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
Found this at an antiques store in Coos Bay, OR and had to have it. It seems to be vintage from the 1960s, including some powdered Mai Tai mixes. I could see how this would have been really cool back in the day, though obviously I’m not going to try and use the shaker or the Mai Tai Mix now.
It smells just as old as you might think, and it’s great!
Another fabulous issue of everyone’s favorite tiki magazine is now available from House of Tabu.
Some great features including all kinds of eye candy, music reviews, and some thoughtful commentary about cultural appropriation by Jason Craig Plus the usual tiki bar column from Tiki with Ray and recipes from Tiki Lindy.
The cocktail recipes page has a little something for everyone and be sure to try my Innovation Cocktail with Gin, Passion Fruit, Orgeat, and Blue Curacao.
Innovation Cocktail by Kevin Crossman
1 ounce Passionfruit Syrup
½ ounce Orgeat
½ ounce Blue Curacao Liqueur
2 ounces London Dry Gin (I used Beefeater)
This recipe differs significantly from the classic 1944 Mai Tai recipe, and Bergeron indicates this is the recipe that’s served both in the stateside Trader Vic’s restaurants but also the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. This recipe seems to predate the widespread use of pineapple juice in the Hawaiian style Mai Tai.
1956 Mai Tai – Adjusted for 2020
1 ounce Lime Juice
¼ ounce Rock Candy Syrup
¼ ounce Curacao
¼ ounce Orgeat
1½ ounces Lightly Aged Puerto Rican Rum
½ ounce Hamilton Pot Still Black Rum
¼ ounce Coruba Dark Rum
Mix in 16 ounce tumbler glass with shaved ice. Drop half a spent lime shell in the glass. Stir and decorate with fresh mint.
Today we remember Black Tot Day, the day in 1970 when the British Navy provided the last daily rum ration to sailors.
To celebrate, I made my own Navy Rum blend. This is generally accurate though the actual blend was a state secret and few on the planet know the actual recipe (which in any case changed over the years due to supply and demand). I made this out some rums I had in stock at home using rums from the traditional supply countries.
Ultimate Navy Rum Blend
2 oz Skipper Rum (45% ABV Guyana)
3 oz Wood’s Navy Rum (57% ABV Guyana)
4 oz Pussers Gunpowder Proof (54.5% ABV Guyana)
2 oz Denizen White (40% ABV – Trinidad and small Jamaican portion)
1 oz Real McCoy 5 (40% ABV – Barbados)
.5 oz Pussers 15 year (40% ABV – Guyana) because it is a special occasion
If I’ve done my math correct this is just about 50% ABV, so just below typical “Navy Strength,” but still boozy. This is a complex and bold rum blend.
I’m sure we could have had some really cool celebrations today in person, but due to COVID it’s all online. Nonetheless, I’d like to thank and salute all my rum friends on Black Tot Day.
The Black Tot Toast
There are tall ships,
And there are small ships,
And there are ships that sail the sea,
But the best ships, are friendships,
So here’s to you and me!
The original home of Trader Vic’s
We swung by 65th and San Pablo Ave in Oakland on our way to Trader Vic’s the other day to go check out what’s happening. And like the past few years, there isn’t much. But starting in 1934, this was the home of the original Trader Vic’s location and where the Mai Tai was created in 1944.
Two palm trees used to flank the entrance, but sadly only one remains. The last time I visited in October 2017 one of the trees was still standing, though without fronds. It seems to have been cut down in the meantime. Someone is still maintaining the grounds here, though, as there aren’t tall weeds growing anymore and the graffiti is painted over.
The lot is still for sale. If you’ve got $500,000-750,000 burning a whole in your pocket you might still be able to buy it.
Available for the first time ever from the Trader Vic’s online store, I had to get this. Back in 1998 I had a bottle of this gifted to me, and I loved Mai Tais made with it. Opening it today, the fragrance of this mix is the same as I remembered. The Concentrate basically replaces the Orange Curacao, Orgeat, and Rock Candy syrup in a 1944 Mai Tai. So, you supply the 1 ounce of Lime Juice and 2 ounces of Rum. Note that this is very different from the Mai Tai mix you normally find in retail stores.
In year’s past this was what made the standard “Trader Vic’s Mai Tai” at the Emeryville location, and is still used for large batches and at high volume events. It is also used in other cocktails such as the Mai Tai variants Menehune Juice and Pinky Gonzales, Tiki Grog, and the Drum of Ku.
My Mai Tai is made with Hamilton New York Blend, a blend with rums from Jamaican and Guyana. This was my last pour of this very nice rum (now known as the 1670 West Indies Blend). The Mai Tai with the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate is pretty good. The recipe calls for ¾ oz, but I’d up it to a full ounce next time. The cocktail isn’t as good as a scratch Mai Tai, but this is an affordable value for those who don’t normally get to try Mai Tais made with this at the Trader Vic’s restaurants. It definitely would be great to use in a Mai Tai punch for a party.
Trader Vic’s is running a 20% off sale this weekend, just use promo code “MAY20” at checkout.
Thank you Trader Vic’s for making this available for purchase for the first time outside of an industry setting.
While this book doesn’t break any new ground, it’s a quite accessible resource for people getting started. The book covers in light detail the history of tiki, basics of rum, and then presents fairly straightforward and simple recipes. No strange or unusual ingredients, like you sometimes find in these recipe books. It’s kind of like if 2019’s Minimalistic Tiki and Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails books got together and had a baby.
Too often when things are simplified in these books it ends up creating inaccuracies or the topics are so simplified as to be not understandable. Thankfully, Easy Tiki avoids these problems very well.
There are some good recipes here, including the Mai Sha Roa Na (from False Idol) and a very intriguing Breakfast Mai Tai. There is the Quarantine Order, Staycation, Carrot Colada, and a bunch of other interesting recipes.
The book is available now from your favorite booksellers. I bought my in Apple Books and the presentation in the app is pretty good. There are some very nice photographs too.
While this won’t replace the deep coverage you find the Smuggler’s Cove, Sippin’ Safari, or Minimalist Tiki books, Easy Tiki is a good resource and potentially helpful option for tiki newbies.
