Kevin Crossman – Page 2 – The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai

April 13, 2024April 14, 2024

Rum Curious Club w/Goslings Rum at Forbidden Island

Fun day on the patio at Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge for a Rum Curious Club event hosted by Bryan Inman and Emily Gosling. The focus was on Goslings rum, the rum that’s in the Dark ‘n Stormy.

The blended dark rum Black Seal is the most ubiquitous of the Goslings rum expressions, and it topped my dark rum comparison test a few months back. I do like this rum that’s aged 3-6 and is a blend of pot and column rums from various Caribbean islands.

We also got to try the Spirited Seas expression that’s finished in barrels on a ship at sea and issued at 44% ABV. Definitely different with subtler aging notes. The Old Rum is aged for 16-20 years and definitely smooth to drink and the most popular among the attendees. My favorite of the group was the Old Rum finished in Rye barrels, which added even more complexity and spice notes.

Emily and Bryan did a good job giving history of Goslings rum, a big part of Bermuda’s economy and culture, and of the Gosling family. Very entertaining and informative. The blindfolded Dark ‘n Stormy contest was a fun capper.

In addition to the rum tastings, we also had two cocktails made by Forbidden Island’s @miamidavefi and both were really great. It’s too bad the weather wasn’t typical April but the patio tent held firm.

Thanks to Bryan for traveling up from SoCal and to Forbidden Island for hosting.

Michael Thanos from Forbidden Island (left) and Bryan Inman

April 11, 2024April 11, 2024

Post Meridiem Canned Mai Tai

Post Meridiem bills themselves as the world’s best ready-to-drink cocktails, and their Mai Tai is offered in a variety pack. These small cans with a high 25% ABV mean they’re much more like actual cocktails than RTDs that come in 12 oz cans.

The 1944 Mai Tai is certainly comparable to a cocktail, featuring 1½ oz rum, ¾ oz lime juice, ⅔ oz orange curacao, and ½ oz orgeat. There are some pleasant flavors here, though this doesn’t have any lingering mouthfeel like a freshly made Mai Tai would. Definitely boozy, but overall still feels very light.

The Mai Tai was loads better than the flat Margarita but I was surprised I liked the gin-based Southside and the Vodka Gimlet as both were clean and refreshing. All are light leaning but do taste good and aren’t a bad value for the amount of booze and overall flavor.

Thanks to local UMT fan Sean for giving me the heads-up about this.

April 10, 2024April 10, 2024

Flying Embers Mai Tai and Tiki Pack

Flying Embers takes a unique approach to the canned cocktail market because the alcohol is based on fermented cane sugar and lime and not on a distilled spirit. It is supposedly aged in rum barrels, though I’m not sure how much different it makes.

The Mai Tai is bubbly and tasted a lot like a wine spritzer. There are hints of orange and almonds but overall this is a very light drink. ABV is 10%, low for an RTD Mai Tai. It isn’t really comparable to a Mai Tai generally, but certainly is more refreshing than some comparable products and doesn’t have any unpleasant flavors.

We bought this in a Tiki Variety pack. The Daiquiri was even lighter and tasted even more like wine, but I thought the Island Swizzle was the best of the bunch thanks to a very nice rum punch flavor.

Flying Embers products are available at Nob Hill and Raley’s grocery stores in the Bay Area and in other California locations. Thanks to local UMT fan Sean for giving me the heads-up about this.

April 9, 2024April 9, 2024

Best Hangover Brunch in the Bay Area at Hula Hoops

After our night of tiki bar hopping in The City, we landed in South San Francisco for brunch at Hula Hoops. We were seated inside the small two-table tiki room built by Bamboo Ben, providing a quiet place to socialize and avoid the bustle in the rest of the restaurant that always been busy in our experiences. Reservations strongly recommended.

No booze for us, though I loved the non-alcoholic Banana Craze that was rich and creamy and topped by a fantastic garnish and a mountain of whipped topping. This was just what I needed. Meanwhile Mrs. Mai Tai and our friend Kristi had Iced Ube Latte with Ube ice cream as a topping that you eat first before pouring in the coffee. This was a big hit.

The main reason we wanted to try brunch here was to try the specialty pancakes. Mrs. Mai Tai went with the Ube pancakes and I went with the Lilikoi. These were easily the tallest and fluffiest pancakes that I’ve ever had, and the Lilikoi topping was a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. The presentation for both was totally high quality as well. This was so much that we couldn’t finish, so if you’re a couple and can agree on a style these would be wonderful to split.

Brunch at Hula Hoops was a perfect hangover remedy, and we thank the Hula Hoops staff for the hospitality and for seating us in the tiki lounge.

April 8, 2024April 8, 2024

Tropical Escapism at Zombie Village

After dinner at the Tonga Room, we walked down the hill to Zombie Village for a nightcap, passing by the original Tiki Bob location at Post/Taylor. We made reservations for a booth, so we were able to socialize with friends and enjoy our cocktails.

Zombie Village is still doing a lot of things right, including well prepared cocktails and offering a large rum and spirits list for those who want to try something different. The menu is smaller than when the venue originally opened, but it is large enough to offer something for everyone and there was even a small menu of seasonal cocktails.

My go to option at Zombie Village is the Disco Banana, a blended Daiquiri riff with rhum agricole and overproof Jamaican rums. It’s delicious and was prepared and blended perfectly, one of my favorite cocktails of all time. I then used the rum list to find a premium rum for a freshly made Mai Tai. No surprise to regular readers, I chose Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin and indeed this was a wonderfully flavorful cocktail that’s even better than Zombie Village’s high-quality standard version. For rum nerds it is always appreciated when bars are able to prepare cocktails with a called spirit Hint: because they’re not batching every cocktail.

The bar was fairly busy on Saturday, though not overly so. We had great service, prompt and friendly, and we appreciate the hospitality. Zombie Village remains a stellar escapist destination in The City.

April 7, 2024April 7, 2024

Quality Cocktails are Still a Thing at San Francisco’s Tonga Room

After the San Francisco Giants home opener, we headed to The Tonga Room for a Friday night dinner and drinks. I’m pleased to report that the refreshed cocktail menu from October is still being used and that the quality hasn’t degraded at all. We will note that prices have increased $2-4 per cocktail, putting these firmly as the most expensive in town though. The Mai Tai and Hand Shaken Colada cocktails were big hits with our friends and Mrs. Mai Tai liked the tropical Mimosa-style Tiny Bubbles cocktail.

The Tonga Room’s Zombie features five different rums with falernum, grenadine, Don’s Mix, along with a bit of pineapple juice. It most certainly packs a punch, and I found it to be pretty good. I also liked the Wiki Wiki cocktail, a juicy blend of rums, spices, and just the right amount of Allspice Dram. Meanwhile, the Tiki Hunter remains the most interesting and flavor-forward tropical cocktail – don’t let the listed Jäegermeister component scare you off, it’s delicious.

The band plays on the floating stage starting at 7:00 pm, with the players this time featuring two female vocalists. This worked great on a stellar version of Fleetwood Mac’s mellow hit “Dreams.” But we continue to feel that 80s pop songs like “Crazy for You” don’t play as well as those from earlier decades. If pop must be played, the Sixties and Seventies feel more organic and connected to this retro leaning Polynesian palace.

Our dinner and service were as stellar as always. The Asian-inspired dishes are really good here, though I wish there was a little bit more variety on the menu as this is very seafood forward. The prices are fairly high, though not outside what you’d expect from a fine dining restaurant in The City. And you can’t beat the gorgeous interior with the pool and the thunderstorm that comes every 20 minutes. But remember that it’s a $1000 fine for jumping in the pool. Staff told me they’ve already had one person do this so far this year, which seems like way more than one too many.

April 5, 2024

Custom Aged Rum

Mrs. Mai Tai got me this little aging barrel for Christmas and after three months I thought it was aged well enough to bottle. The blend is about two thirds Rum Fire from Jamaica, an overproof rum at 63% ABV with overripe fruit notes, and a third Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin from Haiti, an olive/brine forward rum at 50% ABV. Both pot-still rums are unaged and will put the aging process to the test.

After three months, you can see the rum has turned very dark. I estimate the “angel’s share” loss to be at least 40%, perhaps due to the barrel not exactly being made to distiller’s quality. In fact, the fragrant blend of rum is still present on the barrel today.

In this glass, this is like nothing I’ve ever tasted thanks to the blend of two flavor bombs blended together. Yet this definitely isn’t the same as the two rums together if poured straight out of the bottle. There’s a lot of traditional flavors that you’d expect from barrel aging, but still a lot of the acetone flavor you sometimes get from overproof Jamaican rums. In the Mai Tai, this potent rum made itself known immediately but the cocktail format rounded off some of the hard edges. It is delightful if you really like to chew on your rums in a Mai Tai.

The experiment isn’t over. I’ve refilled the barrel with some Puerto Rican light rum to see how the barrel and any residual flavors from the Rum Fire and Saint Benevolence affect the flavor. We’ll have an update in three months.