It's well-known for good reason. It's freaking delicious. But the classic Mai Tai recipe is a far cry from the ones frequently mixed up at chain restaurants and bars.

Ingredients for a Classic Mai Tai Recipe

  • 2 oz good, aged rum
  • 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 ounce orange liqueur
  • 1/4 ounce orgeat (here’s a recipe for homemade orgeat syrup)
  • 1/4 ounce rich demerara simple syrup (with a 2:1 ratio of water to sugar)
  • garnish– sprig of mint
  • garnish– a spent shell of a lime

How to Make a Classic Mai Tai

Add all of the ingredients, except the lime shell and mint sprig) to a cocktail shaker filled with crushed ice (crucial, according to Trader Vic). Shake well. Pour all of the contents into a glass– yep, don’t strain out the shaken ice. Garnish with the lime shell and mint by placing the lime shell cut-side down and arranging the mint to look like a palm tree on an island.

Classic Mai Tai Recipe

This recipe is for a classic Mai Tai, the ones that Trader Vic shook up all those years ago. The traditional garnish is a lime shell and a mint sprig arranged to look like a palm tree on an island.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 3 mins
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Equipment

  • cocktail shaker

Ingredients
  

  • 2 oz aged rum
  • ¾ oz freshly-squeezed lime juice
  • ½ oz orange liqueur
  • ¼ oz orgeat (see note for homemade recipe)
  • ¼ oz Demerara syrup (see note for recipe)
  • 1 spent lime half, to garnish
  • 1 sprig mint, to garnish

Instructions
 

  • Add all of the ingredients, except the lime shell and mint sprig) to a cocktail shaker filled with crushed ice.
  • Shake well.
  • Pour all of the contents into a glass– don't strain out the shaken ice.
  • Add more crushed ice to the glass if necessary.
  • To create the traditional garnish that looks like a palm tree on an island, carefully poke a hole in the top of one of the spent lime shells. Place the shell cut-side down on top of the drink. Stick the lime sprig in the hole. Remove the bottom leaves of the mint to make it look more like a palm tree.

Notes

To make homemade orgeat, you can check out my 2 different recipes here. Or buy some quality orgeat on Amazon.
Here’s a Demerara syrup recipe. Alternatively, rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water ratio) can be used in place of Demerara syrup.
Keyword aged rum, dark rum, demerara syrup, lime, lime juice, orange liqueur, orgeat, rum