Category: Mai Tai

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Tiki Haven’s Island Mai Tai

My route back home from Trad’r Sam went right past Tiki Haven so I thought I’d pop in to check this place out again, too. The bar is located in the Sunset District and is a neighborhood sports bar with a tourist-tiki theme. No confusing this with the craft places downtown, but on the other hand it is still quite a friendly bar where your wife won’t be frightened to enter. The parklet outside features some very nicely themed tables and stools that are in great condition. There are plenty of restaurants nearby.

Service was friendly, similar to my previous visit, and the Mai Tai was prepared quickly. This very good Island Mai Tai was shaken prior to serving, and had a well-balanced ratio of juices to spirits.

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Trad’r Sam Mai Tai

My company gave me a “wellness” day so I took a trip to San Francisco to visit Trad’r Sam, the longest continually operating tiki bar in the world. Like many bars outside the city’s financial and tourist core, this is a dive bar not a craft cocktail place. Inside things are … very divey. There are some longtime bamboo framing elements around the tables, and a few tiki mugs hanging above the bar, and a lot of tired bones. Inside, the place is cash only, and they have a long menu of cocktails along with a modest collection of spirits and beer.

The owner of Trad’r Sam took offense to my review a couple years ago when I said that all the drinks were pretty much the same. Part of my revisit was to test the theory.

My $9 island Mai Tai was prepared thusly:
Splash of bottled Lime and Sweet & Sour mix
Splash of Triple Sec and Amaretto
Splash of Grenadine 
Steady pours of Myers’s white rum and a dark rum (might have been Cruzan)
Big splash of Pineapple Juice
Healthy float of Myers’s dark rum

If the grenadine was removed I would give this a passing grade, as my first few sips came off the bottom where the grenadine had settled and it was not good. Once I stirred it up a bit more the cocktail improved. Service was efficient and friendly enough for a dive bar.

I was thinking about a second cocktail when another patron ordered a Zombie. The Zombie had even more pineapple juice and more rum, but otherwise seemed like the same ingredients. Served blended.

So, it was one and done for me. I’m glad I took the drive out on a sunny Friday. The parklet outside was spartanly appointed but definitely was being well used by regulars who were starting the weekend early. 

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Giffard Orgeat

Speaking of Orgeat… I finally obtained a bottle of this and put it to the test. Giffard is a product of a brand who’s liqueurs I really love, especially their Blue Curacao and Banane du Brésil. So, I was really eager to try this.

A unique aspect to Giffard’s Orgeat is that it is somehow shelf-stable and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Handy, since it is such a large bottle. Ingredients are sugar, water, and almond flavoring (including almond extract).

This tastes okay when sampled directly but when I made the Mai Tai there was a strange and unpleasant aftertaste. Perhaps your mileage will vary, but I’ll stick the Orgeat you have to store in the fridge.

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Mai Tai with Pearl’s Orgeat

That little half ounce of Orgeat can be more important in a Mai Tai than you might think, so it is always fun to try a new one and compare it to your favorite.

I was fortunate to procure a bottle of Pearl’s Hideaway Orgeat from local tikiphile Laura Murphy. This is homemade the right way with freshly made almond milk from real almonds, along with sugar, rum, orange blossom water, and rose water. The milky consistency is similar to craft brands Liber and Small Hands, but with far less settling to deal with. Just a quick shake is all that’s needed.

Pearl’s Orgeat is pretty good. There’s a nutty flavor that’s a plus for the Mai Tai. The Mai Tai I made was our standard ratio including ¼ oz of Demerara syrup, plus Ferrand Dry Curacao. Rums were an ounce each of Denizen Merchant’s Reserve and Plantation Xaymaca. Very good Mai Tai with Pearl’s.



Homemade Orgeat can be a great thing to pair with a specific Orange Liqueur or rum blend. I’m still partial to Latitude 29 but a different rum or Orange Liqueur might switch the results. Check out our Orgeat page for more recipes and home Orgeat tips.

Thanks for the Orgeat, Laura. Cheers!

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NFL All-Stars Compete for Unofficial Mai Tai Drinking Record

The National Football League’s annual all-star game, the Pro Bowl, was held annually for many years in Honolulu. Though the venue site now rotates between different cities, another sort of competition emerged amongst the participants during the years in Hawaii.

According to reports, there was an annual challenge among the players to see who could drink the most Mai Tais in a single day. For many years Tampa Bay’s John Lynch was the unofficial champion with 34 Mai Tais. Hall of Famer Peyton Manning even got into a fist-fight while trying to break the record.

More recently, DeAngelo Hall told the NFL Network that Ronde Barber currently holds the unofficial record. He claims that Barber drank an amazing 42 Mai Tais in a single day.

I know the metabolism of a professional athlete is quite different from the average person, but this number seems impossible to believe. Does this mean that Ronde Barber is an alcoholic? I’d love to know what the limits of human consumption of alcohol are.

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Tweaked Mai Tai

I received this recipe from Instagram user Dolla Slice 4 Lyfe and thought I’d give it a try.

Dolla Slice Mai Tai
¾ oz lime
½ oz Orgeat (liber & co)
¼ oz 1:1 Demerara simple syrup
½ oz el dorado 12
½ oz Hamilton pot black Jamaican
1 oz goslings 
½ oz dry curaçao (Ferrand)
Pebble ice & blend (cracked ice and shake is fine too)

I don’t have any El Dorado in house, so I used Pussers 15 yr instead. This is a pretty sweet Mai Tai, so it goes down easy.

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Mai Tai with Appleton Hearts 25 Year-Old Rum

Per the previous post, I simply love the Appleton Hearts 1995 Jamaican Rum. I’m not afraid to put expensive rum in a Mai Tai when I think the results would be a luxurious treat (example: Hampden Great House). But I was a little reluctant for this bottle, less I “spoil” any of the rum in a cocktail when I could instead savor it while tasting it neat.

So, I split the difference and made a half-sized Mai Tai with Appleton Hearts 1995.

Part of it was to think that maybe I was getting close to the original J. Wray & Nephew 17 year-old Jamaican rum that was used by Trader Vic in the first Mai Tai. Since Appleton is part of the Wray & Nephew company, I figured this 100% pot still release aged 25 years would be similar to the original Wray 17.

So, can you notice this rum in a Mai Tai?

Yes. Yes you can.

Does it make an amazing Mai Tai?

Yes. Yes, it does.

There are few examples of showing how a rum can shine in a cocktail like this release. You taste the cocktail and initially it tastes similar to any Jamaican rum. But then the flavor hits you and it completely overwhelms your tongue with flavors. So much to taste, and it lingers forever.

That might be the only Mai Tai I ever make with this amazing rum, though. It is simply even better when sampled just by itself.