Author: Kevin Crossman

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Nochebuena at Cavaña: Mission Bay Rooftop Bar

Mission Bay’s Cavaña is located on the roof of the Luma Hotel, offering great views of Oracle Park. The Latin-focused bar and restaurant features Agave and Cane spirits, meaning it was a welcome option when we arrived early for a show nearby. The venue has a lounge vibe with a large bar area plus lots of patio seating, fire pits, and 17 story views of the neighborhood. Authentic artwork fills the modern space.

Our first visit was taking place during the Nochebuena pop-up with Christmas decor and speciality drinks. The menu is very nicely laid out including details of themed specialty glassware for sale. As with most holiday menus, there’s a little something for everyone including shots and non-alcoholic options.

I went with Jingle Juice, served in a mug eerily “reminiscent” of the Sippin’ Santa mug. The balanced drink is similar to a Mai Tai including Bacardi Seville rum, orange liqueur, orgeat, and lime – with Earl Grey Mango. Trademarks aside, this was a great cocktail.

Mrs. Mai Tai went with Our Lady of Guava-Lupe, including tequila, amaro, aloe liqueur, and guava. Served in a glass that looked like a Mexican religious candle, complete with recipe on the back of the glass. This drink was another winner and so flavorful.

We were impressed by our first visit to Cavaña. Service at the bar moved pretty quick, even on a busy night, and it’s nice there’s an obvious place to order if you’re not sitting. Entry via elevator near the hotel’s entrance ran smoothly and we foresee return visits before or after events at Oracle Park or Chase Center.

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Three Miracle Pop-Ups in Three Days

The Miracle Christmas cocktail pop-up franchise has been active for more than a decade and seems to expand locations each year. Founded by Greg Boehm, there are Miracle locations across the globe and a companion pop-up focusing on tiki drinks also running under the Sippin’ Santa brand. The cocktail offerings at Miracle are a little more varied and tend to work better across the different venues hosting the pop-up.

Sunday afternoon we went to Brewster’s in Petaluma, a large beer garden style venue. I went with an old favorite, “Yippee Ki Yay Mother F****r!”, the cocktail with several rums with ube and coconut orgeat. This isn’t too sweet, thanks to acid-adjusted pineapple juice. Brewster’s does pretty good with this, and their super friendly staff really go out of their way to make things jolly. I sampled some of other cocktails at our table and found them to be well prepared.

Miracle at Brewster’s

We ventured to San Jose later that night to check out Miracle at MiniBoss, an arcade themed bar. Mrs. Mai Tai had been to the sister bar Paper Plane earlier in the week and we thought we’d give MiniBoss a try. The drinks here were really good, including the Miracle Mouse that comes in a cute mug and features bourbon, vermouth, strawberry, citrus, and pamplemousse liqueur that likely inspired the name of the cocktail. This wasn’t too sweet and I thought it was delightful. Slightly less good was the Snowball Old Fashioned that our son ordered, just not quite sweet enough, though Mrs. Mai Tai’s Koala LaLaLa was a very refreshing highball with tequila. Cheery Cherry Chocosaurus is more of a desert cocktail but if that’s your thing you’ll love it.

Miracle Mouse

On Festivus Tuesday we battled the rain to check out Pacific Cocktail Heaven in San Francisco. This place is so popular they even charge a $10 cover just to enter. But the skills of the bartenders are evident that the Yippe Ki Yay and Koala cocktails were even better than the other places we tried. Candy Cane Lane is served in a unicorn mug and was a little less sweet than at Brewster’s. PCH was even able to make a pretty reasonable off-menu Mai Tai with Kō Hana rum at my request.

Each of these Miracle locations sets the prices for the cocktails and the mugs/glassware for sale. While the cocktail prices only vary a little, we were shocked to see the mugs at PCH going for $40 which is double what Brewster’s and MiniBoss were charging. It’s a Festivus Miracle!

Miracle hours and dates vary by location but usually run up to New Year’s or a little bit past.

PCH
MiniBoss
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Pusser’s American Bar Munich

I was remiss in posting a trip report to Pusser’s American Bar, often recognized as one of the best in the world. We missed this last summer and several trusted advisors said it was great, so we made sure to check it out on our recent trip.

We loved the cozy experience, though could only stay for one drink since we’d already had several at nearby Trader Vic’s. The venue has multiple levels and we were seated downstairs, with prompt and immediate service from our server.

The menu is as large as any I’ve ever seen, offering myriad options for whatever type of cocktail you’d like and a large spirits selection as well. Mrs. Mai Tai ordered a Grasshopper that was excellent while I spotted a Mai Tai that listed the ingredients as rum, lime, lemon, sugar, almond. The rum-forward drink was absolutely delicious and a stellar example of what a great Mai Tai should taste like.

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Ron Legendario from Cuba

When I arrived home from Europe I discovered the rum fairy had placed these bottles of Cuban rum in my suitcase, lo and behold. That would be the only explanation of how they got there.

Ron Añejo 9 Años is a very nice aged rum aged for nine years. This rum has a fruitier flavor profile and I thought it was pretty good, though I didn’t like it as much as Havana Club 7 which is more oaky.

Elixir de Cuba is actually a liqueur, something I didn’t notice until I tasted it. It is 34% ABV and definitely dosed with a ton of sugar, if that’s your thing.

It was only little bottles on this trip, thankfully, as we were basically borderline overweight on our two bags.

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Winter Cocktails at Alameda’s Forbidden Island

We had a great time at the annual Tiki Mug Swap at Forbidden Island this week. You bring a wrapped tiki mug and then draw from the pile and get a new mug that someone else brought. This year I got a vintage Hawaiian mug, Mrs Mai Tai came away with a cobra mug, and our friend David got an alternative Suffering Bastard. No horse-trading afterwards this year, we were happy with what we got.

While I drank some rums from FI’s Kill Devil Club list, Mrs Mai Tai had a couple drinks from the holiday cocktail menu. I thought the Tropical Cider was really great and I loved the herbal elements in the Nog Your Socks Off. The Hot Buttered Rum is always good here too, so check these out while you can.

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Clarified Ultimate Mai Tai

Huge shout out to our buddy Rex Stone (aka DJ Ship Rex) who brought a clarified version of the Ultimate Mai Tai to a recent gathering. Clarified cocktails are an area that I’m not deeply familiar with but sounds like Rex used standard milk washing techniques.

The resulting elixir is very smooth to drink but still has plenty of the flavor that the Ultimate Mai Tai is famous for. So, if you’ve ever thought about trying it I can tell you that the effort will be worth it – even better, if there’s any left over from the gathering then clarified version will last for days.

So, cheers to Rex for making the effort and delivering a fantastic Mai Tai in a different format. One of the best Mai Tais of the year.

The Ultimate Mai Tai rum blend features equal portions of Appleton 12, Smith & Cross, Planteray Xaymaca, and Planteray OFTD rum.

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Pau Hana Studio: Holiday Open Studio

Sunday afternoon’s drive up to the Oakland Hills was so pleasant but paled at the festive time at Pau Hana Studio‘s Holiday Open Studio. The event showcased the activities at the studio, focusing on Woody Miller’s ceramics, lamps, and other art that’s featured in tiki bars far and wide. Additionally, there was a mini marketplace with artist in residence Laura Head, Joe Kent’s alohaware, and some really great sweet treats from Bristlecone Bakery. Lively festive music from DJ Danny Santos set the mood, plus some drinks and treats for those visiting.

Laura Miller and Woody Miller from Pau Hana Studio

Pau Hana Studio has been running craft classes for the last couple years and announced a series of new ones for the 1st quarter of 2026. Iconic Tiki Mugs returns, allowing attendees to see the full production process for a tiki mug and to glaze one to their liking. The popular Black Velvet Painting, Lamp Building, and Carving Tiki Bar Signs classes are also returning. One new class that I’ve already signed up for is Knot-Tying for Glass Floats, taught by Kristin Moore of Fore and Aft Oar Designs. You can check out all the class details on Pau Hana’s website.

Woody also showed off some mugs connected to new tiki bar projects that look amazing, plus the recently released collaboration with Smuggler’s Cove and a wall of his greatest hits. He was also kind enough to sign a few Kon-Tiki Oakland items I’ve collected over the years.

DJ Danny Santos