The Best Type Of Rum For A Classic Mai Tai, According To A Pro

Casual cocktail making is a sexy skill that almost anyone can pick up. Who doesn't want to be the martini-making, mai tai-shaking party hero? Like any hobby, though, the pursuit of booze can quickly become complicated. One minute you're simply stirring up whatever you have on hand, the next you're a clear-ice obsessive detailing the differences between coupes and martini glasses to anyone who'll pretend to listen. Then there's the actual alcohol. For every riff on a classic tipple or über-regional novelty, there are oodles of spirit varieties to choose from, each with its own unique finish.

Those multi-ingredient mai tais, for example, can be particularly tricky. That's why we tapped industry professional Justin Lavenue for some answers. Lavenue owns The Roosevelt Room, The Eleanor, and RoadHaus Mobile Cocktails in Austin, Texas. "For a classic mai tai, I highly recommend using Jamaican rum, particularly one that is rich in dunder," Lavenue exclusively told Chowhound. "Dunder is the leftover residue from fermentation, and Jamaican rum often incorporates this traditional method, which imparts deep, earthy, and funky flavors that are essential for creating an authentic mai tai," he said.

A mai tai typically contains six ingredients: A couple of rums, orange Curaçao, orgeat, lime juice, and simple syrup. And that's before you even get to the garnishes! The dunder's punchy additional flavors, which have an umami-like quality, give the mai tai a great deal of its character without introducing yet another element. Those deep, earthy, funky flavors also slake any extra sweetness a mai tai might otherwise impart, which is a nice benefit, as the tiki staple isn't meant to taste terribly sugary.

Dunder, essentially a byproduct of the rum-making process, is sometimes compared to a bourbon's sour mash, as both derivatives are continuously upcycled through numerous batches of booze. For those breezy home bartenders, you could also anecdotally analogize it to a ripe sourdough starter, which similarly supports future loaves in a kind of edible ouroboros. Unlike the baked good, however, you're unlikely to find a nice still full of dunder that's free for the taking on Facebook Marketplace. Fortunately, you can just pick up a bottle of something like Hampden Estate even more easily.