Hello and welcome back to the best day of the week. What’s this? Another Mai Tai? Yes, sort of. In my quest to use my supply of orgeat syrup before it expires, I specifically went looking to feature it again this week. I came across a recipe for something called the “Rye Tai” and whiskey brain immediately took over and demanded I make this. Another reason it called out to me was because (I know, I know) I rarely have rum on hand, which is a pretty key ingredient in making tropical/tiki drinks, of which orgeat is most featured in. I also never would have thought to combine orgeat and rye, but you learn something new every day. I have high hopes for this one and I hope it doesn’t disappoint:

2 oz. rye whiskey
.75 oz. orgeat
.75 oz. pineapple juice
.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
6-10 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine the rye, orgeat and juices in a shaker and fill with ice. Shake until chilled. Strain into a highball filled with crushed ice. Top with bitters and garnish.

The nose is sweet and tropical, with a little bit of angostura bitters coming through. I think this is very pleasant, and very inviting. Especially on a hot and humid summer day.

Immediately after sipping, I’m met with a beverage that is very cold (thanks crushed ice!), and extremely refreshing. I don’t get any kind of strong alcohol burn either, but despite that, this drink is  full of flavor. The flavor profile starts out slightly tart and bitter from the fresh lemon and the many dashes of angostura  bitters on top. Then the orgeat kicks in ever so slightly, adding a little almond-y sweetness. It goes very well with the sour citrus from the fresh lemon, keeping the flavor from becoming too tart. Then the pineapple kicks in and provides a nice mouth feel and a little extra sweet flavors to the mix.  All of these flavors combine to almost completely mute the rye here. Of which I can detect a little bit of whiskey flavor towards the end, which lets you know that there is in fact booze in this, but for the most part its well hidden under the sweet and sour fruit juices at work here. I don’t mind the mostly lack of rye flavor here. I’m looking for something close to an original Mai Tai out of this spin off, and too much whiskey flavor might detract and adversely affect the relationship this has to an OG Mai Tai.

Other than a little bit of rye flavor coming through, the finish is a nice mixture of all the ingredients. It’s extremely drinkable, and I ended up making a second one after the one pictured above.

I very much like this Mai Tai riff. It has a lot of the elements of the previously reviewed classic version, but it is just different enough to set itself apart.  I really like how well this works with rye since as previously mentioned I usually don’t have rum on hand. Being able to make tiki drinks without the rum is a nice fallback option to have when you want a slice of island life as soon as possible.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)