The spirits, cooking, rum and mixed drink afficiando and web mistress - give me another one - Tiara (mountainofcrushedice.com) recently posted a series seeking the classic and/or perfect Mai Tai, take your choice. She posed an interesting question...
So when does a variation become a bastardization? Here's how I responded:Tiara: "Moving on to the topic of Mai Tai twists from the last post about how to do the original Mai Tai right…
So it´s time to play! the goal here is to stay somewhat true to the Trader Vic´s recipe with only some slight changes because i don´t wanna loose too much of the Mai Tai formula..but true Mai Tais it ain´t anymore…
So what do you think about the original Mai Tai and in doing variations? where is the thin line? when does it become a bastardization?"
Plato has The Answer!
Milan Kundera in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being":
"Men who pursue a multitude of women fit neatly into two categories. Some seek their own subjective and unchanging dream of a woman in all women. Others are prompted by desire to possess the endless variety of the objective female world."
And so it is with classic drinks like the Mai Tai or the Manhattan.
Regarding the latter, Hans Allhoff (in the book "Whisky & Philosophy) identifies two subsets of mixed drink afficianados - one whose ideal Mai Tai is subjective, ala the womanizer. The other Mai Tai lover he'd identify is objective, a cocktail purist who insists that a classic is a classic, damn it, and seeks the one perfect, classic ideal.
Now bear with me on this.
Allhoff relates all this to Plato's Theory of Forms. This theory would state that there is a "real" Mai Tai - representing reality at its highest". But Plato's Mai Tai, in its "highest form", is not "real" in the sense that we all use the word. Let me paraphrase Allhoff and relate this to our reality. We walk into a bar, order a Mai Tai, and - here's the key - without knowing what went into it, whether we think we got a good onor not depends entirely on how it corresponds to the "form of a Mai Tai" as we have come to know and appreciate a "good one".
A "good one" is our idea (or form) of one. Altshoff ends all this by describing what he calls the "epic drinker", who like the womanizer, wants endless variety. But unlike the womanizer for whom almost any woman will do, the epic drinker won't drink just anything, won't drink just any Mai Tai, but will appreciate only those that best conform to his/her Platonic ideal idea, notion or "form" of the Mai Tai.
In short Tiara, in answer to your question "where is the thin line? when does it become a bastardization?", the simple answer is - you'll know. And so will all the other Mai Tai lovers...