Don’t pay the ransom – I’ve escaped! I know I have not been posting cocktails on this blog for awhile. It’s summer and that means other stuff is getting done. But it has been hot, and my mind went to classic hot weather cocktails like the Mai Tai. It gets a bad wrap because of tiki chic and paper umbrellas, but it is a great summer drink. I heard on the Mixology Talk podcast about a Mai Tai made with caramelized pineapple purée, and I have been dreaming about it since then. I used Martha Stewart’s recipe for the pineapples and just whizzed them in my blender, syrup included. Feel free to order the purée though if you are in the U.S., which I am not. I used two kinds of rum, orgeat syrup, Cointreau, lime juice and ginger bitters to round out the drink.
- 1 oz aged rum
- 1 ounce dark rum
- 1/2 ounce Cointreau
- 1 1/2 ounces lime juice
- 1/2 ounce orgeat syrup
- 2 heaping teaspoons caramelized pineapple purée
- Three healthy shakes of Dillon’s ginger bitters
Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice; strain into a wine glass filled with ice. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
4:00 DCT (Delicious Cocktail Time) 
That would be good with Rhum Barbancourt.