Had to head out to Oakland to celebrate the Mai Tai becoming the official cocktail of the city, popping into a bustling Kon-Tiki in mid-evening. The crew has decorated the venue for Halloween using a variety of retro looking decorations including some nice pumpkin lanterns hanging over the bar. There was quite the crowd too, with lively music that made Tuesday seem like a Friday.
I’ve been pretty transparent about trying to get Kon-Tiki to the top of my Best Mai Tai of 2024 list, but for months it has been stuck at number 2, a fab Mai Tai with Hamilton Pot Still Blonde, and couldn’t beat the excellent Mai Tai I had at The Sinking Ship at Tiki-Ko. I’ve tried a number of exotic rums in Mai Tais at The Kon-Tiki over the past few months, including their upscale $44 Samaroli Mai Tai. But none of them could do it and as much as I want Kon-Tiki at number one for sentimental reasons I’ve also got to keep it real and base the ranking on merit.
As I scanned the shelves I saw an old favorite that I had wasn’t really considering all this time but at the moment made perfect sense. So, I asked Carlos to make an Appleton 12 Jamaica rum Mai Tai and it was absolutely fantastic. So much bold flavor even from a 43% ABV rum that still presented the orange and almond flavors the Mai Tai is famous for, not overly limey and perfectly balanced. It’s my new number one of the year, all the more appropriate given the occasion.
There’s no need to keep continually trying to top the Mai Tai at Kon-Tiki for now, so we closed the evening with the Pop Star cocktail, delightfully blending juices, watermelon, Aperol, and hibiscus. So delicious, and quite the treat.