Bitter Mai Tai

Jeremy Oertel, Dram | Brooklyn, NY

photo: Daniel Krieger

“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.

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
  1. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker.
  2. Add a small amount of ice and shake.
  3. Strain over crushed ice into a rocks glass.
  4. Top with more crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig.

Tagged: Campari, Curaçao, Dram, Jeremy Oertel, orgeat, rum, Smith & Cross, Tiki, tiki week