One of the best seminars I attended at last weekend's Aspen Food & Wine Classic was a cocktail class that focused on tropical cocktails. The lesson was led by Julie Reiner, the owner and bar genius behind such Manhattan hotspots as the Flatiron Lounge, Pegu Club, and the Clover Club.

Julie started off by giving us a primer on one of America's favorite drinking pastimes, the tiki bar. America's unique tiki culture owes much of its history to a San Francisco pioneer by the name of Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. — perhaps better known to the rest of the country as Trader Vic.
Trader Vic created many of tiki's classic concoctions — among them, the Scorpion and the Fog Cutter — but is most famous for the Mai Tai, a world-famous liquid vacation that combines the tartness of lime with the sweetness of orgeat and the caramelized molasses flavor of dark rum. See Trader Vic's tried-and-true recipe when you read more.

Trader Vic's Classic Mai Tai
From Julie Reiner

Ingredients

2 ounces aged rum
3/4 ounce orange curaçao, preferably Marie Brizard
1/4 ounce Monin Almond Syrup, or other orgeat
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 ounce dark rum
Parasol, lime wheel, and mint sprig, for garnish

Directions

1. Shake aged rum, orange curaçao, orgeat, and lime juice in a shaker with ice.
2. Strain contents into a lowball glass filled with fresh ice.
3. Top with 1/4 to 1/2 ounces dark rum.
4. Garnish with a lime wheel, sprig of mint, and a parasol.

Serves 1.

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