“Dram is like a fancy, classic cocktail bar on top of a Brooklyn dive bar,” says New York bartender Jeremy Oertel of this neighborhood haunt. While bartending at the Williamsburg outpost, he threw a party with notable tiki bartender Brian Miller. For the occasion, he wanted to replicate a Mai Tai variation he’d come across that used spicy high-proof Angostura in place of rum. Because Angostura is a pricey ingredient to use in liberal quantities, he substituted Campari for the bitter component and Smith & Cross Jamaican rum to provide a note of heavy funk. The Bitter Mai Tai has since become a Dram classic and one of Oertel’s staple recipes.
Bitter Mai Tai
Jeremy Oertel, Dram | Brooklyn, NY
Ingredients
Serving: 1
- 1 1/2 ounces Campari
- 3/4 ounce Jamaican rum (preferably Smith & Cross)
- 1/2 ounce Curaçao
- 1 ounce lime juice
- 3/4 ounce orgeat
Garnish: mint sprig
Directions
- Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker.
- Add a small amount of ice and shake.
- Strain over crushed ice into a rocks glass.
- Top with more crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig.