The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
Only for those on the inside of security, but open any time planes are flying near Terminal B, Gate 22-23. Restaurant and bar, with Outpost grab’n’go.
Update: the Outpost opens on May 27. The bar/restaurant opens mid-June.
Update #2: the Outpost opening is delayed slightly and will not open on the 27th, due to COVID related training snags. Stay tuned.
Update #3: The Outpost is now open.
Update #4: Trader Vic’s San Jose is now fully open
Got to try this new rum last night at Forbidden Island. It’s rum from Balcones Distilling (makers of Texas Whiskey) and the Forbidden Island edition is a spicy pot still rum that isn’t half bad. The representative compared it to Jamaican rum, which is honestly a bold move to compare yourself to the world’s best rum (I expect nothing less from a Texan). But, I give those folks from Texas credit for swinging for the fences.
The rum is quite potent, bottled at cask strength. Give it a try the next time you’re at Forbidden Island. There is a “general public” release this Friday 5/21 from 5-7 p.m.
There are a couple cocktail specials using this rum. I tried the “Over the Falls” with citrus, spices, orgeat, and absinthe. This is a wonderful tropical cocktail and while you definitely taste the absinthe it doesn’t overpower. What might be more than you expect is the ABV – this is a very boozy cocktail! Quite delicious though.
Fantastic time tonight for Ohana night at @ . This was our next toe-dip back into indoor dining and it was so nice to see so many familiar faces at Forbidden Island tonight. Wasn’t quite like the before times (hello, marks!) but still some fabulous FI cocktails and hospitality.
Mrs Mai Tai had the Chi-Chi, while I indulged with a classic Mai Tai with Appleton 12 and Plantation Xaymaca. It was a very good Mai Tai! Along with the Guac and Chips and an Ester Williams tropical movie on the TV, it was just like old times.
This niche release from Holmes Cay won acclaim last year, even from rum fans who generally prefer Jamaican and Barbados rum styles. I finally decided to get a bottle myself, and boy am I glad I did.
The rum from Belize is 100% Column Still distillate, but has been tropically aged for 15 years and contains no added sugar or additives. Nonetheless it is quite flavorful and has a sweet vanilla finish. The rum is bottled at cask strength at 61% ABV, yet is still pleasant to sip neat.
As expected, I also made a Mai Tai with this rum. The flavor is different than my usual Jamaican-heavy blend, but is still quite satisfying. The rum’s characteristics do pull through even in the cocktail format, delivering a sweet flavor and a long finish.
These bottles won’t be around forever, so if you have the opportunity to purchase (and can accord the ~$100 price of this limited release) I’d encourage you to take the plunge.
Two weeks out from my second jab, Mrs. Mai Tai and I had a relaxing dinner at Trader Vic’s Emeryville inside a tiki bar for a relaxing meal (we were indoors a couple times in Palm Springs in April but we were totally watching the clock). The tables are spaced out and we had a great video of the Emeryville marina and for a time had the entire second dining room to ourselves.
The cocktail menu is somewhat limited, though of course there is still something for everyone. I started with the San Francisco Mai Tai and Julie had the Chi-Chi, our usual orders. We followed with the Banana Batida for me (which ended up being my desert) and she had the Tututupo Tiki. Fantastic cocktails tonight, and a relaxing evening with exotica and Hawaiian music playing.
For dinner it was a little bit of Trader Vic’s greatest hits, starting with the Peanut Butter crackers, the Huli Huli chicken for me and a Trader Vic’s salad and Tofu Aloha Bowl for Julie. But the best thing tonight was the Crab Rangoon, so much better when it is freshly served in the restaurant. It was all great, including the service as expected.
Supplies of Corbuba Dark rum have been constrained over the past months, leading some to worry if the product would be discontinued. Instead, it has been a process of clearing the inventory of bottles with an older style label.
Behold the new Coruba labels! Interesting, this style basically matches an older label design. A few years ago, Campari made a whole line of Coruba rums; in addition to the classic Dark, there was Coconut and Mango and Pineapple etc. A few of these flavored rums are still available on dusty shelves in independent liquor stores, but why bother with flavored rums. Meanwhile, the workhorse Dark Jamaican rum that most people favor over brand leader Myers’s has dropped the “Dark” moniker and is now simply Coruba Jamaican Rum. Sure would be nice if Campari pushed this product a little harder, like they do with the Appleton and Wray & Nephew brands.
I love this rum (though I do slightly prefer Blackwell Gold, a sister brand also under the Appleton/Wray & Nephew umbrella), and it’s quite coveted by fans of tropical cocktails. At Hale Pele in Portland the Mai Tai rum is 3 parts Coruba and 1 part Wray & Nephew Overproof and that is a fabulous Mai Tai.
Looking at the new Coruba next to a pour of the previous edition, it seems like the rum is a hint or two darker and there is a slightly different taste that maybe be related to slightly more caramel coloring. That said, the differences are very small, so if you’ve liked Coruba rest assured this is still the rum you want to obtain.
I got my bottles at K&L Wines in the SF Bay Area. Look for these new labels coming to a fine liquor store near you.
This is a Chris Day original now being served as a frozen drink at The Kon-Tiki in Oakland . It is lovely in that format and serves as a wonderful counterpart to The Kon-Tiki’s Pina Colada style cocktail The Uma Uma also being served frozen.
Coffee drinks haven’t always been my friend, apart of the Black Magic I had at The Mai-Kai a couple years ago. But after trying this cocktail I knew I had to try and make it at home. So glad I did – it is even better in the original shaken format. I used Tempus Fugit Creme of Banana and I would say that I’m not tasting the banana too much, so you might consider increasing it a bit (or, pulling back on the coffee liqueur). The Spiced Rum I used was a combo of Sailor Jerry and Captain Morgan that I made by combining two half bottles of each.
Donnie’s Element by Chris Day
½ oz Coffee Liqueur (Mr. Black)
½ oz Banana Liqueur (Tempus Fugit)
1½ oz Coconut Creme
1½ oz Spiced Rum
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Whip shake and pour over crushed or pebble ice.
Garnish with Grated Cinnamon
Be sure to check out the embedded video from the Educated Barfly where they made this cocktail. I won’t spoil the surprise but if you’re a fan of the drink or of Chris Day’s cocktails (or just Chris as a human being) you should definitely watch the video.