Mixology Monday: Mai Thai

Friends, following is my post for Mixology Monday. The theme of this month’s MxMo is a twist on a classic cocktail. For complete details, you can check out the MxMo site. Also, be sure to check out this month’s host, Tristan Stephenson, at the Wild Drink Blog for some serious innovation and inspiration.

A few months ago, I decided to embark on the tumultuous and heartbreaking journey of making homemade bitters. I used Jamie Boudreau’s Cherry Bitters recipe as a template, which is essentially a guide to making any type of bitters you can think of. By making a bitter blend, and a secondary flavoring blend, the primary flavoring blend is limited only by your imagination and wallet. The result was a mess of moderate successes and tragic failures. Some of the bitters were quite kick ass (coffee, toasted walnut, butter), while some were, well,  not so much (salted plum, bacon). However, I did end up with a few Thai influenced bitters, and as spring threatens to thaw the Windy City, I’m taking any opportunity I can to spice up Tiki drinks with my Thai seasonings. So, for my first MxMo, I humbly submit the Mai Thai cocktail:

Mai Thai Cocktail

3 oz. Mekhong Thai Rum

.5 oz. Curacao

.5 oz. Orgeat Syrup (homemade, please)

.5 oz. Kaffir Lime Juice

3 Dashes Lemon Grass Bitters

1-2 drops Bird’s Eye Bitters

A Few Kaffir Leaves

Mix all ingredients in a shaker (only 1 of the Kaffir leaves), along with a few large chunks of ice. Shake thoroughly and serve in an old fashioned glass over crushed ice. Garnish with a Kaffir sprig.

The first thing you’ll notice about this drink is the smell. The lemon grass bitters (bacardi 151* base) and Kaffir lime leaves instantly summon images of Tom Yum soup – in a good way. The fragrance carries through the drink, which really blossoms once the Bird’s Eye bitters hit your tongue. (Bird’s Eye is a type of Thai chili pepper that was used in making these bitters. I had to use an incredibly concentrated wormwood/calmus rye whiskey base to get the bitters to stand up to the heat – and then only a drop or two in the drink.) The resulting flavor is quite remarkable – the heat is absent, while the spice seems to open the taste buds and marry all the supporting flavors.