Gary Regan has a $1,500 Mai Tai at the Merchant Hotel in Belfast. Why is it $1,500? “Because the Merchant Hotel is the only bar in the world that has a bottle of the original 17-year-old J. Wray & Nephew rum that Victor J. “Trader Vic” Bergeron used when he created the drink in 1944.”
Regan goes on to describe the original Mai Tai as “just heavenly.” I’m sure it is. But I wonder the extent to which it’s “heavenly” because of its rarity or because of the supreme quality of the 17 year-old J. Wray. Moreover – and I think this is the much more relevant question – has Regan ever had a Mai Tai as good or better than the original at a price attainable by an average cocktailian?
A Jigger of Blog 
[…] Angus also happens to be a man with access to a cache of 17 yr. Old J.Wray and Nephew, used in the original Mai Tai, and is certain to bring a staunch defense of molasses-based rum, should things turn […]
By: Sugarcane Spirits around the World : Blogging Tales of the Cocktail: 2009 on May 5, 2009
at 10:08 am