The Thanksgiving holiday is over. But if you made last week’s Pecan Pie Syrup for the Pecan Pie Flip, you may still have some syrup left. Like Thanksgiving dinner, holiday cocktails often produce leftovers, and those leftovers can provide creative inspiration of their own.
You could, of course, just keep making more Pecan Pie Flips. Personally, I’ve had…well, let’s just say more than a few, perhaps even a few too many — which for a holiday dessert drink is just about the right amount.
But you can also take that syrup and make something totally different. Like a Mai Tai. Or a Mai Tai variation, anyway.
Why a Mai Tai? First, because it’s always time for tiki drinks, even in late November.
But also because, as some of you have already noticed, the Pecan Pie Syrup — which combines sugar, vanilla extract, and lightly toasted pecans — is a close cousin to orgeat, the almond-y nut syrup that is an essential ingredient in the king of tiki drinks, the Mai Tai.
There are some differences: Many (though not all) orgeats are formulated as 1:1 syrups — with equal parts sugar and water — and the Pecan Pie Syrup is formulated at 2:1, with two parts sugar to one part water. But remember that a 2:1 syrup does not deliver double the sugar of a 1:1 syrup. A 2:1 syrup is about 66-67 percent sugar, while a 1:1 syrup is 50 percent sugar (not accounting for the nuts, of course). The point is that 2:1 syrups and 1:1 syrups are not all that far apart.
What about the vanilla? Well, vanilla isn’t unheard of in tiki cocktails: You’ll find it in newer drinks like the Expedition from Smuggler’s Cove, as well as classics like Don the Beachcomber’s Nui Nui. Vanilla and tiki may not be joined at the hip, but they’re friendly neighbors, often found together.
Mai Tais typically call for a blend of rums, but in the interests of simplification, I’ll recommend you stick with the El Dorado 8 that was already part of the Pecan Pie Flip. If you can’t find it, another dark, aged rum will probably work, albeit with a somewhat different character. (Don’t use anything light or overly bright. You want some heft and richness. This isn’t a Daiquiri!)
And if you want to blend multiple rums into this drink, you can always do that too — just make sure the total volume of rum stays at two ounces. My first recommendation would be to nudge some funky, high-proof Smith & Cross into the mix.
You’ll want a dash of Angostura Aromatic Bitters in this drink just to give it the requisite spice notes. And while a traditional Mai Tai is served over a mountain of crushed ice, I like this drink over a single large piece of ice, which gives it just a little bit more of the slow-sipping character I like in a cold-weather cocktail.
This is not a full-fledged overhaul of the Mai Tai, like the mezcal and rye-based Mai Tai variations we looked at this summer. But it is a reminder that every great drink idea — and the Mai Tai is nothing if not a great drink idea — is the basis for many, many more tasty drink ideas.
Obviously, we’ll have to call this one the…
Pecan Pie Tai
1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
¾ ounce Pecan Pie Syrup
½ ounce Grand Marnier
1 ounce fresh lime juice
2 ounces El Dorado 8 year (or other dark, aged rum)
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
Add ice, then shake until chilled, about 10 seconds.
Strain into a rocks glass over a large piece of ice.
Garnish with a Luxardo Maraschino Cherry and an orange peel.