Tia Mia - How to Make the Smoky Mezcal Tiki Drink Inspired by the Mai Tai
Here’s how to make the Tia Mia, a Mexican / Tiki cocktail that’s basically a Mezcal Mai Tai made with Jamaican Rum, smoky Mezcal, Orgeat, Curaçao and Lime Juice, with a lime wheel, mint and a flower (orchid) for garnish. I like to serve it in a jarrito with a Día de los Muertos cocktail pick.
This drink was created by Ivy Mix, a NY-area bartender, the co-creator of Speed Rack and co-owner of Leyenda in Brooklyn. In the mid-2000’s, Ivy, a real Mezcal fanatic, used to embellish her Mai Tai’s with a little Mezcal float. By 2010, she fully committed to an agave-based Mai Tai. She started with the widely accepted Trader Vic’s Mai Tai (second adjusted formula) of Jamaican Rum, Martinique Rhum, Curaçao, Lime, Orgeat and Rich Simple Syrup, the swapped Martinique for Mezcal, ditched the Rich Simple and boosted the Orgeat to make up the difference.
She gave it a signature garnish and christened it, the Tia Mia. It became the first drink she got on one of Julie Reiner’s menus. Reiner was a protégé of Dale Degroff and the founder or co-founder of several amazing NY bars like the Pegu Club and the Clover Club. In 2010, Reiner opened her Polynesian bar, Lani Kai and the Tia Mia earned a spot on the menu. Unfortunately, like a couple other Tiki-revival bars in NY at that time, like Hurricane Club and Painkiller (aka PKNY), Lani Kai closed down around 2012.
They were perhaps just ahead of the curve on the world’s appetite for the Tiki revival. In any case, when Ivy and Reiner opened their pan-Latin themed, Brooklyn-based bar, Leyenda, the Tia Mia found a permanent home on their menu.
The name of the drink, Tia Mia (Spanish for “my aunt”) is an anagram for Mai Tai, as well as a tribute to one of Ivy’s regular guests, whom she affectionately refers to as “tia.”
Ivy’s likes to make the drink specifically with Appleton Rum, Del Maguey Vida (or Chichicapa) Mezcal, Pierre Ferrand Curaçao, Orgeatworks Orgeat (Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29 house formula). The preferred garnish is a lime wheel, mint sprigs and a fresh (edible) flower. For the flower, Ivy likes to go with a purple dendrobium orchid. That’s works really well for this drink and helps to give off those lovely Tiki vibes.
The mezcal really works best with a smoky version. The curaçao should be on the drier side. The orgeat should be the non-cloudy, not too marzipan-y kind. The homemade orgeat from The 12 Bottle Bar ( • How to Make Orgeat - Homemade Almond ... ) works wonders in this one, but Orgeatworks and L’Orgeat make for good store-bought alternatives.
This drink uses the Mai Tai as the jumping off point, but it’s not a replacement, it’s a different drink and it’s best to keep that in mind. It’s familiar in some ways, but completely takes on a life of its own. It’s funky, fruity, citrusy, sour, sweet, smoky, earthy and nutty. It’s an amazing drink. If you’ve got the ingredients to make a Mai Tai, you’ll only need some mezcal to make this one, which you should keep on hand, just out of general principles. Cheers!
Recipe:
1 oz (30ml) Jamaican Rum
1 oz (30ml) Mezcal (smoky)
0.5 oz (15ml) Orgeat
0.5 oz (15ml) Curaçao
0.75 oz (20 ml) Lime Juice
garnish lime wheel, orchid & mint
Whip (shake with a little crushed ice). Pour unstrained over ice in a jarrito or double old-fashioned glass. Add garnish and straw.
Music:
Quentino 3 by Stefan Netsman
via Epidemic Sound
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Featured in this Episode:
Hamilton Jamaican Blonde
http://bit.ly/2JazbFy
Mezcal Unión Uno
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Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
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L’Orgeat
http://bit.ly/2JapjLS
Bar Tools:
Jarrito
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Double Old Fashioned Glass
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Skull Cocktail Picks
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Japanese Style Jigger (Gunmetal Black)
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Hawthorne Strainer (Gunmetal Black)
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Koriko Weighted Shaker Set
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Bamboo Straw
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Citrus Juicer (Lime)
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Cutting Board
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Small Knife
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Lewis Bag & Ice Mallet
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