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
The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Join Kevin Crossman for an informative and humorous presentation describing the hunt for the ultimate Mai Tai. Topics include newly uncovered historical details, best and worst Mai Tais, and how to get the perfect Mai Tai at your local watering hole. Advice and lessons for the home bartender will be provided, including finding the perfect rum blend to impress your guests.
Derek from Make and Drink surprised me with a rare 17 year old Jamaican rum sold under the Golden Devil brand sold by K&L Wine Merchants. The rum is now completely sold out and remains an interesting mystery as there is no marque or distillery attribution. Could it be related to Appleton’s 17 Year Legend release?
I was able to procure a bottle and it tastes similar to the Appleton Hearts releases, 100% pot still rums that are aged for 20 years or more, but I suspect that we’ll never truly know the origin.
The Jungle Bird tiki bar is celebrating Mai Tai week with some cocktail specials available now through Sunday, including our own Blue Hawai-Tai.
This cocktail leans a little sweet which is just fine since Jungle Bird will be serving this in a frozen format. They’re also using Mount Gay Eclipse as the aged rum base, another good call for this cocktail.
There are a couple of other special Mai Tais and a flight option, so folks up in California’s capital should make time to visit Jungle Bird this week.
We’re pleased to return to Mai Tai Day at Trader Vic’s Emeryville to present a seminar called the Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai.
This will be an informative and humorous presentation describing the hunt for the ultimate Mai Tai. Topics include newly uncovered historical details, best and worst Mai Tais, and how to get the perfect Mai Tai at your local watering hole. Advice and lessons for the home bartender will be provided, including finding the perfect rum blend to impress your guests.
Tickets for Mai Tai Day are still available and the event includes other seminars, vendors, live music and DJs, and an art show. Plus plenty of Mai Tais, making this the best day of the year.
Your summer refresher is here. The Lychee Luau is a new cocktail at Dr. Funk that’s perfect for those hot August nights.
The drink features vodka, Wray & Nephew Jamaican rum, lychee, passionfruit, and lemon. Tell your tiki newbie friends it has Tito’s, then watch their face as they’re blown away when they taste what beautiful flavors in a cocktail can truly taste like. This is really great, but light enough on a hot day sipping cocktails on the patio at Dr Funk.
We had a great time socializing with Ryley and Ellie from the Tiki Talk Show last week at Smuggler’s Cove. After appearing on their new podcast and YouTube show earlier this year, we saw each other briefly at Tiki Oasis and then had the opportunity to meet up in San Francisco. We really love this new tiki media series which focuses on the tiki revival. The enthusiasm that the couple has for our subculture is genuine and open minded, so we wish them continued success with future interviews and endeavors.
Smuggler’s Cove is a great place to visit with other tiki people as the environment inspires conversations, as do the cocktails. Mrs. Mai Tai went for two rounds of Dr. Barca’s Fluffy Banana, light but flavorful. I was pleased to see that Smuggler’s Cove has updated the rum used in the Pampanito cocktail, one of my favorites. Switching from Pampero Aniversario, Smuggler’s Cove is now using another dark rum in Worthy Park 109 Jamaica rum but one that’s drier, more flavorful, and a little extra boozy. Which makes the Pampanito even more fantastic.
Also nice to see the water feature working again at the Cove.
There’s been a lot of online hype for Holmes Cay’s new Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel – Single Origin Edition, a rum from a French island but made with molasses rather than sugar cane juice that’s commonly seen French rhums in U.S. markets. Because Trader Vic used a rum from French department Martinique in his “second adjusted Mai Tai formula” there’s been interest in what kind of rum was used back in the 1950s. Sleuthing by Martin Cate and Matt Pietrek indicates a molasses origin for Vic’s Martinique rum, and since molasses rum from Martinique is not available having one from a different French department is seen as the next best thing.
But is it the rum you want for a second adjusted formula Mai Tai?
No, no it isn’t.
Vic said that “Martinique rums are similar to dark Jamaica rums because they are dark and pungent in flavor and aroma” which is nothing like the Holmes Cay Traditionnel. While this rum does has industrial/solvent type notes but they’re very mild and nothing like Holmes Cay’s Réunion Island Grand Arôme Rum. It is fairly light in color and comes from a column still, so lighter in body than Jamaican rums.
So if you’re trying to replicate the second adjusted formula, this rum isn’t it; we suggest Worthy Park 109 as a readily available substitute that tastes like Vic described it.
But are you looking for a pretty interesting rum to make a great Mai Tai? Here we have better news, because Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel is fantastic in a Mai Tai. We paired it with Appleton 12 but it was honestly better on its own. There’s a rich character to the flavor of the Mai Tai but it is just mild enough that we think anyone would love it.
Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel is 46% ABV and retails for around $55, make it a splurge that’s worth it.
“Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel is fantastic in a Mai Tai”