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Rock Candy Mystery Solved

Our trip to Vegas started at the San Jose Airport with some dinner and drinks at the Trader Vic’s Outpost. Our flight was delayed two hours so this wasn’t a bad place to spend some time (and turned out to be our only tiki bar visit that night due to the delay). Following Atlanta and Emeryville, this was our third Trader Vic’s location in 27 days – all on U.S. soil with three other stateside locations in development in Kona, West Hollywood, and Oakland Airport.

Navy Grog

The Mai Tai was good here as usual, as was the poke bowl. I decided to go a little off script by ordering a Navy Grog for the first time in forever. I like my Navy Grogs a little sweeter, so asked for extra Grog Mix syrup and it was really delicious and had a rich mouthfeel.

There’s some sort of story that the rock candy stick that comes with the Trader Vic’s Navy Grog can use used to sweeten the drink. Well, I stirred that thing for five minutes straight and it didn’t dissolve any appreciable amount. The reason Vic’s uses a rock candy stick for a garnish is because it takes five seconds to prepare vs. the Don the Beachcomber traditional ice cone garnish which takes considerably longer. But from several feet away they have the same sort of look. That tricky Trader!

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The Tiki Bar at Excalibur Las Vegas

Excalibur recently renovated their show lounge into a tiki theme, which was met with skepticism by many in the tiki community. Indeed, a tiki bar seems to be a poor fit for a resort themed around Medieval knights, though it isn’t any further off theme than the Johnny Rockets or Australian “Thunder from Down Under” show already on property.

The Tiki Bar features a rectangular bar, plus a very large lounge that features a stage and some TV screens that were playing The Creature from the Black Lagoon during our visit. We arrived around noon and during this time the bar is the only part that’s officially open, but the bartender kindly let our party of five sit at a cozy table in the lounge. We felt very far away from the casino floor, as the lounge sits in a corner and features good sound-proofing. Music was vintage exotica; I for sure didn’t have Les Baxter on my bingo card! The thatch walls feature artwork from various contemporary artists and the “clown tiki” elements are fairly minimal.



Overall, our party was impressed by the space and felt it was actually pretty nice. The twin peacock chair was a great capper and photo opportunity.

We have less kind things to say about the cocktails, which are priced at around $18 and definitely not great. There are some cocktail flights on the menu, but the bartender told one of us that it wasn’t a good deal and to stick with cocktails. I had the Mai Tai (orange-forward) and Tropical Tai (pineapple forward) and neither was really very good. The Sweet Surrender was a bit better, balancing juices and spicy mango syrup. The Cucumber Melon Splash is a Daiquiri with watermelon syrup and is probably the best option for craft cocktail snobs looking for balanced flavors.

Mai Tai and Tropical Tai


Happy hour runs from 5:00-7:00 and cocktails are only $8, so this is the best time to visit if you can. We think the average Excalibur guest will love the sweet cocktails, but it is too bad there isn’t maybe one or two for serious cocktail fans, such as a Rum Old Fashioned. Nonetheless, The Tiki Bar at Excalibur truly is a nice relaxing option on the South Strip.

Sweet Surrender
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1642 Golden Rum from New Zealand

The sample was traded several times before landing in a little bottle courtesy our buddy Marshall who popped over for a round at the Trader Vic’s Speakeasy event yesterday. I’ve had rums from other Oceana countries, but never New Zealand and this was quite a gift.

1642 Golden Rum comes from National Distillery Company and is one of a series of rums in their portfolio. This particular expression is described as “Aged in first fill, ex-bourbon barrels, and combining a lighter than normal blend of molasses to sugarcane, this soft golden rum has a light, natural sweetness that further heroes the complexities of the afore mentioned first-fill bourbon barrels.”

This sounds like the blend includes distillate from sugar cane juice and I got a big hint of that even before reading the product description. The mouthfeel is quite rich and has plenty of flavor even at 42% ABV, comparing well to Rhum Barbancourt. Definitely a rum to keep your eye on.

Thanks to Marshall for expanding our horizons.

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Hinky Dinks Speakeasy at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

Shhh.. don’t tell anyone.

Trader Vic’s Emeryville is normally dark on Tuesdays but on this rainy February night opened the Lanyu Room as Hinky Dinks Speakeasy. This event featured a special cocktail menu including some small bites, paying tribute to Trader Vic’s original restaurant at 65th and San Pablo Ave in Oakland that opened in 1934 (this venue was later renamed Trader Vic’s, as you might have heard). Era-specific standards from DJ Speakeasy Ray set the mood perfectly, as did the mood lighting. Artifacts from the now-closed Trader Vic’s London were also a focal point.

The speakeasy motif was in force as you entered via the side door and you had to say the password obtained by calling the Trader Vic’s telephone number. This was a fun way to start the evening, including torches and a bright red light.

Cocktails for this event were well-curated and blended classic recipes with modern ones. The clarified Mai Tai called Tiki-Easy was fat-washed in peanut butter and was the standout of the evening, but the clarified Essence of San Juan was nearly as good. I also liked the Hotel Nacional which had delicious fruity notes. PB2Y2 is a Vic’s cocktail from the 1940s and uses a common Vic’s build featuring two rums and three citrus juices – leaning a bit tart but overall quite good and plenty boozy.

We’ve been told that the cocktails may cycle in and out over the next few Tuesdays, with some other vintage recipes being considered for future dates. If this event is of interest we encourage you to attend in the next few weeks to keep up the momentum, and we do plan to return in a couple weeks ourselves. It’s really great to see Trader Vic’s paying homage to their history but doing so with some fresh cocktails and loungey atmosphere.

Tiki Easy, PB2Y2, Hotel Nacional, Essence of San Juan
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Chance Encounter at Dr. Funk

This was the one drink on Dr. Funk‘s special February cocktail menu that I didn’t try, so decided to give it a spin in between rum tastings.

Chance Encounter includes strawberry-infused cachaça, Chinese grain spirit, vermouth, a sparkling apéritif, and lemon juice. Thanks to the bubbles this does drink a little lighter in body, with that vermouth and infused cachaça providing some atypical flavors for San Jose’s best tiki bar.

I thought it was pretty good, meaning that this themed menu is among the best that Dr. Funk has done over the past 18 months. You can catch Fortune X Romance at Dr. Funk now through February 22.

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Clarin vs. Rum

This was a pretty good pairing the other night when I went to Dr. Funk to keep working on my Rum Asylum rum list.

Clairin Communal is a really great four different clairins from small distilleries in the municipalities of Cavaillon, Baradères, Pignon, and Saint-Michel-de-l’Attalaye. Issued at a very approachable 43% ABV, the robust sugar cane juice distillate isn’t as grassy as some “agricole” style rums.

Meanwhile Angostura rum has a range of rum expressions, many of which contain added sugar.  Angostura 1919 here didn’t strike me as sweet as a I remember and is perhaps dryer than some of the others from the range. I believe this particular expression may be discontinued as I don’t see it on the Ango website.

Dr. Funk has a quarterly Rum Asylum meet-up and the next one is March 22. These events aren’t ticketed (at least not yet) and feature a rum brand with samples, education, and usually a lower cost cocktail made with one of the expressions. I expect I’ll complete Level II of the Rum Asylum by the time of this next event.