New Tiki Cocktails: the Mai Tai Vallet

While the Mai Tai has always been one of the classic tiki drinks for highlighting what rum can do, more recent years have seen the development of cocktails that take its basic mold and twist it in a bitter direction. Most well-known include the Campari-based Bitter Mai Tai and the Angostura bitters-based Stormy Mai Tai.

I based this on the structure of the Bitter Mai Tai and was inspired by the Angostura bitters of the Stormy Mai Tai to remake it with Amargo Vallet, a Mexican bitter liqueur that, unlike Angostura bitters, actually includes angostura bark in its ingredients. It has a very strong and somewhat peculiar flavor that is unlike any other amaro I've tried before, so I wasn't sure how well it would play with the more tropical flavors of the Mai Tai, but I'm pleased with how this turned out.

The Mai Tai Vallet
1.25 oz Amargo Vallet
0.75 oz Jamaican rum
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz orange liqueur
0.5 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

The nose is dominated by the rum's esters, with the amaro peeking around the edges. The sip begins with sweet rum esters, turns bittersweet with a balance between the rum, orange liqueur, and orgeat, there's a bump of cherry cough syrup in the middle, with the more bitter/herbal notes of the Amargo building towards the back, and a cola/orange note going into the long, bittersweet finish. All through the lime keeps it from getting too sweet and adds a little extra bitterness from the oils in the peel.

Despite the strong old time-y cough syrup vibe, this actually works. While less approachable than the Bitter or Stormy Mai Tais, Amargo Vallet isn't totally out of place amidst the tropical ingredients. The critical part is that the segues happen in an appropriate sequence, shifting the balance of the cocktail from front to back in a relatively smooth fashion as opposed to the jarring transitions that happen when ingredients don't mesh with each other. Speaking of ingredients, Denizen 8 was a good pick here because it gives a solid layer of ester funk without overwhelming the flavors like Smith & Cross would.

While I can't see this ever catching on, it is something that I would happily make again.