The Mezcal Mai Tai splits the base between aged rum and mezcal. The orgeat and curaçao stay; the mezcal threads woodsmoke through the almond and orange, turning a tropical classic into something darker and more savoury.
Tiki, with a little smoke drifting across the beach.
Smoke Among the Almonds
The Mai Tai's signature is orgeat — a sweet almond syrup — set against rum and lime. Mezcal's smoke is an unexpectedly good fit: it gives the nutty sweetness a savoury counterweight, and keeps the drink from leaning too far toward dessert.
Split, Don't Replace
An all-mezcal Mai Tai loses the rum's tropical roundness. The better move is a split base — aged rum for body and warmth, mezcal for smoke — so the original drink stays recognisable beneath the new note.
Crushed Ice, Always
Like the original, the Mezcal Mai Tai is shaken and poured over a heap of crushed ice. The ice dilutes the drink as it goes, softening the mezcal's edge — a Mai Tai served any other way is not quite a Mai Tai.
The Mai Tai Family
The tiki landmark — aged rum, lime, orange curaçao, and orgeat, shaken over crushed ice.
- 2 ozAged rum
- 3/4 ozLime juice
- 1/2 ozOrgeat
The island-resort Mai Tai — pineapple juice folded in, softer and fruitier.
- 2 ozAged rum
- 2 ozPineapple juice
- 1/2 ozOrgeat
Trader Vic's own lighter answer to his Mai Tai — Puerto Rican rum for the aged.
- 2 ozLight Puerto Rican rum
- 1/2 ozOrange curaçao
- 1/4 ozOrgeat
Ivy Mix's named version of the mezcal split — the parent's letters rearranged.
- 1 ozMezcal
- 1 ozAged rum
- 1/2 ozOrgeat
Rye for the rum, pineapple and lemon for the curaçao and lime, Angostura floated.
- 2 ozStraight rye whiskey
- 3/4 ozPineapple juice
- 1/2 ozOrgeat
Cognac taking half the rum's job on the lime, curaçao, and orgeat frame.
- 1 ozCognac
- 1 ozAged rum
- 1/2 ozOrange curaçao
Genever for the rum, with absinthe and pineapple where the orgeat used to be.
- 1 1/2 ozOude genever
- 1 ozOrange curaçao
- 1 1/2 ozPineapple juice
Pineapple rum instead of pineapple juice — the fruit without the dilution.
- 1 ozAged rhum agricole
- 1 ozPineapple rum
- 1/2 ozOrange curaçao
The name on a maximalist build — amaretto, falernum, and allspice dram piled on.
- 1 ozPineapple rum
- 3/4 ozDry curaçao
- 1/4 ozFalernum liqueur