Category: Mai Tai

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Trader Vic’s Royal Amber Rum Through the Years

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.

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Tiki Tom’s is Still Killing It

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.

Crimson Tide
Loco Moco Dumplings
Quesabirria Tacos
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Cane Juice Mai Tai from Mexico and Hawaii

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.

That’s me on the wall
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Haitian Mai Tais

Despite what you may have heard on television, no dogs or cats were harmed in the making of these two fabulous Mai Tais made with rum from Haiti. The Kon-Tiki in Oakland has a large collection of cane spirits and it took me a while to choose for these two Mai Tais.

Clairin Vaval is a traditional clairin with light grassy notes, and a cocktail that presented these notes in balance with the lime and sweeteners.

Rhum Barbancourt is aged for eight years and has a less-assertive body that many rums aged for this length. The Mai Tai turned out to prominently feature the fresh zest of lime as a focus, not tart at all but certainly the most forward flavor.

They’re still making great Mai Tais at The Kon-Tiki. Quite an energetic crowd for Wednesday’s Ohana night, plus many non-tiki people as well.

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Blue Monday Mai Tai

Yes, it’s a Mai Tai. It has lime, rum, orange liqueur, and orgeat – just like a Mai Tai should. But we are substituting a high quality Blue Curacao in place of the Orange Curacao and using flavorful clear rum, letting that sweet blue color shine. Giffard is our strongly preferred brand of choice and the best Blue Curacao by a mile.

Any quality aged white rum would do fine here. I’m using Denizen Aged White rum but Probitas, Hamilton White Stache or Breezeway Blend, or even Planteray 3 Star would be fine. You just want to have a little age on the rum to impart some barrel notes that nod to the Mai Tai’s original long-aged rum. Any Overproof Jamaica rum such as Wray & Nephew, Rum Bar, Worthy Park, or Monymusk would fit the bill here though in this case I’m using Rum Fire.

Blue Mai Tai

1 oz Lime Juice

½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)

¼ oz Simple Syrup

½ oz Giffard Curaçao Bleu

½ oz Denizen Aged White Rum

1 oz Rum Fire Overproof Jamaica Rum

Shake with crushed ice and garnish with mint.

The clearer and less brown/cloudy your orgeat is the better. Latitude 29 fits the bill perfectly and could be used at ¾ oz to omit the simple syrup entirely.