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
Landed in LA and met friends at The Formosa Cafe for some great food and cocktails. We love this place including all the eye candy and historical decorative elements.
I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of the Negroni cocktail, but it is Negroni Week so I met it halfway with a Kingston Negroni that subs Jamaica Rum for the Gin. It works pretty well with Vermouth and Campari.
Forbidden Island brought together tikiphiles with members of the City of Alameda Democratic Club for a fundraiser and social. Raffle tickets were available for prizes donated by local businesses and tiki mugs donated by some of the local Ohana. Plus a silent auction for some tiki related items and a bit of Kamala swag including lawn signs and hats.
As with Forbidden Island’s Ukraine fundraiser from 2022, the team had two featured cocktails for the event.
The Kamalatai featured rums from Jamaica, India, and Oakland (“in case anyone needs reminding of her roots”) and was really well done, featuring Hamilton Pot Still, Amrut, and Wright & Brown rums. I’d love to see this punchier rum blend stick on the menu, it was that much better than the standard FI Mai Tai. Added to the list of top Mai Tais of the year.
Out of a Coconut Tree featured Jamaica rum, coconut water, pineapple, and honey. This leaned a little light but I thought it was really great. They don’t all have to be complex spice bombs.
The patio area was quite full during the evening, and the FI crew did a good job keeping up with demand. Thanks to Michael, Justin, Sara, and Jarrod for fab service.
Trader Vic’s Royal Amber Rum is the expression that Trader Vic’s uses in the Mai Tai and other cocktails at locations that use Trader Vic’s branded rums, distilled in Puerto Rico and distributed by Phillips Distilling. Royal Amber was introduced around 15 years ago in conjunction with World Spirits, ltd and stated to be a product of France. Royal Amber is supposed to be a combination of the Trader Vic’s Gold and Dark rums, which is to say that it is aged for a few years and does contain coloring and is issued at 40% ABV.
I’ve had this rum for some time and find it fights above its weight when used in a Mai Tai, even for a self-professed Jamaica rum snob like me.
I gladly was able to trade a modern sample for one from an older bottle from a local rum collector and found them to be pretty similar. The modern one struck me as a having a little bit more of a richer molasses taste, though that might be due to the age of the vintage sample. In either case it is a light-leaning rum with a pleasant flavor that plays well in a cocktail, very approachable for the average Mai Tai drinker at Trader Vic’s. We thank Gil for offering the opportunity to try this.
Pictured: vintage label, circa 2020 label, and modern label.
Keeping things simple on a Tuesday with this excellent Tip Top Proper Cocktails Mai Tai. Mrs Mai Tai found this at CostPlus World Market and I remain impressed by the rich flavor that compares favorably to a hand crafted Mai Tai.
This is definitely the best ready to drink Mai Tai.
Things were hopping on Saturday night for dinner at Tiki Tom’s, where we took our sons for a family night out at Walnut Creek’s amazing tiki bar and restaurant. There aren’t reservations on Fri/Sat and we arrived a little before 5:00, being seated after about a 15 minute wait. The exotic and Hawaiian music is still going strong here.
Three of us had Quesabirria Tacos featuring beef and a crispy cheese outer shell. Very filling and an interesting approach to the taco. We also tried the Loco Moco Dumplings, a beef and spice-filled delight. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed the Green Coconut Curry once again, and we find the food here to be pretty good and reasonably priced for the portions.
Tiki Tom’s still has the Ultimate Mai Tai on the menu, a $5 premium over the standard Mai Tai but totally worth it. They continue to do a great job with this, and boy the bold flavors of that Jamaican-led four rum blend really hit me in the right way. I have this all the time at home, of course, but Tiki Tom’s did it so good.
The cocktails were all wonderful, even with the crush of the patrons in the bar. We really liked the Crimson Tide, served flaming and a sweet blend of tequila, strawberry, and hibiscus. Mrs. Mai Tai’s favorite is the Ohana Punch with green apple and walnuts, a chewy and delightful blend. The Blue Hawaiian was a good option for our sons who don’t drink much, sweet and approachable. There are some new menu options from mixologist Jenn Crider, so we need to return soon to sample them.
We had a great time having dinner and drinks at Tiki Tom’s with the family. Super busy on a Saturday but everthing came out so great. They’re still making the Ultimate Mai Tai so well.
We’ve got to thank Chris Parker for recommending this rum blend for a Mai Tai at The Kon-Tiki. It combines two cane-juice rums, one from Mexico and one from Hawai’i.
KōHana Kea is a 40% ABV rum from O’ahu, which we’ve had before and covered before. It is delicious and KōHana is greatly expanding the size of their sugar cane fields, poised to be the largest sugar cane grower on the island. Kea is their unaged expression and each bottle is made with a different cane variety, though I neglected to check which one on the label. I’ve yet to find any Kea that isn’t totally delicious.
Dokabend is a single varietal Aguardiente de Caña from Oaxaca, a pot still rum issued at 51% ABV. There’s a lot of very interesting cane spirits coming out of Mexico and this one comes from fields that are nearly 4000 feet high in the Sierra Norte mountains.
The end results was a very flavorful Mai Tai with traditional vegetal flavors but just a hint of smoke that I assume comes from the Dokabend, but not too smoky like the Mezcal from the same region. Definitely different than the cane rums I had from Haiti earlier in the evening and one of the best Mai Tais I’ve had at Kon-Tiki this year, which means it is the one of the best at any location.
This was my 100th visit to Kon-Tiki, which I guess maybe isn’t a lot since they opened in late 2017 but its more than any other tiki bar during this period. This visit was representative of why I love going here, being able to try different spirits neat or in a cocktail, fun retro-leaning music that isn’t always exotica but never Top 40, and great engagement with the crew.
