I used to get the best Mai Tai's at Jimmy Wong's on Wabash in downtown Chicago (45 years ago). Unfortunately they are no more. Pre-made Mai Tai 'mixers' used to be commonly available, but they never gave the same results, and have generally been replaced by margaritta mixers on the store shelves. I realized that the complexity of a Mai Tai is the liquors, not the fruit juice, so here is my recipe for a mixer that will let you throw together a decent Mai Tai with minimum effort:

• 10 oz (1 ¼ cup) silver Rum
• 10 oz (1 ¼ cup) gold Rum
• 4 oz (½ cup) Ameretto
• 2 oz (¼ cup) Grenadine
• 2 oz (¼ cup) Triple Sec

If you prepare the mixer ahead, you're never more than a few seconds away from a Mai Tai!

Use 2 oz mixer (more or less to taste), add 6 oz Pineaple juice (I keep a few 6 oz cans in the fridge), ice. Finish with fruit garnish and little unbrella.

• Light Rum
• Dark Rum
• Amaretto
• Orange and Pinaple Juice
• Grenadine

From a Tahiti postcard.

• 3 cl rhum blanc (light rum)
• 3 cl de rhum ambre (dark rum)
• 3 cl de triple sec
• 3 cl de jus de citron vert (lime juice)
• 1 cl de sirop de grenadine
• 1 cl de sirop sucre de canne (corn syrup)

Frapper le tout dans un shaker et servir dans un verre a moitie re
moitli de glace, avec un trait de jus d'ananas. (Beat everything in a shaker and serve in a half-reed glass
half of ice, with a dash of pineapple juice.)