Month: February 2022

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Trad’r Sam Mai Tai

My company gave me a “wellness” day so I took a trip to San Francisco to visit Trad’r Sam, the longest continually operating tiki bar in the world. Like many bars outside the city’s financial and tourist core, this is a dive bar not a craft cocktail place. Inside things are … very divey. There are some longtime bamboo framing elements around the tables, and a few tiki mugs hanging above the bar, and a lot of tired bones. Inside, the place is cash only, and they have a long menu of cocktails along with a modest collection of spirits and beer.

The owner of Trad’r Sam took offense to my review a couple years ago when I said that all the drinks were pretty much the same. Part of my revisit was to test the theory.

My $9 island Mai Tai was prepared thusly:
Splash of bottled Lime and Sweet & Sour mix
Splash of Triple Sec and Amaretto
Splash of Grenadine 
Steady pours of Myers’s white rum and a dark rum (might have been Cruzan)
Big splash of Pineapple Juice
Healthy float of Myers’s dark rum

If the grenadine was removed I would give this a passing grade, as my first few sips came off the bottom where the grenadine had settled and it was not good. Once I stirred it up a bit more the cocktail improved. Service was efficient and friendly enough for a dive bar.

I was thinking about a second cocktail when another patron ordered a Zombie. The Zombie had even more pineapple juice and more rum, but otherwise seemed like the same ingredients. Served blended.

So, it was one and done for me. I’m glad I took the drive out on a sunny Friday. The parklet outside was spartanly appointed but definitely was being well used by regulars who were starting the weekend early. 

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Giffard Orgeat

Speaking of Orgeat… I finally obtained a bottle of this and put it to the test. Giffard is a product of a brand who’s liqueurs I really love, especially their Blue Curacao and Banane du Brésil. So, I was really eager to try this.

A unique aspect to Giffard’s Orgeat is that it is somehow shelf-stable and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Handy, since it is such a large bottle. Ingredients are sugar, water, and almond flavoring (including almond extract).

This tastes okay when sampled directly but when I made the Mai Tai there was a strange and unpleasant aftertaste. Perhaps your mileage will vary, but I’ll stick the Orgeat you have to store in the fridge.

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Mai Tai with Pearl’s Orgeat

That little half ounce of Orgeat can be more important in a Mai Tai than you might think, so it is always fun to try a new one and compare it to your favorite.

I was fortunate to procure a bottle of Pearl’s Hideaway Orgeat from local tikiphile Laura Murphy. This is homemade the right way with freshly made almond milk from real almonds, along with sugar, rum, orange blossom water, and rose water. The milky consistency is similar to craft brands Liber and Small Hands, but with far less settling to deal with. Just a quick shake is all that’s needed.

Pearl’s Orgeat is pretty good. There’s a nutty flavor that’s a plus for the Mai Tai. The Mai Tai I made was our standard ratio including ¼ oz of Demerara syrup, plus Ferrand Dry Curacao. Rums were an ounce each of Denizen Merchant’s Reserve and Plantation Xaymaca. Very good Mai Tai with Pearl’s.



Homemade Orgeat can be a great thing to pair with a specific Orange Liqueur or rum blend. I’m still partial to Latitude 29 but a different rum or Orange Liqueur might switch the results. Check out our Orgeat page for more recipes and home Orgeat tips.

Thanks for the Orgeat, Laura. Cheers!

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Trader Vic’s Tonga Fundraiser

Trader Vic’s Emeryville is hosting a fundraiser event on Thursday, February 24th from 6:30 – 9:00. The proceeds will be directed to the Fraternal Order of the Moai Foundation and are benefitting Tonga for the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption.

The event includes a special Tongan dance presentation by the consulate of Tonga. There will also be silent auction items donated by large collection of artists and tiki venues (see below). Additional music is from DJ Speakeasy Ray.

Guest bartenders include Marie King or Tonga Hut Los Angeles, Jeff Ponder and Jasmin Fajardo of Pagan Idol, Jeanie Grant of Palmetto, Tony Martinez of The Kon-Tiki, and Trader Vic’s alumni Brent Harris and Ismael Arriaga.

Thanks to Trader Vic’s for organizing this. I’m sure this will be a very special event, so be sure to make a reservation. See you there!

Silent Auction items from: Sven Kirsten, Shag, Woody Miller, Pleasant Tiki, Smugglers Cove, Latitude 29, Tiki Diablo, Chris Shima, B-Rex, Forbidden Island, Shannon Mustipher, Tikiyaki, Wilfreds, Tiki Oasis & Trader Vic’s
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Tonga Punch

Trader Vic’s Emeryville is bringing back this vintage cocktail as a special fundraiser this month (this version is from the 1972 Trader Vic’s Bartenders Guide). The Tonga Punch is “a refreshing and fruity combination of light rum, curacao and grenadine mixed with orange and lemon juices” and is a very sweet cocktail that is easy to drink. Mine tasted very cherry-forward, so I wonder if maybe they used the Trader Vic’s Maraschino Cherry syrup in place of the grenadine.

For the month of February, Trader Vic’s will donate $10 for each Tonga Punch sold to the Fraternal Order of Moai, benefitting the country of Tonga for the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption.

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NFL All-Stars Compete for Unofficial Mai Tai Drinking Record

The National Football League’s annual all-star game, the Pro Bowl, was held annually for many years in Honolulu. Though the venue site now rotates between different cities, another sort of competition emerged amongst the participants during the years in Hawaii.

According to reports, there was an annual challenge among the players to see who could drink the most Mai Tais in a single day. For many years Tampa Bay’s John Lynch was the unofficial champion with 34 Mai Tais. Hall of Famer Peyton Manning even got into a fist-fight while trying to break the record.

More recently, DeAngelo Hall told the NFL Network that Ronde Barber currently holds the unofficial record. He claims that Barber drank an amazing 42 Mai Tais in a single day.

I know the metabolism of a professional athlete is quite different from the average person, but this number seems impossible to believe. Does this mean that Ronde Barber is an alcoholic? I’d love to know what the limits of human consumption of alcohol are.

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Zombie (Trader Vic’s)

This recipe appeared in the 1947 Trader Vic’s Bartenders Guide, and shared more than a few ingredients with Don the Beachcomber’s original. It’s not as good but does go down a lot easier, while still being as boozy as you’d expect from a Zombie.

Zombie (Trader Vic’s)
1 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Orange Juice
½ oz Grenadine
1 oz Orange Curacao (Cointreau)
1 oz Jamaican Rum (Plantation Xaymaca)
2 oz Puerto Rican Rum (Bacardi 4)
½ oz 151 Proof Demerara Rum (Hamilton 151)
1 dash Pernod
Stir in mixing glass with large ice cube, then pour over shaved ice in a tall glass.