Category: Mai Tai

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Maximum Aloha Cocktail and Rum at Wilfred’s Lounge

Had a great time at Wilfred’s Lounge in downtown Napa on Saturday for dinner and drinks. We love the dishes here and our coconut shrimp were so huge and delectable. Definitely the best coconut shrimp we’ve had in a long time. The Fried Rice portion is huge and tastes great especially when you add a protein like chicken. Our service was first class all the way.

Maximum Aloha

Cocktails remain high quality here, including a very good Mai Tai that’s not too sweet and rich with flavor. They use Jamaican and Martinique rums, which to me lean a little too far in the grassy agricole direction. Still, it’s a winner. Less great for me was the Mai Tai inspired Tai One On, a stirred cocktail that had rum but also amaretto. There was something about the flavor that I didn’t like.

Everyone loved the Maximum Aloha, of which several rounds were ordered. This fruity cocktail remains stellar thanks to a balance of flavors that isn’t too sweet and features an incredible banana coconut cream topping. You can also order a neat pour of the Maximum Aloha rum, which is Tanduay and Rum Fire that has infused strawberries. The rum isn’t too sweet but you sure get that great strawberry color. It was a treat to have this rum neat.

The upstairs patio has some more permanent seating and also includes a fire pit and small Moai. Great views, as always.

Maximum Aloha Rum
Mai Tai
Tai One On
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The Fink has the Best Mai Tai in Napa

Did a little comparison shopping on Saturday and am pleased to report there are a couple places where you can get a good Mai Tai in Napa. Wilfred’s Lounge has a very good one made with Jamaica rum and Rhum Agricole from Martinique and it is quite nice, though to me it leans a little bit too much in the grassy flavor profile.

The Fink’s OG Mai Tai is incredibly balanced and leans a little creamy thanks to their house-made Orgeat. Jamaica and Martinique rums are also used here, but far more in balance. Very rich and flavorful, the Mai Tai at The Fink is just great.

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Chef Chu’s Mai Tai

Our favorite Chinese restaurant is Los Altos’ venerable Chef Chu’s. We’ve been going here for years and in addition to great food they do offer some cocktails including a Mai Tai.

The Mai Tai is billed as using “our original Mai Tai mix” which tastes a lot like Trader Vic’s Mai Tai mix if I’m being honest. The one tasted a really good, maybe due to a change in recipe or perhaps due to real sugar replacing corn syrup in the latest incarnation of the Vic’s retail product.

Chef Chu’s uses light and dark Myers’s rum, which is perfectly reasonable to me as I consider the Myers’s white rum to be under-appreciated and quite affordable if you can find it. Mai Tais that are nothing but pineapple juice are kind of awful, but a light touch as with this one can be quite nice.

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Escapism at San Francisco’s Last Rites

It’s been a minute since we were last at Last Rites but with a little planning had a really nice time on Saturday. We had a pretty nice Italian dinner at nearby restaurant The Rustic and got in line about 10 minutes before opening. The last time we opened Last Rites there weren’t that many people inside but that was far from the case this time as even before opening there built up a large crowd.

Happy Birthday Sam

We sat by one of two stone idols and had a couple round of drinks. I asked for cocktail suggestions on my Instagram stories and had the recommended Zombie Killer, a mashup of a Zombie and Painkiller featuring overproof rum, coconut, pineapple, citrus, cinnamon, falernum, and absinthe. The nutmeg garnish was quite fragrant but this was more “bitter Painkiller” than a true combo and despite the reputations of both drinks didn’t taste or feel like a ton of rum.

Mrs. Mai Tai tried a couple creamy cocktails. Kali Maa’s Doom has gin, pisco, cream, melon, sauvignon blanc, citrus, and vanilla has has a marshmallow garnish. This seemed very floral to me and pretty interesting. She also tried the non-alcoholic Golden Idol made with Turmeric milk, coconut, orange, pineapple, lemon, and nutmeg. This was far less sweeter than you’d expect and better balanced than most Painkillers that use similar ingredients.

I also tried the off-menu Mai Tai, which had a bold balance of funky rum. I didn’t love the orgeat and this felt a little flat to me overall, unfortunately. Last Rites has a very nice rum selection if you’re so inclined.

The service was quite nice and the interior remains in great working order even after being open for several years. The theme of an airplane crashing into the jungle was reinforced by an audio piece that played outside right before opening. The seats were all taken, though a few standing room spots still remained available. The haunting musical track was reminiscent of tribal drums, though a little more variety would have made this even more immersive. There are no wooden tikis here, but the large stone idols serve a similar purpose and we got an up close view of the smoke effects. Last Rites is great fun.

Zombie Killer
Kali Maa’s Doom
Golden Idol
Mai Tai
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Promising Signs of Better Cocktails at Dr. Funk

We were disappointed to see downtown San Jose’s Dr. Funk have quality control issues with their cocktails over the past six months or so. Many of the drinks had been prepared in an unbalanced method, unlike the excellent drinks program that launched the bar in late 2021.

Last night we ventured down for their Traditional Tiki Tuesday event where happy hour specials are in effect all evening and where a guest DJ spins records. DJ Ship Rex was in the house, as he is now every 4th Tuesday of the month, playing an energetic set of vintage and vintage-sounding songs. Really tight.

I ordered the Mai Tai, which once again is made with Appleton Estate 12 and Smith & Cross Jamaica rums. I’m pleased to report the balance of ingredients was as it should be and that the house made orgeat still tastes pretty great. A second Mai Tai made with Planteray Xaymaca tasted just as a good, maybe a little bit more forward with funky rum notes than the standard issue.

The cocktail menu has been updated. Prices are higher (that’s $17 for a Mai Tai now, though still only $12 on happy hour) and the number of drinks has been pared back a little. There are now 16 items, notably bringing back the namesake Dr. Funk cocktail that was omitted from menus starting in late 2022. Mrs. Mai Tai had a fabulous Missionary’s Downfall, shaken and served in a highball glass. She also had the Siren’s Shore that has Amaro, mango, Smith & Cross, and coconut. Julie says this wasn’t as good as the Missionary’s Downfall but I thought it was a pleasant surprise how the herbaceous flavors worked with the coconut.

It is welcome to see Dr. Funk’s bartenders consistently using jiggers, as shown in all their recent social media posts. Some of the cocktails including the Zombie are batched and provided on tap, though there was no issue with my called rum Mai Tai. Dr. Funk has a pretty nice rum selection so there’s plenty to explore if that’s your thing.

DJ Ship Rex
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Tip Top Proper Cocktails is Possibly the Best RTD Mai Tai

There’s a new entrant in the “Ready to Drink” Mai Tai market, so I was pleased when I received a four pack for review from Tip Top Proper Cocktails. Each single-serving can runs around $5 at retail when packaged in multipacks.

Each can is 100 ml, which means this is a little smaller than the average 1944 Mai Tai. But with 26% ABV, the ratio of rum, lime, orgeat, and orange curacao is set up quite well. The cocktail comes out of the can in a bright yellow color reminiscent of orange juice, but the fragrance indeed will remind the home bartender of fresh Mai Tais you’ve made at home. It is suggested to pour over ice or even to shake with ice and then pour over crushed ice.

Tip Top is a strong contender for best RTD Mai Tai. The mouthfeel is perfect and includes pleasant almond and rum flavors, tangy lime zest, and no artificial tasting notes. When paired with lime and mint for garnish, you’d hardly be aware this came from a can. The tagline for the company is “always balanced, never too sweet” and I agree this strikes a perfect balance.

It always sucks to review a terrible canned Mai Tai, but Tip Top knew they were playing from a position of strength when sending these samples. Definitely one of the best ready to go Mai Tais I’ve ever had.

The Mai Tai appears to be a limited release, though I hope this sells and they continue to market it. If you buy at tiptopcocktails.com through the end of May, 10% of proceeds from online sales will be donated to the Kokua Restaurant & Hospitality Fund, providing assistance to workers impacted by the Maui wildfires.

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Out Of This World: A Deep Draught into the Woman Who Named the Mai Tai

David Bartell has posted a new video that’s an incredible deep dive biography of Carrie Guild, the woman who named the Mai Tai (or perhaps the wife of the person who named the Mai Tai). Bartell is a longtime contributor to the Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai, providing Mai Tai reviews back on the original site and contributing the circa-1999 essay “Famous Dirty Stinkers” which is still available.

Here’s the description of Bartell’s video essay:

“Maita’i roa ae! Out of this world, the best!” That’s the legendary phrase that gave the Mai Tai its name, according to Trader Vic. The toast was made by a friend, Carrie Guild, who with her husband Eastham were visiting from Tahiti.

Many of you already know that version of the story, but just who was this woman, and what do we know about the context of her gastronomic enthusiasm? Quite a lot!

In this video you will explore uncharted details about the circumstances surrounding the origin of the Mai Tai cocktail, while sailing around the world with the Guilds. If you read the companion article in the November 2023 issue of Exotica Moderne, get ready for an even deeper dive and a few little surprises for tiki afficionados.

You might catch a cameo of someone familiar toward the end of the video.