This canned Mai Tai has been on my radar for a little while, with seemingly universally great reaction from the few posts I’ve seen about it. I was considering wasting a Saturday trying to find one in the Bay Area when Crafthouse Cocktails co-founder Charles Joly reached out and asked if I wanted a sample.
It is always interesting as a low-level “influencer” when people send you stuff for review, but the Crafthouse team knew they were working from a position of strength and smartly saw I was open-minded to the idea of a canned Mai Tai. I do believe RTD cocktails are great for many scenarios including camping, vacations, or just when the day is so hard that even juicing a fresh lime is too much work. I love the concept of ready to drink cocktails and the Crafthouse Cocktails Mai Tai is fantastic.
Issued at 16% ABV in a 200 ml can, Crafthouse’s Mai Tai is a little less potent than some of the other canned Mai Tais that come in cans half the size. But there’s no lack of flavor and still plenty of booze given the larger size. The ingredients are listed as Planteray Rum, orange curacao, orgeat, and fresh lime, just what you want in a Mai Tai. The floral notes and overall rumminess means this should be a hit with any fan of the original 1944 style Mai Tai. While there’s no country of origin listed for the Planteray rum, something like Original Dark’s blend of Barbados and Jamaican rum is a good bet.
Crafthouse was also kind enough to send over some cans of the other cocktails in their lineup – look for those posts in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, the summary is that Crafthouse has an excellent Mai Tai in a convenient format.
We were impressed by Crafthouse’s Mai Tai, but how does it compare to our previous favorite? Check in tomorrow to see the results of our blind test shootout.