Author: Kevin Crossman

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Final Ohana Night at The Kon-Tiki

The Kon-Tiki is closing after service on Sunday but the place is going out with a bang as patrons from far and wide and coming for one final cheeseburger or cocktail. Wednesday was the last Ohana night, the day of the week when local tikiphiles have come to hang out on what is generally a slower night than the weekends. But this Wednesday was anything but slow, with a persistent full room and a wait out the door.

The Kon-Tiki staff were in full force, with all three service wells going at the same time to pump our drinks in a timely manner. There were several wait staff, several kitchen runners, and nice to see Jeanie Grant back in the house serving as the maître d’. We want to specifically call out Chris Parker and Kriss Cucuy for exceptional service for me personally this evening.

I’m working to complete another homemade “Kon-Tiki cocktail checklist” and knocked out a few cocktails and am ready to close it out on Sunday with Mrs. Mai Tai’s help. It’d been forever since I had the Zombie and found it to be pretty great – both potent and fruity, with a touch of spice. The Virgin’s Sacrifice was far too spicy for my mild tongue so I passed it over to Jeff as a bonus. Lastly, I had the Leviathan for Two (but just for me this evening) which I’d never had before and immediately liked. The cocktail has rum, bourbon, tangerine, and spices and was nice and rich and balanced. I’m going to miss the consistently high quality of cocktails here.

If you’re trying to get to Kon-Tiki in the next couple days, prepare for waits and treat the staff with kindness. It was so fantastic last night to see the crew working so efficiently on such a busy night – all to the sound of Yacht Rock that the Kon-Tiki used to play religiously and was a welcome return for me.

The Leviathan came in a nice Moai Mug that had a little tear-like drip that was all the more poignant as I left Ohana night for the last time.

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Forbidden Island Mug Swap

We had a great time for the annual tiki mug swap at Forbidden Island last night. Thanks to Chad for organizing and hosting this, we put our wrapped mugs into the pile and ended up with some new ones. Mrs Mai Tai really loved hers, and while I thought the mini bowl was nice I was thankful for a trade.

There’s a nice holiday cocktail menu and Mrs Mai Tai loved the Tropical Hot Coder. Meanwhile I drank a couple rums from the rum list and gladly accepted the suggestion for a premium Mai Tai made with Monymusk 10 yr Jamaica rum. Very good Mai Tai with additional depth.

Lots of good cheer in Alameda.

Mug Draw
Traded Mug
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Circus Peanut Syrup is Back!

This BG Reynolds product started as a joke and then a kickstarter and eventually a product that was discontinued until it was brought back by another kickstarter-type funding round. And it has no reason to exist, except that it is amazing! And it is back on sale. Go to the BG Reynolds website and get Circus Peanut Syrup while you can.

It is exactly what it claims to be, a syrup version of your favorite childhood candy. Or someone’s favorite childhood candy, at least. But as much as you’d expect this to be terrible, the orange and banana flavors really work well in certain tropical cocktails. I guarantee that if you like tiki drinks that you will love Circus Peanut syrup.

Here’s a collection of recipes by Jason Alexander from Devil’s Reef, plus a couple from yours truly.

Recipes by Jason Alexander, unless noted

Barnum & Bailey Planter’s Punch
¾ BG Reynolds Circus Peanut syrup
¼ BG Reynolds Tiki Spices (Don’s Spices)
1 ½ dark Jamaican rum
½ Demerara 151
1 fresh lemon juice
dash Angostura Bitters
dash absinthe

Honey Glazed Nut Punch
¾ BG Reynolds Circus Peanut syrup
¾ BG Reynolds Honey Mix
½ BG Reynolds Cinnamon syrup
2 Demerara rum
¾ fresh lime juice
¾ grapefruit juice
Ray’s favorite

Blair’s Mistake
Dash bitters
Splash of seltzer
1 oz lime
¾ oz circus peanut
¾ oz honey sirop
½ oz pineapple
1 oz 3 Star
1 oz Citadelle Gin
Float 1 oz OFTD

My mistake was not adding the OFTD float

Not my Circus, Not My Monkey’s
2 dashes bitters
Barspoon Zombie Mix
1½ oz lime
1 oz Clown Sirop
¾ oz Don’s Mix
¼ oz luxardo
¾ oz Plantation Xaymaca
¾ oz Plantation Original Dark
1 oz Plantation OFTD

Djumbo Grog
1½ oz grapefruit
¾ oz lime
1 oz Clown Sirop
½ oz cinnamon sirop
½ oz falernum
1 oz Plantation 3 Star
1 oz Plantation Original Dark
1 oz Plantation OFTD

Big Top Mai Tai
½ oz passion fruit sirop
½ oz almond sirop
1 oz Clown Sirop
1½ oz lemon
2½ oz Plantation Xaymaca

Clown Sling
4 dashes bitters
1 oz lemon
1 oz clown sirop
¼ oz cherry heering
¼ oz allspice dram
2 oz gin
2 oz seltzer after mixing

Chimp Cocktail by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lime
½ oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut syrup
½ oz Giffard Banane du Brésil (Banana Liqueur)
2 oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend or other heavy / Navy Rum

Hurriclown by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lemon Juice
⅓ oz Passionfruit Syrup
¾ oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup
1½ oz Dark Jamaican Rum
½ oz Overproof Demerara Rum

A Clown Got Us into This by Rodney Stanton
1½ oz Lime Juice
1½ oz Kuleana Rum Works Nanea
½ oz Overproof Jamaican Rum
½ oz Creme de Banana
¾ oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup
⅛ oz Grenadine
2 Dashes Orange Bitters

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Dr Funk’s The Grinch Takeover

After a successful Beetlejuice overlay for Halloween, Dr. Funk has a Grinch theme for Christmas. The big guy is there to welcome you and there are fun thematic elements sprinkled about. Not quite as much of a “Christmas explosion” as some of the Miracle/Sippin’ Santa pop-up locations for better or worse, but it is nice that you can still this is a tiki bar.

We attended the Third Anniversary event that included an official launch of Dr Funk’s nice mug and a fantastic bundle with their formidable Grog that we think is a fantastic version of a Navy Grog. They were also doing a raffle to support Family Giving Tree, plus DJ Ship Rex spinning tunes. Lots of fun and nice to see the venue embracing a little bit of history and building traditions.

The special Grinch cocktail menu is overall a lot better than the one for Beetlejuice. The Mean One is similar to the aforementioned Grog and the wonderfully creamy and decadent Whobilation Libation features chocolate notes from the Kōloa Kauaʻi Cacao rum and dark chocolate coconut cream. The Cindy Lou-Apple has several overproof rums and it leans lighter than you might expect because the spirit focus is from the Laird’s Apple Brandy, nonetheless there’s still plenty of flavor and this should be really appealing to the diverse downtown San Jose audience.

Cindy Lou-Apple

While you’re in downtown you can also check out Nuvo Hospitality’s other bars for more festive holiday pop-ups. O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub next door to Dr. Funk is themed to Home Alone and Five Points around the corner is doing everyone’s favorite Christmas movie – Die Hard.

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Juice of One (Very Large) Lime

There were a good two months where I couldn’t find anything but small, dry limes at the grocery store, but apparently it is now lime season because all the limes are fresh and gigantic now. How large? I posted a photo and did a poll on my Instagram and only 10% picked the correct amount – 2 ½ ounces from one single lime!

This serves as a good reminder that when a recipe calls for “juice of one lime” that you shouldn’t merely juice the lime as is, because when a typical lime gives you 1 oz and instead you put in 2½, well, your drink will be very sour. Always measure all your ingredients in a cocktail including the citrus! A rule of thumb for a traditional 1944 Mai Tai is that it is 1 oz of lime juice, maybe a little less or a little more depending on the recipe and the balance you’re shooting for. Smuggler’s Cove only uses ¾ oz of lime, but the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki uses 1¼ oz, and both are excellent.

I bought three limes and all gave me more than 2 oz of lime juice. One possibly solution to this is to make two Mai Tais or do like I did and just make yourself a double. Those 16 oz Mai Tai glasses are easily capable of handling the additional volume and the ice keeps everything cold to the last drop.

Glassware: The Kon Tiki Oakland. Catch them before they close for good after service on December 22.

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Different Sugar Plum Mai Tai at Kona’s Street Market

We popped into downtown San Francisco’s Kona’s Street Market to check out their Sippin’ Santa pop-up. We saw that the menu options were the same as our Sippin’ visit to Beer Baron, but the bartender mentioned that their rum blends were different due to availability reasons.

So, I tried the Sugar Plum Mai Tai and found this one to be significantly different. Much sweeter and forward with the plum mix, so much so that it didn’t really remind me of a Mai Tai. Which isn’t to say this one was worse, in fact I could see this one being favored by a lot of customers who might like a cocktail that isn’t as spirit-forward. They say the cocktails for these pop-ups vary by location a little, even within the same state, and this was most definitely true for Mrs. Mai Tai who found the Frosty the Merman cocktail to have a lot more flavor.

Each of these Miracle/Sippin’ Santa locations sets their own prices for the drinks and merch. Kona’s cocktails were understandably around $3 more than Beer Baron in Pleasanton, and their mugs were $20 more as well, though some of the glassware items were less expensive. Your mileage may vary.

We really enjoyed our visit to Kona’s Street Market, where the bar staff were super friendly and the decor was appropriately elaborate.