Muddle the mint in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients with a few pieces of crushed ice and whip until the ice is fully dissolved. Double strain into a chilled rocks glass and top with crushed ice. Garnish with the three skewered blueberries and mint sprig.
For the blueberry syrup, add 1 cup blueberries, 0.5 cup sugar, 0.5 cup water, and 0.5 teaspoon fresh lemon juice in a saucepan. Pulverize the blueberries until fully broken down. Let simmer for 10 minutes over low-medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes. Pour the mixture through a sieve and strain into a clean container.
Blueberry seems like an underrepresented ingredient in the cocktail world, partly because its taste is more subtle compared to other berries like raspberry or blackberry. I wanted to create a summer cocktail highlighting blueberry as the star of the drink and couldn’t think of a better way than featuring it in a Mai Tai. To really capture the flavor, I concentrated the blueberry in a syrup and combined it with other common Tiki ingredients. I used a split base of white rum and rhum agricole blanc, but an overproof rum like Wray & Nephew could work here too. After mixing up this cocktail, please “cheers” to someone and shout “Blueberry Tai-mmm”!!!
