A MONTH OF MAI TAIS – Exploring the rums, one Mai Tai at a time.

A MAI TAI A DAY…

As a part of the Mai Tai rum combo cocktail-blog coverage i have made a couple different Mai Tais, mostly from demerara rums.I know the Mai Tai had dark Jamaican rum first, and then was paired with a Martiniqan rum, but i think demerara rums makes awesome Mai Tais and the whole idea of this rum combo coverage is to, well, try different rum combos..

The  coverage on the other 3 blogs will contain enough rum combos to cover most needs for tasty Mai Tais…rumdood alone have some 118 rums to choose from…So together we will all hopefully cover enough various rum combos to keep most thirsty Mai Tai lovers happy regardless of where you live, we hope there will be something for everyone. Keep an eye on these blogs as their posts are on their way and rumdood is going to post more on the Mai Tai.

Our best rum combos will also be posted in a wrap-up on the mixoloseum blog. The whole january and into february has been and continues to be Mai Tai month for us, we are working with various rum combinations in our search for the tastiest Mai Tais all based on Trader Vics recipe, as well as attempting to set the recipe for a real Mai Tai straight.

DEMERARA RUMS Part Two

In this second part of my series on demerara rums i`m going to write about BanksXM, Old Vatted and Samaroli Port Morant 1990.

SPICE IT UP WITH HOLIDAY COCKTAILS

Christmas is spice time, just look at this months Mixology monday wrap up! Apart from the egg-nog like Ponche Crema swizzle, and the warm Cocoa Crema how about some ice cold drinks with christmas`ey spices? Here are some fruity cocktails and clove studded garnishes.

TWINKLING STAR

2 oz Tequila reposado
1 oz pineapple juice
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
¼  oz raw sugar syrup
Dash passionfruit syrup
½ barspoon grenadine
Crushed ice
Garnish clove studded carambola slice and a small mint sprig.

Shake everything except the grenadine. Strain and pour over sparkling fresh crushed ice, add a dash grenadine. Cut a slice of a carambola, place one clove in the middle and 5 at the each end of the star. Place on rim with a small mint sprig behind to add some fragrance and contrast in color.

EL DORADO RUM – THE LIQUID GOLD

LIQUID GOLD…

I can`t have a cocktail blog without writing about my favorite rum which is El Dorado..which indeed is a Demerara rum but even more so, its a Guyanese rum, and the only rums distilled in Guyana are those from DDL – the only true Guyanese rums.

BAKED PAPAYA WITH A DEMERARA RUM KISS

One of my favorite dessert treats is a Tahitian dish called “Papayes au four” – Oven baked Papaya. This dessert has been very appreciated everywhere i have served it and i love it. Its simple and sumptuous and a real treat.

You can use any nice dark rum in this but if you use a Demerara rum…well..i just happen to LOVE Demerara rum, those who know me knows that i`m on a life-long Demerara tasting experience..call it a part of my rum research (which also includes the research for the best Mai Tai rums). In this dessert i like to use Banks XM 10 year old which is a outstanding and very yummy Demerara rum with that sort of caramel flavor that is just perfect for this.

BAKED PAPAYA

For 6 servings you need:

3 papayas
3 vanilla beans – scrape out the seeds and spread them on the papaya.
6 tblsp raw sugar
6 tblsp dark rum
a bit of butter
1 can of Coconut milk

You cut the Papayas in halves, take the seeds out (they can be used in a salad) and place on a oven proof dish and fill each papaya halve with 1/2 – 1 tsp butter, 1/2 vanilla bean, 1/2 – 1 tsp raw sugar, 1 tblsp rum and bake in the oven at 180C for 15 minutes.

When done you pour some coconut milk in each papaya and leave the vanilla beans in for garnish.