Author: Kevin Crossman

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Myers’s Single Barrel Select Sazerac Rye Casks

It is nice to see newish brand owners Sazerac trying to do something different with the Myers’s Rum brand. This slightly upscale version of the Jamaica rum stalwart is finished in Sazerac Rye Casks and bottled in Kentucky. The bottle has hints of the flared front of the classic Myers’s bottle, though with clear glass, and the design including the cork expresses an indication that this should be considered for sipping. There’s no age statement.

At 43% ABV, Single Barrel Select is a little more suitable for tasting outside of cocktails but won’t kill novices who aren’t used to cask-strength spirits. The Rye finish is very subtle. As with Myers’s Original Dark, the rum doesn’t have the high ester and congener count you see with some Jamaican rums, and it compares fairly well to Appleton’s releases at the high $20s price point it seems to be widely available at.

I wouldn’t call Single Barrel Select an all-star for sipping rums, but for rum newbies it might be well-received. Certainly it is a welcome addition to the Myers’s line and we hope to see other interesting expressions in the future. Love me some Jamaica rum in all forms.

This bottle was available for sale at craft cocktail bar California Gold in San Rafael, who’s logo appears on the medallion. You can also find this at other bars and at retail.

Makes a good Rum Old Fashioned
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Myers’s Rum Tasting with Martin Cate

Time machines do exist, if you know where to find them. That was the takeaway from Martin Cate‘s seminar and happy hour at California Gold in San Rafael on Sunday. Cate is a part owner of the saloon in downtown San Rafael, a bar with a great reputation for excellent cocktails and quite a fine selection of spirits.

We were welcomed with a formidable Planter’s Punch made with Myers’s new Single Barrel Select release, finished in Sazerac Rye casks. We then made it into the back portion of the venue for a little history lesson about punch, rum, and Fred L. Myers who founded the Myers’s rum company. Cate weaved the historical details along with his own experience as a curator of rum at Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco. More Planter’s Punches were provided as well.

The star of the show wasn’t Cate, though. It was the vintage bottle of 1960s era Myers’s Planters’ Punch rum. At 97 proof this was really different from the Myers’s of today – but also unlike anything currently on the market. The rum was designed to go into the Planter’s Punch, a Jamaican cocktail featuring rum, lime, sugar, and water/ice. And maybe a little spice to make it extra nice. The punchy flavor of the vintage Myers’s is bold with burnt caramel flavors and not a ton of the high ester funk you often find in Jamaica rum today.

I’ve tasted a 1950s version of this rum and the 1960s version tasted essentially similar. So good, if you can find a place selling it. Rums like this are time machines to different distilleries, extinct expressions, or the flavors of another generation.

We then tried a taste of Myers’s Single Barrel Select release, a more refined and slightly boozier expression than the standard Original Dark Myers’s that’s so pervasive across so many bars. Indeed this is a nice sipper with a hint of Rye Whiskey from the finish. It comes in a nice bottle and California Gold was selling it for a bit of a discount.

Many of us lingered at the bar discussing rums of all kinds (but mostly Jamaican) and enjoying the good cheer.

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Luau Lounge, the Hidden Waterfront Tiki Bar in San Francisco

Luau Lounge is the “hidden tiki bar” with waterfront views that’s attached to the Players Sports Grill all the way at the end of Pier 39 in San Francisco. Food is the same as Players but there are an assortment of tiki cocktails to go with the thatch bar and Hawaiian leaning tiki theme. There’s also a small bar outside that seems like a great place if you love the cold wind off the bay. Great views of the bay and Alcatraz though.

Our experience in the past was that cocktails can be hit or miss, which was our experience on Saturday. The Mai Tai leaned a little tart and needed bolder rums but wasn’t terrible. Mrs Mai Tai thought the Kahuki Kai was too sweet, surprisingly since she usually liked these sweet coconut cocktails. There’s a reasonable rum and spirits selection so something neat or on the rocks is a safer choice. Glen made a wise choice to order a Gin & Tonic.

The sound of air hockey blending with Reggae is your audio soundscape here but we still think this can be a nice place to visit as part of your touristy Pier 39 visit. Service has always been friendly and the views are great.

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Mai Tai Happy Hour Private Event

As part of the silent auction component of the Oakhana Summer Swizzle / two home tiki bar crawl in August, one of the auction items I contributed was a private tasting event with three Mai Tais for up to 8 people and hosted by Jeff Hall at the Dragon’s Den in the Oakland hills. Nav Singh was the high bidder and we had the event this past weekend.

What a great time, thanks to Nav and some of the Sacramento Ohana she brought along for the ride. A few quality questions about the Mai Tai’s ingredients and components and some about its key ingredient (that would be rum, folks). We also had a great vibe at Jeff’s place and some tasty food provided by Jeff. I brought the rum and the cocktail ingredients.

Auction winner Nav Singh

We had three Mai Tais:

  1. First was a Trader Vic’s Mai Tai made with either Khukri rum from Nepal or Santiago aged rum from Cuba. One of these countries has a great reputation as a rum producer, but both are unusual and have a lighter column-still production method. Either one of these produced a fine Mai Tai.

  2. Second was a Mai Tai made with Hampden Great House 2020, a cask strength flavor bomb from Jamaica. The difference between our first Mai Tai and this was greatly evident, and even with a super boozy rum the cocktail is still very approachable. This shows how different rums produce a very different Mai Tai.

  3. We ended with a Blue Mai Tai, made with high quality Giffard Blue Curacao and a rum blend featuring Charley’s JB Overproof rum that’s available only in Jamaica. I’ve done different variants of this over the years and it still impresses; people expect it to be sweet like a Blue Hawaii but the boozy Jamaican rum gives it a good balance.

Thanks again to Jeff for hosting and to Nav for the winning bid.

Additional photos by Robyn Haas and Nav Singh.

Khukri Rum Mai Tai
Hampden Mai Tai
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Ultimate-ish Zombie

I was really happy with the recipe for the Ultimate Mai Tai, using my Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend. And I was super happy with the Ultimate Navy Grog which used that rum in combo. But I’ve never been able to come up with a Zombie recipe that I liked using that rum. But after some experimentation and tinkering I’m pretty happy with how this came out.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t as good as a 1934. All hail Donn Beach for developing it and to Jeff Berry for rediscovering and decoding the recipe decades later. So, it is only ultimate-ish. But if you’re looking for a little twist on the Zombie I’d suggest giving this a try.

Thanks to Ed Hamilton and the aforementioned Jeff Berry for developing a Zombie rum to give this the necessary flavor profile and kick.

Ultimate-ish Zombie
1 oz Ruby Grapefruit Juice (strained)
½ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Passionfruit Syrup
¼ oz Molasses Syrup
½ oz Velvet Falernum
⅛ oz Cinnamon Syrup
1 oz Hamilton Beachbum Berry Zombie Blend
1 oz Ultimate Mai Tai Blend
4 drop Pernod
4 dash Angostura Bitters
Shake with crushed ice
Garnish with mint

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Farewell to The Room

Along with Palmetto, the connected Kon-Tiki Room also closed last night. The series finale was raucous thanks to cocktail specials from Santa Teresa Rum but mostly from locals and tikiphiles coming out to say goodbye. In previous visits I’d bemoaned the playing of 1980s top 40 here, but had a softer spot for lesser known New Wave material being played. Still not truly tiki but at least it was a retro subgenre. Last night it was full-on “Dark Wave” which totally fit the bill given the occasion.

The last Stargazer

“The Room,” as it began to bill itself over time, was always the less favored child, either from the more glamorous Palmetto next door or the OG Kon-Tiki a few blocks away. But over time the pop culture sensibilities of the staff made this a decidedly different destination thanks to Star Trek nights and such. Such was on hand with last night with Star Trek on TV and even one couple dressed as Mulder and Scully to pay homage to The Room’s X-Files Friday events.

There was lot of good cheer in the air as we said goodbye. Thank you to Matt and Christ for trying to do something a little different in Uptown. To Jeannie for the cocktail program including our beloved Disco Banana. And to Jeni and Tori for fab service at the bar like always. We truly wish everyone the best and hope for future success.

The last Disco Banana
DJ Carlos and Jeni