With their tropical juices and flaming garnishes, tiki drinks are what we order when we want to feel nothing but joy. Have you ever heard of someone crying in their Zombie? Of course not. But dancing all night with a Mai Tai? Now you’ve got the picture.
But tiki is more than just board-short-and-flip-flop-ville. It’s got a story, dating back to the 1930s when a Donn Beach (one Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt) opened the first of what would become a full-on genre of cocktail bars and their requisite Polynesian-esque drinks. Beach invented dozens and dozens of prototypes for many of the drinks that would become stars of the bar, tiki and otherwise: the Zombie, the Planter’s Punch, and perhaps the most well known: the Mai Tai.
The new Kizzy T’s (46 Montauk Highway), a most fun and welcome addition to East Hampton, was kind enough to loan us their recipe for the Donn Beach classic — an easy to love mix of light and dark rums orange juice and orgeat (almond syrup). And while rum might seem like the sip of summer, think again. We could all use a little sandy fun in the sun, even if we’re just cranking the heat and shaking up a little tiki in January.
Kizzy T’s Mai Tai
Ingredients
- 1 oz. light rum
- 1 oz. dark rum
- 1/2 oz. orgeat liqueur
- 1/2 oz. orange juice
- 1 orange peel, for garnish
Directions
- Combine all liquid ingredient in a shaker with ice.
- Shake well, 5 to 10 seconds, until cold and frothy.
- Strain into an ice-filled double rocks glass. Garnish with the orange peel.
