Mai Tais at the ZigZag

It was a dark and stoorrrmmy night...seriously, it was, and the universe had conspired to give me the opportunity to drink in Seattle, which is one of my favorite pastimes. I'd hoped to check out Vancouver expat Jamie Boudreau's new stomping ground Tini Biggs, but a freak snow storm in the Pacific North White kept me and the girlfriend pretty close to downtown, so we headed back to one of the greatest little cocktail bars anywhere, The ZigZag Cafe.

My man Erik was behind the stick on that sloppy Sunday night and I put my drink choice in his capable hands...I wish I could remember what he made me but the crap weather made the bar stools seem so comfortable that I couldn't't seem to leave until I'd enjoyed a couple too many, bah well, they were good anyway. Stacey, on the other hand been hankering to try a proper Mai Tai for a while so I encouraged her to put Erik's skills to the test, so he dusted off the orgeat and went to town. I was slurping away on my boozy concoction for what seemed like about two and a half minutes when she nudged me in the ribs and said "I know I said I was only having one drink, but I need another one of these."

I made sure to get a sip of the next one and wasn't surprised to find that it was a perfectly crafted Trader Vic Mai Tai, it featured and enhanced the flavours of the rum, I think Erik used Brugal, without being harsh or too strong, had the perfect limey acidity that compliments all rum so well, and very nice subtle nutty sweetness of the orgeat. It's got to be one of the greatest ways to drink too much. Though I cursed the name Trader Vic all the next day on my six our flight to Halifax the next day. Being hung over and flying really, really sucks.

Here's my attempt to repeat the ZigZag's greatness at home the other night, I think this is a damn good representation.

Mai Tai 

2 oz Appleton Reserve Rum

0.5 Cointreau (actually I used Triple Sec because it was all I had)

1 tsp demererra sugar

0.5 oz Giffard orgeat

juice of half a lime

Mix all ingredients in a mixing glass and shake well over ice then pour, ice and all into a highball glass. Traditional garnish is a mint sprig, but who has mint laying around in January? So a lime wheel did the trick nicely.

Cheers