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Mai Tai Cocktail with Navy Island Rum

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Last Updated on January 2, 2026

The Mai Tai – a classic rum cocktail

Popular in the 1950s, the Mai Tai is a classic rum cocktail made with orgeat (a kind of sweet almond syrup), Orange Curacao and lime juice.  Victor J. Bergeron claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944 at his restaurant, Trader Vic’s, in Oakland, California.  Intended to showcase J. Wray and Nephew rum, it was created to ensure that the cocktail didn’t hide the flavours of the spirit.  Trader Vic’s served a mixture of Polynesian fusion food and the story goes that when Bergeron first made the cocktail and served it to two friends from Tahiti, one of them exclaimed “Mai Tai-Roe Aé!” which translates to something along the lines of  “out of this world.”  Mai Tai with Navy Island Rum

With a bottle of Navy Island Navy Strength rum on my shelf ready to be tried,  it was an obvious choice.  Of course, it’s a great rum to enjoy straight or to pour over ice and sip slowly.  But, the extra alcohol means that it works exceptionally well in a cocktail like the Mai Tai.  Navy Island Navy Strength rum is 100% pure pot still rum.  It’s blended from 11 carefully selected small-batch distilled rums of various ages.  It won an IWSC silver award in 2018 and another in the ISC for 2018.  Sipping the rich amber rum, you get an explosion of flavours.  It’s intensely aromatic with ripe fruits, banana and vanilla notes.  At 57% ABV, it will make the ultimate chocolate rum truffle too – if there’s any left a bit later in the year.

Navy Island Navy Strength Rum

Making the Mai Tai for me involved laying my hands on two new ingredients.  Although a Mai Tai is a classic rum cocktail, my first attempt at buying Orgeat failed – it’s not the easiest ingredient to track down.  Headily sweet with the scent of almonds, I’m surprised I’ve never seen it before.  Curaçao is something you see on almost all professional bars – but I’ve never had a bottle at home before.  If you didn’t want to buy curaçao, you could use triple sec or Cointreau – but I was keen to try something approaching the real thing.  Curaçao Liqueur should be made with the Laraha Orange which is only found on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.  In fact, it’s unclear whether the Bols Dry Orange Curaçao I used really does use the Laraha orange, which appears to be green rather than orange in colour! The drink was invented by the Dutch in the 17th century and included a whole range of herbs together with essential oils from the Lahara orange.

Mai Tai Ingredients

Without further ado, here’s how to make a Mai Tai.  Just remember you’ll need a good quality dark rum like Navy Island, orgeat syrup, lime juice and dry orange curaçao.  You’ll also need plenty of ice, a sprig of mint and a citrus garnish (you can even use the spent half of one of the limes if that works for you).  And, a cocktail shaker.  Then just hope for plenty of sunshine – this is the kind of drink which really does seem perfect for a warm summer’s evening.

4.8 from 29 votes
Mai Tai with Navy Island Rum
Print
Mai Tai Classic Rum Cocktail
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
0 mins
 

Classic Mai Tai Cocktail made with Navy Strength rum

Course: Cocktail, Cocktails
Cuisine: American
Keyword: lime, Rum, Tiki
Servings: 1
Calories: 248 kcal
Author: Fiona Maclean
Ingredients
  • 50 ml Navy Island Navy Strength Rum
  • 20 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 7 ml dry orange curacao you can substitute triple sec or cointreau
  • 10 ml orgeat syrup
  • ice
  • sprig of mint
  • citrus slice or spent shell to garnish
Instructions

  1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice

  2. Add the rum, lime juice, curacao and orgeat

  3. Shake well until you can see a clear frosting line on the outside of the cocktail shaker

  4. Fill a Tiki glass or highball with crushed ice

  5. Strain the Mai Tai cocktail into the glass

  6. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a citrus garnish of your choice.

Recipe Video

Nutrition Facts
Mai Tai Classic Rum Cocktail
Amount Per Serving
Calories 248
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Navy Island makes two rums – there’s a lighter XO reserve which is 40% ABV so easy to sip and retails for around £38 as well as the Navy Strength rum I’ve been using here which costs around £48.  Both are award-winning craft rums and are available from plenty of online stockists including Master of Malts .

What’s your favourite summer cocktail?  I love a classic Pimm’s cup or a Daiquiri – a white rum cocktail

Disclosure:  The rum for this cocktail was gifted – all content is editorially given.

If you’d like to try this classic rum cocktail, the Mai Tai, why not pin this post for later.

Mai Tai Cocktail with Navy Island Rum
Fiona Maclean

About Fiona Maclean

An award winning London based freelance writer, Fiona's career started in arts administration, before working for a leading London restaurant group under restauranteur Laurence Isaacson on restaurant brands including The Ivy and Wheelers. With a music degree and an MBA, Fiona's passions include all types of music, food, restaurants, wine and travel and she has now reviewed over 400 restaurants for London-Unattached and written countless classical music and opera features. She is the Founder and Editor of London-Unattached and has written about food, wine and travel for other print and online publications including Metro, &London and Zing Magazine.

Contact Fiona@London-Unattached.Com

Comments

  52. Vincent Lassoff says

    Trader Vic’s recipe called for a half ounce of rock candy syrup(simple syrup) as well. Not that yours wasn’t great without it, but if you’re trying to go with the original recipe, it’s essential. Lastly, if you want to get super technical then you must use crushed ice.

    Reply

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