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Fortune X Romance at Dr. Funk in February

Valentines meets Lunar New Year at Dr. Funk in downtown San Jose, featuring themed lighting and decor, a limited edition cocktail menu, and specialty garnishes. The red theme of Fortune X Romance works pretty well as neither holiday overshadows the other.

We tried four of the five drinks on the menu, and we didn’t try the specialty desert this time. But we did enjoy most of the drinks and overall this was a strong selection of options that worked well with the well-executed theme.

Jaded Lover
Works a great companion to the jade tiles throughout the venue, but only if you’re a pandan fan since that’s the predominant ingredient. We didn’t really taste the wine float, but the 151 rum helps pack a punch.

Moonlit Blossom
It’s a Painkiller with blackberry added, served with a sparkler that’s sure to impress. We couldn’t really taste the Jamaican rum but overall this cocktail was a big hit at our table. Not as sweet as you might expect.

Red Thread
If cherries are your thing, this is the drink to get. That OFTD and Jamaican rum does push through and this cocktail has a great mouthfeel and a lollypop chaser if you feel it isn’t sweet enough. Recommended.

Smoke & Silk
The mezcal isn’t overpowering but we all felt this drink tasted a little flat and thin. The flavor was there but it needed “more” to compete with the other great drinks we tried.

The fun garnishes really make this speciality cocktail menu and theme be cohesive. This ranks among the best pop-ups that Dr. Funk has done – check it now through February 22.

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Disgruntled Mai Tai

This delicious Mai Tai riff comes from Sam Ross of Attaboy in New York City. Ross is a Bartender of the Year winner from Tales of the Cocktail and has been a staple of the NYC cocktail scene for two decades.

The drink is elaborately garnished with a little bottle of Underberg, a bitter German herbal liqueur. It also splits the rum base with Aperol, leaning into pleasant orange flavors.

Disgruntled Mai Tai by Sam Ross
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Curacao
1 oz overproof Jamaican rum, preferably Smith & Cross
1 oz Aperol
Whip shake with a small amount of crushed ice, then strain over crushed ice in double rocks glass. Then remove cap and paper cover from Underberg bottle and place nose-down into the cocktail. Garnish with mint sprig, lime wedge, freshly grated nutmeg, and cocktail umbrella.

I thought this was fantastic, though the Underberg didn’t really incorporate into the cocktail. In fact, I drank the whole thing and then lifted out the Underberg bottle which was still nearly full. So, I poured the contents out over the ice, added about ¾ oz of orgeat and then topped with soda. The orgeat balanced the bitter flavors and I found it to be quite pleasant.

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Pacific Catch’s Juicy, Boozy Mai Tai

We had a great lunch at the Pacific Catch location in Dublin, including a really great Poke bowl. This west coast chain is a favorite of ours.

I also enjoyed the juicy Mai Tai that includes POG juice and lime along with Flor de Caña silver rum, and overproof rum, and Lahaina Dark Rum. I asked for the dark rum on the side just to taste it, finding it to be mild in flavor and light in body. It is made from a stock of molasses produced a decade ago when Maui still had a sugar refinery, which is a nice bit of history even if the rum itself isn’t really anything noteworthy. I did notice they’re using Kuleana rums from the island of Hawai’i as well, so it’s nice to see Hawaiian rums in widespread use here.

Pacific Catch’s Mai Tai has a ton of flavor and leans a little boozy, making this is one my favorite island style Mai Tais.

 

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Welcome to Sugar Town

Most spirits aficionados are aware that many rums contain added sugar. During my visit to Dr. Funk I chose two that are most noteworthy in this practice.

Planteray/Plantation 20th Anniversary XO has a base of aged Barbados rum and then adds a heavy dose of sugar, making this very easy to sip with hints of coconut. This wasn’t nearly as sweet as I remember, though still very far afield of typical Barbadian rums.

XO has a rep for being really high on those added sugar lists, but was practically dry compared to Papa’s Pilar which tasted basically like maple syrup it was so sweet. That one I didn’t finish.

Having a neat pour of rum can give you insights to the brand and understand the diversity of the rum category. Some expressions are those you return to again and again. And there are others you don’t.

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Rum Tasting at Dr. Funk

Had an impromptu visit to Dr. Funk to knock out a few more runs from the Rum Asylum rum list. These were pretty good, even the Havana Club which tasted a bit more rounded than I remember.

I’d probably rank them like this:

  1. Coruba
  2. Flor dr Caña
  3. Rhum Barbancourt
  4. Diplomatico
  5. Havana Club

I need to get busy and finish the level II list before the next quarterly meetup in March.

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Mai Tais at Trader Vic’s Atlanta

Locals told us that Trader Vic’s Atlanta makes all Mai Tais using the Mai Tai Concentrate syrup unless you order by calling for a “1944 Mai Tai” so we put this theory to the test by ordering multiple Mai Tais over the couple nights we were in town. Hard work if you can get it, I know.

Original Mai Tai

Indeed, our order for an “Original Mai Tai” resulted in a Mai Tai that used the Concentrate rather than orgeat, orange curacao, and rock candy syrup from the original recipe. Thankfully the 1944 Mai Tai was made using scratch ingredients and is a wonderful representation of a Trader Vic’s Mai Tai. Our ’44 on Thursday was truly fantastic (apart from the tiny mint) and the one Friday was also very good, reminding us why we feel in love with the cocktail many years ago.

There you go Mai Tai nation. At least for now this is the practice in Atlanta and those in the know can choose their own adventure.

This Vic’s location has their own Mai Tai glass design (pictured above) that’s fantastic and pays homage to the Barney West carving on the back patio. I don’t need more Mai Tai glasses but I had to get it.

1944 Mai Tais at Trader Vic’s Atlanta