When creating the Get Rich or Chai Tryin’ cocktail, Unknown Caller bar operating partner Kris Candamil was inspired by Trader Vic’s Mai Tai – supposedly the original Mai Tai, invented by Tiki movement pioneer Victor J. Bergeron, aka Trader Vic, and Candamil’s favorite drink. Unlike the sugar-filled Hawaiian version of the Mai Tai that’s most common today, the original was a simple concoction composed of a blend of rums, lime juice, orange curacao and orgeat (almond) syrup topped with a sprig of mint.
Instead of using a blend of rums for the base like a Trader Vic’s Mai Tai, the Get Rich or Chai Tryin’ cocktail is made with a base of chai-infused curacao and pineapple skin-infused rum.
The infusions are made in-house by soaking the ingredients in the liquor for two hours, he says.
“The chai spices give it more of a winterized flavor,” Candamil says of the cocktail. “I’m a huge rum drinker, and I love drinking rum yearround, and I think this is just an awesome drink to have on a really nice, cold day. It still manages to be tiki-inspired, but very much seasonal.”
While the drink is not always served in a miniature recycling bin, the novelty glass is a fitting nod to the repurposed pineapple skin used to infuse the rum in the drink. Unknown proudly uses every part of the pineapple for its drinks, from the fresh-squeezed juice for its pina coladas to the skin used for infusing rum to the leaves used as garnishes, Candamil says.