That’s the cocktail name, not a description. The Perfect Margarita is as close to craft as they get at Margaritaville, the themed restaurant chain named from Jimmy Buffett’s most famous song. It is described as “Margaritaville Gold and Silver Tequilas, Margaritaville Triple Sec, Orange Curaçao and lime juice served on the rocks… for margarita aficionados only” though that lime juice is bottled and not fresh. I always order without salt and appreciated that at least this wasn’t blended.
Was this perfect? No, though it was a pretty nice break from the shopping and all the people in the mall. The tequilas used here are fairly mild, which is just fine by me.
An epic day in Oakland for the inaugural Oakhana Summer Swizzle home tiki bar crawl and fundraising event. This was a very well-run event, so we thank the entire organizing team, bartenders, and all the event volunteers.
The day started at The Dragon’s Den, Jeff Hall’s house. We enjoyed the dark ambiance and some cocktails and pupus. The drinks were done well, featuring Tanduay and Rum Fire rums, and bartenders Carlos and Christian kept up with demand like the pros that they are. I especially liked the Mai Tai that was even made with Latitude 29 Orgeat (Rum Fire is great in a Mai Tai). Groovy music was provided by DJ Wiley Coyote.
We then moved over to Pearl’s Hideaway, hope of Laura and Woody Miller. DJ Ship Rex switched music with a couple tight sets from the Reefriders – including an incredible version of “Taboo.” Drinks were from Doc Parks and he and Julio also did great including a blended cocktail with banana. I liked Doc’s spin on a Jungle Bird using Rum Fire to counterbalance the Campari. We also had dinner here, and many enjoyed swimming in the pool.
The event featured a silent auction to raise money for Oakland’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, and bidding at closing time got a little crazy. We did win a couple items and look forward to delivering the Mai Tai Happy Hour experience that was an item in the auction. There was also a second fundraiser, a raffle of new and used items that people brought to the event, and the funds there are going to Maui.
We can’t thank Laura, Jeff, Woody, and all the Summer Swizzle planning team and volunteers enough for putting on such a great event. Let’s doing it again!
Mai Tai at Dragon’s DenDJ Wiley CoyoteChristian and Carlos at Dragon’s DenPeacock chair with Mrs. Mai TaiDoc Parks at Pearl’s HideawayReefriders at Pearl’s Hideaway
One of the highlights of my visits to The Kon-Tiki is to check out their rum selection and to try something new. Such was the case on Wednesday when I tried two varietals of Kō Hana Kea Hawaiian Agricole Rum. These rums are distilled from the crushed cane juice from different types of sugar cane, providing each expression with unique and interesting flavors.
First was Kalaoa, harvested in December 2020. I tried this neat and found it to be similar to the Kea varietal I have at home but a bit more mild and less briney. Very satisfying to sip.
Next was Lahi from June 2019 and for this varietal I had it in Kon-Tiki’s excellent Mai Tai. This rum is so flavorful that it really punches through and makes for a fantastic cocktail. You can taste the savory flavor profile from the Kō Hana Rum, and no grassy aftertaste like sometimes get with this style of rum distilled from sugar cane juice.
The Kon-Tiki had a nice collection and we thank Carlos for the suggestions.
We’ll be visiting the Kō Hana distillery next week on O’ahu when we attend the Tiki in Waikiki event. There’s a lot of focus on local businesses and cultural activities for this tiki weekender event, including some fundraising for Maui relief efforts.
Many friends and fans gathered at The Kon-Tiki in Oakland last night to pay tribute the late “Tiki Tommy” Nigman who recently passed away.
Tommy was an Oakland resident who sold his wares at various vintage and tiki events for many years, and he was a regular attendee on Wednesdays at The Kon-Tiki. His warm spirit and friendly nature were present in all my interactions with him, and his presence will be missed. Thank you to Joe Kent and many others for helping Tommy so much in his last months.
The Kon-Tiki has placed a tribute to Tommy just inside the bar. We continue to appreciate The Kon-Tiki ownership and team members for recognizing and paying tribute to our fallen comrades. Aloha, Tommy.
We wanted to visit the iconic Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis, but their 32nd floor observation deck is only open Fri-Sun. The 30th floor museum is open every day, though, and is worth a quick visit. We made do by visiting the Prohibition Bar on the 27th floor for some great cocktails and also some nice views through the windows.
My cocktail was the Sidecar (without a sugar rim), which is my usual go-to for places like this where ordering a daiquiri is sometimes refused like it was this time (though I sometimes wonder if the server thinks a blender is needed…). And Prohibition’s Sidecar was really great.
There was sort of a mix-up with the cocktail. The server asked if I wanted brandy or cognac and I asked for cognac. The actual spirit used was middle-tier rather than lower-tier from the list (I didn’t call a specific brand, neither did the server), so it was a little pricier than I expected. But, like I said, the cocktail was fantastic. We worked it out with the server in the end.
The trendy W Hotel has a great lobby bar on the first floor of this iconic building. It’s a really interesting building to check out in Minneapolis.
A small charity focused tiki bar crawl is happening on Saturday, organized by the Oakland-based Tiki Ohana – the Oakhana. This two bar crawl has limited capacity and tickets are sold out, but even if you’re not attending you can get into the action by participating in the silent auction. There are some great items available, with proceeds going to Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation.
In addition to tiki mugs, gift cards, books, and fashion items, there are a couple experiences available. I’m pleased to include an Ultimate Mai Tai Happy Hour at Jeff Hall’s Dragon’s Den home tiki bar in Oakland.
Ultimate Mai Tai Happy Hour: 3 hours, from 4-8 attendees
Taste three different Mai Tais to appreciate how different rums and other ingredients can help you develop your own personal ultimate Mai Tai. The Mai Tai was born with a long-aged rum from Jamaica, and Kevin will be bringing some rare and potent rums to demonstrate the variability when using different rum styles.
Depending on who wins the auction, we can customize the rums being brought and definitely will prepare something awesome for the attendees.
Apparently everyone has gotten the memo, because Wednesday at 7 pm seemed like a weekend at prime time. There was a giant line for walk-ins, but thankfully we made a reservation a few weeks ago. That said, all your ordering is done via a web app on your phone (more on that later), or via a gigantic line at the patio bar (yes, even if you have a table reservation). Everything on the lower level and on the patio was completely filled, but the staff made good time running around delivering food and drink orders that came pretty quickly. They weren’t seating upstairs, and sadly the gift shop is also closed.
We had some issues getting to the checkout screen on the app but once we force-quit the browser it worked finally. Our personal sized pizza’s were okay (too heavy on the crust, especially on Mrs. Mai Tai’s pizza). There’s not a lot of variety on the food menu these days.
I ordered two drinks. The Paralyzed Politician has four rums, hibiscus, grapefruit and citrus. Or so they say, since this didn’t have a lot of flavor to be honest. Thankfully, the Mai Tai was pretty reasonable. There’s a little pineapple juice in there, so it leans a little sweet, but overall this was a refreshing tropical cocktail. I didn’t love the plastic glasses.
Who knows what’ll happen to the decor inside, but we were glad to visit before the closing. It leaves a big void in Minneapolis.
