Next week we have the honour of having none other than Mr. Chesterfield Brown in town. Chesterfield is the Global Brand Ambassador for Mount Gay Rum and a huge local celebrity on the beautiful and picturesque island of Barbados. Chesterfield has been working for Mount Gay Rum for a long while now and started his career in the visitor center as the house bartender where his famous rum punch recipe quickly gained acclaim. He now travels the globe constantly - preaching the virtues of this beautiful rum. The world's first - The rum that invented rum.

This week's cocktail of the week has been done before but not like this. I have tracked down the original documentation for Trader Vic's Mai Tai - taken from Trader Vic's Bartender Guide.

Ingredients:

60ml Rum (30ml Mount Gay Eclipse and 30ml Mount Gay Extra Old)

15ml Orange Curacao

7.5ml Rock candy syrup

7.5ml Orgeat syrup*

1 Lime

Method:
Cut lime in half; squeeze juice over shaved ice in a Mai Tai (double old fashioned) glass; save one spent shell. Add remaining ingredients and enough shaved ice to fill glass, shake well.

Garnish:
Garnish with spent lime shell, fresh mint and a fruit stick.

Rock candy syrup is a forgotten style of sugar syrup. Most Indian or Chinese food stores still sell rock candy. Simply reduce over a low heat with water until desired consistency is reached.

Orgeat Syrup:
120 grams ounces blanched sweet almonds

15 grams Mahlab*

350ml fresh water

500 grams of sugar cooked with 1 cup water until almost caramelized

Juice of 1/2 lemon

A few drops of orange blossom water

Blend on high speed then pass through muslin cloth.

*Mahlab is an aromatic spice made from the pits of the St Lucie Cherry. Used mainly in baking in the Middle East it has a strong floral/cherry aroma and a bitter almond flavour.