Mai Tai – Page 42 – The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai

November 9, 2023November 9, 2023

The World’s Best Chinese Mai Tai at Li Po Lounge

Among the world’s most notable Mai Tais is the one at Li Po Lounge in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Though notorious is a more apt description, driven by an appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s TV show and the late celebrity chef’s declaration that the cocktail was “lethal.” The dive bar’s iconic neon sign is also a draw for the venue. The Chinese Mai Tai is a cult favorite or rite of passage, or maybe a combination of both.

Calling this the world’s best Chinese Mai Tai is a backhanded compliment, since Chinese Mai Tais aren’t really a subgenre and being the best in a dead end of an evolutionary tree still doesn’t mean the cocktail is necessarily good. The cocktail’s ingredients have shifted due to the supply of spirits, hence the red marker covering up original brands on the sign behind the bar. But it’s a mix of dark, light, and 151 rums, pineapple, and Chinese Liqueur. We did see these being built using some sort of batched liquor along with Mr & Mrs T. Mai Tai Mix and Pineapple Juice – very freely poured into a blender with ice and flash blended for 5-10 seconds.

The Chinese liqueur used is called Ng Ka Py, a Sorghum-based spirit that is bottled at 48% ABV complete with strong fruit peel and plum notes. It’s the cornerstone ingredient in the cocktail and can be quite divisive. Its a strong flavor with a really long finish, but it may not be pleasant for many including this writer.

Is it a Mai Tai? Well, the Mai Tai Mix kind of says yes. But the flavor profile isn’t like any Mai Tai you’ve ever had before.

When we visited Li Po on a Saturday mid-afternoon the place was packed, and they were selling plenty of the Chinese Mai Tais along with Li Po’s set of potent cocktails and beer. We found a couch and ordered the round of drinks at the bar where the bartender prepared cocktails, took money, and cleared stations. She even provided crowd control, allowing a couple who had been waiting to sit at recently vacated bar stools in lieu of guests who had recently entered the venue. If your Chinese grandmother was running a bar, this was the vibe.

Li Po remains a San Francisco institution that tourists and locals should seek out, and their Chinese Mai Tai is a must try… at least once.

November 5, 2023November 6, 2023

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.

November 3, 2023July 12, 2025

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.

We had three Mai Tais:

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.
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.
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.

October 21, 2023January 22, 2024

New Cocktails at San Francisco’s Tonga Room are a Hit

San Francisco’s Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel has a long history and a well-earned reputation for fine food and incredible Polynesian decor, but the cocktails have been poorly regarded by many. The Tonga Room has quietly completely revamped their cocktail menu and friends I’m here to tell you that the new cocktails are really good.

While Mrs. Mai Tai misses the old Tonga Kong, we did find all five cocktails that we tried to be good to great. The Zombie and Mai Tai from the old menu have even been redone with different spirits and ingredients. The price for cocktails at the Tonga Room remain high, functioning as a sort of cover charge for the venue’s amazing decor, but at least you’ll be impressed by the cocktails in a good way now.

The previous Mai Tai was very limey but the new Mai Tai leans more in the sweet direction and uses Bacardi 8 and Don Q. These aren’t bold Jamaican rums but most certainly the drink is better balanced and perfectly approachable for the Tonga audience. If you’re looking for something more complex, the Tiki Hunter will be more your speed, a delicious and complex punch made with Jägermeister, coconut rum, Wray Overproof , spices, juices, and an edible pinecone. The Banana Bread Old Fashioned blends Jamaica rum, bourbon, and banana into a satisfying twist on the classic.

There’s a healthy mix of cocktail styles, including a blue Margarita with salt inside the cocktail rather than on the rim. Mrs. Mai Tai loved the Seafoam Espresso Martini that includes spiced rum, orgeat, and topping of sea foam cream and black lava salt. Really great. The Tiny Bubbles is a fun tropical Mimosa featuring sparking rosé and Tonga POG juice. There are a couple of alcohol free options and the focus on glassware means the cocktails are made to be seen and appreciated rather than hidden in a mug or pineapple.

If it’s been a while, now is the time to revisit the Tonga Room and experience their wonderful new cocktail menu.

October 20, 2023October 20, 2023

Rum is Still a Thing at Kon-Tiki in Oakland

Tried some new (to me) rums at The Kon-Tiki the other day. Their Expedition Rum list is still going, and after 100 you get your name on the wall. And for folks like me who’ve already done this I’m doing a second list and just picking from the myriad options from the back bar. They do have a printed rum list that you can peruse with pricing, etc. Prices are quite reasonable.

So many choices are available at Kon-Tiki but honestly space is becoming an issue so come on down to Kon-Tiki to help kill some of these bottles! I tried to do my part on Wednesday.

First rum was Ron Colón which is a blend of column still Salvadorian rum and pot still Jamaican rums. A very pleasant taste in a Mai Tai, not too assertive. This style of blended rum might work better in a Daiquiri where the general lightness and a bit of the Jamaican flavor would be a little bit more forward and present.

Next, I tried the Diamond Dark rum. This is a Demerara rum and is part of Diamond Distiller’s (El Dorado rum) entry level rum line. This is heavily colored and this has a caramel/maple syrup flavor – not nearly as overbearing as something like Cruzan Blackstrap but still more in that direction than Goslings or Myers’s. Not bad in a Mai Tai.

Last rum was Plantation’s Extreme series Long Pond 25 year rum from Jamaica. Very fragrant and completely delicious, Jamaica rum continues to be my absolute favorite.

October 13, 2023October 14, 2023

17 Year Wray & Nephew Rum Copy

This rum recipe comes from Greg Easter and the book Advanced Mixology: A New Apporach. Easter’s family knew Trader Vic Bergerson personally and Easter claims to have sampled a bottle of the famed original Mai Tai rum, albeit a “doctored” version. Easter says that Vic would add a small amount of “Nastoyka,” an infused liqueur, to his rum bottles to give them a special flavor. Easter includes a Mai Tai recipe using this rum that he claims was close to the original.

Producing some Nastoyka for the rum blend always felt like a PITA to me, so we thank Brenda Gadow for being a mensch and doing the work to infuse rum with raisins, hibiscus, vanilla tea, and star anise. And then to combine that Nastroyka with five rums and one liqueur.

The Wray Copy is a very flavorful rum when sampled neat, quite reminiscent of the long finish and dark fruit flavors of Appleton 17 Legend (itself an attempt to recreate the original Wray & Nephew rum). At about 50% ABV, it is boozier than the original Wray but very close to Legend.

We tried this rum in our standard Mai Tai recipe, using 1 oz of lime juice ¼ oz of Demerara Syrup. To emulate the Giffard orgeat Easter calls for we used a split of Latitude 29 and Liber Orgeat. It wasn’t a bad Mai Tai but certainly felt too sweet, and the rum definitely got lost in the blend.

There’s a Mai Tai recipe in the book that varies from the standard proportions so we tried that. This goes heavier on the orange liqueur, less on lime, and no sugar besides the orgeat. This version was considerably better, and it turned out to be quite a nice Mai Tai. Not like the incredible ones made with Legend 17, but quite formidable nonetheless.

For an additional perspective, check out the Mixing Up Tiki video: Mai Tai Showdown Featuring Appleton Estate 17, Wray & Nephew 17 Clone, and Denizen Merchant Reserve

October 11, 2023October 11, 2023

Starboard Tack: the Best Mai Tai in Las Vegas!

Starboard Tack is an off-strip restaurant and bar featuring a nautical theme with 1970s leanings, which we found to be delightful. There’s a long bar and some tables in the bar area, plus a nicely appointed lounge area. There’s even a shuffleboard area and some fabulous stained glass windows. Music on our visit was mellow 1970s which seemed utterly perfect.

We had lunch here and found the food and drinks to be superb. We ended up doing the all-seafood thing since we started with the incredible Crab Rangoon Dip and also the very good $5 Shrimp Cocktail from the Pu Pus menu. Both Mrs. Mai Tai and I ended up having the Poke Bowl that also was outstanding. We really liked the food options and all our items were prepared well.

There isn’t a Mai Tai on the menu, but the vast rum collection and an entry for “Mai Tai Ribs” on the food menu made me think that ordering one off-menu might work. For all those times when this scenario didn’t work out, I’ll always remember the amazing off-menu Mai Tai at Starboard Tack. Made with Jamaica rum, this was truly an outstanding classic 1944 Mai Tai – by far the best I’ve had in Las Vegas.

The rest of our cocktails weren’t too shabby either. I ordered a Port Light, asking for Wild Turkey 101 rather than the lower proof Jim Beam listed on the menu. This excellent cocktail was served up rather than on ice per usual, using Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur, Grenadine, Lemon, and Ango. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed the Fu Manchu with rum, orange liqueur, lime, sugar, and a hint of Creme de Menthe. The mint was just subtle enough to be a supporting player rather than the usual role of featured spirit. The Fu Manchu was delightful. Similarly, the Brimstone and Treacle with rums, coconut treacle, and Ango also had a really crisp taste and had subtle flavors that worked well.

We were truly blown away by the quality of cocktails from this venue that isn’t much to look at on the outside and gives off “dusty dive bar” vibes on the inside. Our bartender Christopher really made some great drinks! Plus, two apps, two entrees, and four cocktails came out less than $100! Starboard Tack is open 24 hrs and definitely going into regular rotation for future trips.