Category: Mai Tai

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Top Mai Tais of 2021: Number 8, Foundation

Each year we celebrate the 10 best Mai Tais that we had the pleasure of tasting in the last 12 months.

Number 8: Foundation with Appleton 12 (Milwaukee, WI)

We really dug the decor and layout of Foundation, a neighborhood bar that had a tiki makeover a few years ago. I thought their standard Mai Tai was pretty good, but the one made with just Appleton 12 rum was even better. We’re so glad we were able to include Foundation on our road trip and even got to visit on “National Mai Tai Day” on June 30.

 

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Top Mai Tais of 2021: Number 9, Undertow

Each year we celebrate the 10 best Mai Tais that we had the pleasure of tasting in the last 12 months.

Number 9: Undertow (Phoenix, AZ)

We finally made it to Undertow, which has a reputation for immersive decor and a very strong craft cocktail orientation. The drinks at Undertow were all outstanding, including their Mai Tai with creamy orgeat. The spirits in this Mai Tai include Smith & Cross Rum, Rhum JM VSOP, and Cointreau Noir, a combination that we loved.

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Top Mai Tais of 2021: Number 10, Wilfred’s Lounge

Each year we celebrate the 10 best Mai Tais that we had the pleasure of tasting in the last 12 months.

Number 10: Wilfred’s Lounge (Napa, CA)

Wilfred’s is one of several new tiki bars that opened in 2021, and is a high-quality destination with a great bar program led by Daniel “Doc” Parks, a fine selection of food, and some well-implemented escapist decor. The Mai Tai features rums from Jamaica and Martinique, but the cocktail is not overpowering with funky flavors that might turn off tiki newbies in Wine Country. It is still quite satisfying, as was the rest of Wilfred’s. Be sure to seek it out.

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Top 10 Mai Tais of 2021: Honorable Mentions

Each year we celebrate the 10 best Mai Tais that we had the pleasure of tasting in the last 12 months.

Some of the Mai Tais involve rum substitutions from what the bar would normally serve. This presents the reader with more to consider when visiting these places, but highlights that making spirit substitutions is often what changes a good Mai Tai into a great one. A few of these involved tweaks to the sweet element as well.

For the list, we’ve limited each location to a single entry – otherwise Smuggler’s Cove and Trader Vic’s Emeryville would have dominated the list. So for those places we’ve chosen the best Mai Tai we had there and omitted some other great ones that would have landed further down the list. In both cases, the Mai Tai we chose isn’t the standard issue, but suffice to say that we think their default Mai Tais are pretty great too. Check later in the week to see where the Cove and Vic’s landed.

2021 Top Mai Tais: Honorable Mentions

These Mai Tais all had notable qualities and were enjoyable. If you have the opportunity you should definitely get the Mai Tai!

Here’s the list, more or less in order of preference. Sorry, Kon-Tiki, you just missed the top 10 but you won’t be sad when you see the final list, I assure you.

  • The Kon-Tiki
  • Tiki Tom’s
  • Tonga Hut Palm Springs “all Coruba and heavy orgeat”
  • The Cellar
  • Tangaroa Terrace “sub simple for agave”
  • Three Dots and a Dash
  • The Reef “heavy orgeat”
  • Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport
  • Forbidden Island with Amrut Two Indies rum
  • Bamboo Club
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Boulevard Beverage Mai Tai Fling

Festivus was the other day and I was thinking that I didn’t really have any grievances to air. The next day I bought this terrible ready-to-drink “craft cocktail” Mai Tai, so let’s call this a late Festivus because I have a lot of problems with this cocktail.

Cans are 8% ABV, so quite a bit less than the Trader Vic’s and Cutwater canned Mai Tais that are in the same market segment. This one isn’t even all rum, since it contains both rum and “neutral spirits.” There is supposedly lime and orange, plus natural flavors and colors.

Does that color look natural?

It’s like Mountain Dew and a Midori Sour had a baby. And it got all the worse genes from each parent.

It is terrible. Like pour out the entire four-pack bad. It definitely would take “feats of strength” to finish one of these.

It doesn’t taste anything like a Mai Tai, and honestly it doesn’t taste like any “craft” cocktail I’ve ever had. Maybe it tastes like cheap Margarita mix and Vodka, so if those are your two favorite cocktail ingredients then maybe Mai Tai Fling will be your thing.

HARD PASS

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Recipe: Molasses Mai Tai

I made some fresh Molasses Syrup to replace the one that was in the back of my fridge for a couple years. I enjoy a few cocktails that use this ingredient, most notably the Pampanito cocktail at Smuggler’s Cove (the recipe is in the book, too). Molasses adds a certain bite to the cocktail that seems appropriate during winter.

I am lazy when it comes to making syrups but this one is pretty easy.

Molasses Syrup:
2 cups Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp. Mild Molasses
1 cup Hot Water
Combine all ingredients and stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Let cool, then bottle.

The Molasses Mai Tai was a riff I tried a couple years ago that I figured would be great, and it turned out better than I expected. This is inspired by the Pampanito, which originally used the same Appleton Reserve 8 rum called for here.

Molasses Mai Tai by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Molasses Syrup
½ oz Orange Curacao
2 oz Aged Jamaican Rum (Appleton Reserve 8)
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake and dump into double rocks glass and garnish with Mint Sprig and reserved Lime shell.

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New Top 5 Mai Tai: Dr. Funk in San Jose

We’ve made an update to our list of Top 5 Mai Tais. This is our list of the best standard house Mai Tais, without any tweaks or substitutions.

LONO Hollywood was previously in our number 5 spot, but they haven’t yet reopened after COVID. Plus, we’re so impressed by the Mai Tai at the newly opened Dr. Funk in San Jose that it seems like a perfect time to make a change on the official list. Congrats to Ken Wongdejanan and the entire team from Dr. Funk.

Dr. Funk uses Appleton 12 and Smith & Cross Jamaican rums as the base for their Mai Tai, combining it with house-made Orgeat. The team said they tried several different rum blends, including one featuring a Rhum Agricole, but found that this blend was the best. We agree! The heavier rums from Jamaica add flavor that truly punches through. 

Top 5 Mai Tais

  1. Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29, New Orleans
  2. Rumba, Seattle
  3. Smuggler’s Cove. San Francisco
  4. House without a Key, Halekulani Hotel, Honolulu
  5. Dr. Funk, San Jose