New Tiki Classics: the Stormy Mai Tai

The Stormy Mai Tai comes from Guiseppe Gonzales, who revealed the recipe in Paul Clarke's post about the bitters-heavy Trinidad Sour, a drink that I reviewed a while back. Both of these drinks invert the normal ratio of spirits to bitters, using 90-proof Angostura bitters as a base spirit and liquor as an accent.

Stormy Mai Tai
1.5 oz Angostura bitters
1 oz lime juice
0.75 oz orange liqueur
0.75 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, and strain into a chilled rocks glass full of cracked ice. Float 0.5 oz of light rum on top and garnish with a sprig of mint.

The nose is pleasantly funky from the float of Banks 5 Islands rum, with some background spices from the bitters. The sip begins with pleasantly nutty sweetness care of the orgeat and orange liqueur, then segues into a briefly sour interlude of lime, quickly transitioning to massive spice flavors of cinnamon and clove from the Angostura bitters. As the drink continues to dilute, the spice flavors become more integrated, spreading across the sip and joining up with hogo from the light rum float.

This may very well be my new favorite tiki drink. I think I'm going to have to stock up on Angostura bitters, because this is too delicious to not make again and again. While the flavors are massive, everything integrates beautifully, with tasty transitions that leave the finish pleasantly dry and more-ish. I'm a little bit sad that I didn't have any mint on hand to do this one up properly, but the choice of Banks 5 Island rum was a good choice, as it's hogo flavors mesh well with the Angostura bitters' spices. The combination of bitters and B.G. Reynolds' orgeat also give the drink an incredibly thick mouth feel, which is part of what makes this drink so great.