Month: August 2021

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Beachbum Berry’s Zombie Blend

Made a Zombie according to the recipe on the bottle. It’s not exactly a 1934 Zombie recipe, but is most certainly influenced by it. It nicely only uses two ounces of this delicious new rum from Hamilton.

And it is soooo good. Really excellent Zombie! This rum is legit! If you’ve been on the fence about getting this, I can only say that it is wonderful and if you don’t want it then there is more for me. Jeff “Beachbum” Berry crushes it again with an amazing recipe and some amazing rum from Ed Hamilton and Hamilton Rums.

Zombie Blend is available in many states with more to come.

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Hamilton Rum: Beachbum Berry’s Zombie Blend

Not just for Zombies. It makes an excellent Mai Tai too!

This new rum blend is a 118 proof delight, so aromatic and flavorful. With this kind of ABV it isn’t a sipper for most people, but inside a Mai Tai it really punches through and coats your tongue. Of course, our house Mai Tai rum blend is over 100 proof, so we’re used to boozy Mai Tais. But we think anyone will find this rum to be amazing in a Mai Tai.

The Mai Tai is best prepared with Latitude 29 Orgeat from Orgeat Works, a house favorite of the Bum himself who helped develop it. It is our favorite orgeat.

Not a bad choice Mai Tai Monday.

The Zombie blend is rolling out now and is available in many states with more to come. Bottles are going fast but Ed Hamilton says this product is here to stay and that more is in the pipeline.

And, yes, it does make an excellent Zombie.

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Cocktails at The Kon-Tiki Room

After dinner at Palmetto, we walked around over to The Kon-Tiki Room for more cocktails. It was a fun vibe and the bartenders were so helpful at working with us on our orders.

I had a fantastic Fogcutter and then asked for Mai Tai made with the aged rum Clairin from Saint Benevolence. While the spirits selection at The Kon-Tiki Room is not as vast as the original Kon-Tiki location at 14th and Webster, they do have some interesting expressions and the bartenders were accommodating to use an alternative spirit in one of their standard cocktails. A little extra orgeat and the Clairin Mai Tai was very good and a nice change of pace.

We were bummed the frozen Disco Banana wasn’t quite ready when we got there around 6:30. That was the only glitch during our Kon-Tiki Room visit. The checking of vaccination status and the requirements for masks when not drinking was not problem during our visit.

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Palmetto Dinner and Cocktails

We had a great dinner at Palmetto last night, along with some classic cocktails. The fine dining is most certainly that with some upper mid-priced dishes with some inventive ingredients. I had the pork chop with frisee, spiced carrots, refried black beans, grain mustard mojo, and shaved onions. So flavorful and a quite large cut of meat, too. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed her Halibut and especially liked the lavender orange ice cream.

Flight Path cocktail

We tried several of the cocktails, which include some riffs on classics and also some Palmetto originals. From the classic side, I had a delightful Manhattan with Rum (Real McCoy 5) that was served up. Julie had the Brandy Old Fashioned that was also a great twist on an old favorite.  From the House side, I had the Flight Path with Rye, Falernum, Honey, Lemon, and Absinthe. Also served up, the Flight Path was truly excellent.

Manhattan with Rum

Service at Palmetto was outstanding and all the patrons were adjusting no problem to showing vaccination cards and masking when not eating/drinking. If you’re in Uptown (Oakland) and looking for something a little Upscale, be sure to seek out Palmetto.

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Pro tip: save old corks

We almost had a big problem when I couldn’t open my bottle of beloved Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin, and then broke the cork!

Thankfully, I was able to extract the remaining cork using a wine corkscrew. And then I used a cork from an old empty bottle.

The Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin is a delicious and savory rum that is different than the pot still rums from Jamaica or Barbados, but also not the same as rhums from Martinique. It is heavy, but not grassy. Super flavorful even in a Mai Tai. Seek it out.