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Canned Mai Tai Blind Shootout: Crafthouse vs. Tip Top Proper vs. Straightaway

We were so impressed with Crafthouse Cocktails Mai Tai we naturally had to compare it to our previous favorite Tip Top Proper Cocktails Mai Tai. Seeing that we still had some cans of Straightway we threw that into the mix as sort of a control group, and we blind tasted all three of these with our family of four adults.

The results were interesting since we all chose the same canned Mai Tai as our favorite, though the difference between our top two picks was very narrow and a couple of us had to go back and forth a few times to declare a winner.

Nonetheless, we did unanimously pick Crafthouse Cocktails as our winner of the blind taste test, a shade above Tip Top Proper. Your mileage might vary but for us there was a clear best in show.

Summary

Straightaway – clearly in last place for everyone by a wide margin, artificial citrus aftertaste, not very rummy. 25% ABV / 100 ml.

Tip Top Proper Cocktails – a very close second on all our ballots, with a great rum finish and a good balance of sweet and sour notes. 26% ABV / 100 ml.

Crafthouse Cocktails – the unanimous winner, a delightful rum flavor and complex notes of orange and almond, with a rich mouthfeel. 16% ABV / 200 ml.

When we started evaluating RTD Mai Tais a few years back most of the ones we tried were in large cans and barely tasted like a Mai Tai, but there have been so many quality entrants in the last few years providing ready to drink cocktails that actually taste like a cocktail you might make from scratch. These tend to come in smaller bottles or cans, usually with an ABV +/- 20%, and there are now many good ones to choose from.

Learn more about Ready to Drink Mai Tais

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Crafthouse Cocktails Mai Tai is Fantastic

This canned Mai Tai has been on my radar for a little while, with seemingly universally great reaction from the few posts I’ve seen about it. I was considering wasting a Saturday trying to find one in the Bay Area when Crafthouse Cocktails co-founder Charles Joly reached out and asked if I wanted a sample.

It is always interesting as a low-level “influencer” when people send you stuff for review, but the Crafthouse team knew they were working from a position of strength and smartly saw I was open-minded to the idea of a canned Mai Tai. I do believe RTD cocktails are great for many scenarios including camping, vacations, or just when the day is so hard that even juicing a fresh lime is too much work. I love the concept of ready to drink cocktails and the Crafthouse Cocktails Mai Tai is fantastic.

Issued at 16% ABV in a 200 ml can, Crafthouse’s Mai Tai is a little less potent than some of the other canned Mai Tais that come in cans half the size. But there’s no lack of flavor and still plenty of booze given the larger size. The ingredients are listed as Planteray Rum, orange curacao, orgeat, and fresh lime, just what you want in a Mai Tai. The floral notes and overall rumminess means this should be a hit with any fan of the original 1944 style Mai Tai. While there’s no country of origin listed for the Planteray rum, something like Original Dark’s blend of Barbados and Jamaican rum is a good bet.

Crafthouse was also kind enough to send over some cans of the other cocktails in their lineup – look for those posts in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, the summary is that Crafthouse has an excellent Mai Tai in a convenient format.

We were impressed by Crafthouse’s Mai Tai, but how does it compare to our previous favorite? Check in tomorrow to see the results of our blind test shootout.

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Straightway Canned Mai Tai

This brand of ready to drink Mai Tai was recommended and the 25% ABV on the label was a good sign, but unfortunately I found this RTD cocktail to be quite lacking. After pouring the drink you can likely see immediately what the problem is, since it is a clear color and doesn’t appear to have aged rum or rich orange curacao included.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I’ve had and liked plenty of Mai Tais made with light body, lightly aged rums (these type of Mai Tais were labeled Menehune Juice by Trader Vic), and in this format the drink is supposed to lean more on the almond and orange flavors from the orgeat and orange curacao. The problem with Straightaway is that you don’t get much of that flavor either, resulting in a very light rum taste which is bowled over by the tart and artificial lime flavors.

The label says this contains Jamaican and West Indies rum, but I didn’t taste any of Jamaica’s legendary funk here either. Most RTD Mai Tais in these smaller cans are usually worth seeking out, but I can’t recommend Straightaway.

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Livermore’s Latest Popup: Lost on Pigeon Island

Livermore’s Fat Pigeon has launched their latest themed popup experience, the pirate, tropical, and tiki inspired Lost on Pigeon Island. As with their previous popups, you can expect thematic decor and cocktails inspired by the theme.

When initially announced, this seemed to lean heavily on pirates, but in practice it is much more of a beach themed experience with tropical and tiki elements. The music includes surf, reggae, and Jimmy Buffett, and there are inflatable sea creatures and tikis within the venue and outdoor patio. This isn’t quite as immersive as the previous Wizard of Oz theme, in part because this is a more general concept.

The good news is that the cocktail options continue to be pretty strong. There are a variety of cocktails using different spirits, so there’s something for fans of bourbon, tequila, and gin, along with rum of course. I very much enjoyed Azure Bliss which is better balanced and more interesting than most of the Blue Hawaiian’s I’ve ever had, and comes with a gummy shark as a garnish. Our party also liked the clarified Toasted Trader which has good bourbon notes and actually uses Cinnamon Toast Crunch as a flavoring ingredient.

It should go without saying that for hardcore tiki fans that Fat Pigeon isn’t really the tiki bar you are looking for in Livermore, given numerous “party city tiki” type decorations, instead we’ll direct you to the nearby Tikeasy at Rosetta. But Fat Pigeon is open every day including early on the weekends, so is a very nice option for day cocktails and the service here is nice and friendly. A Pirate High Tea service is also coming soon.

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Denizen 8 Year Jamaican Rum Wanderer Series

Issued as part of Denizen’s new Wanderer Series, this is a Single Origin Jamaican Rum aged for eight years and finished in Port Casks for three months. Issued at 54% ABV, this new premium rum is a limited edition of four different pot/column still rums and does come with a higher cost than Denizen’s standard rum lineup.

The Port Cask is doing some really funky things to this rum, and I didn’t really find it to be particularly representative of a Jamaican rum. The bottle says “single origin” but said origin isn’t really provided. Comparing this to something like Dr. Bird, another Jamaican rum with wine cask aging, I feel like more of the Jamaican notes are lost and are replaced with some industrial solvent notes that reminded me of a Haitian Clairin. I don’t get any of the banana or caramel notes supposedly attributed to this rum in the marketing materials.

I made this in a Mai Tai and while it wasn’t undrinkable, I did find it lacking compared to Denizen’s other rums.

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Tikeasy at Rosetta is the Bay Area’s Newest Tiki Bar

Livermore’s Rosetta Roasting coffee roastery is going full tiki for their evening cocktail persona this summer and adopting Tikeasy as the venue branding. We’ve been big fans of the Nightcaps at Rosetta cocktail program, but have certainly noticed a gradual shift to more tiki decor taking over the space including a magnificent A-frame to serve as a portal to the tiki area. The staff said that additional traditional tiki elements are coming soon. The dimly lit booths work great with exotic music and superbly executed tropical cocktails, and nobody would peg this as a tiki bar from the outside. It’s a speakeasy, tiki style.

The official launch of Tikeasy was on Sunday including a Mai Tai flight featuring two of my Mai Tai recipes. It was a lot of fun to welcome tiki friends visiting the Livermore location for the first time, plus locals who’d experienced evening cocktails there in the past but who appreciated some casual Mai Tai education. The Rosetta Mai Tai features Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black rum and notably switches from orange curacao for orange bitters. The team did a great job with my Ultimate Mai Tai and Blue Mai Tai variants.

The team behind Rosetta Roasting are true believers in tiki, and they’re taking a chance by trying something a little different in downtown Livermore. There’s a menu of over twenty cocktails to choose from, all expertly prepared. We saw many customers order the Zombie-like Man Overboard and also The Privateer that features tequila. Rosetta’s coffee roots are a big influence on the Espresso Martiki, featuring creamy Gardenia Mix to help make a great foam head. We also heard good things about Pele’s Passion, Pearl Diver, and Rum Fashioned. If you’ve visited, leave a comment with your favorite.

The Tikeasy is open Wednesday-Saturday at Rosetta Roasting in downtown Livermore, with savory bites and deserts available as well. Reservations are available and recommended as the space is cozy, with outdoor patio seating also available.

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New Make and Drink Mai Tai Glass

Derek has come up with an all-new design for his Make and Drink YouTube channel’s Mai Tai glass. This one is much more elaborate than the previous incarnation, still sporting the Make and Drink logo but also including Hawaiian elements and even a Mai Tai recipe. The Mai Tai glass is available now and will be going up in price on June 1st, so “act now” as they say.

Derek’s favorite Mai Tai features both Jamaican and Demerara rums, hence the specific notation on the recipe, though of course it is always up to you how you use that two ounces of rum in the cocktail.

After you make the Mai Tai, be sure to check out Derek’s latest video which covers the oldest known Mai Tai recipe in print, a recipe “from the bartender at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel” that ran in the Memphis Commercial Appeal in 1958. That recipe features 1 oz of lemon juice and ½ oz of lime juice, so this version is definitely a little different than most Mai Tais you might have tried.