Category: Mai Tai

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May the Fourth Special Event in SF with Smuggler’s Cove

What a fabulous time in San Francisco yesterday for the special event at Sessions restaurant on the Lucasfilm campus. The special “May the Fourth” event was a partnership with Smuggler’s Cove and featured some special Star Wars themed cocktails on the menu and the inclusion of Smuggler’s Cove merch, silent auction items, and rum tasting alongside the merchandise and wine tasting from Lucasfilm and Geeki Tikis.

We really enjoyed our meal at Sessions, so much that we’re planning to come back. The patio dining suited us just fine.

Mai Tai Fighter and Blue Harvest

As for the cocktails: we need Princess Leia to give gold medals to the bartenders from Smuggler’s Cove. I started first with the “Mai Tai Fighter” which is a standard 1944 Mai Tai with a “dark side” float of OFTD. Oh, such an amazing Mai Tai. By far the best so far in 2021.

Equally impressive was the “Blue Harvest,” a riff on SC’s Captain’s Grog. Blue Harvest was the codename for the original Star Wars movie and the inclusion of Rum-Bar Silver replacing the dark Jamaican rum was a huge plus for this cocktail. I will feel no shame ordering this at the Cove, it’s just that good. The “Rebel Pilot” was a stand in for a Jet Pilot and was quite excellent, as was the Kessel Run with rum, bourbon, and coffee liqueur.

Rebecca Cate and Martin Cate from Smuggler’s Cove

Additionally, it was so nice to see familiar faces at the event. We had a great time socializing (wearing masks) after dinner. We are now really looking forward to Smuggler’s Cove’s reopening (in June?).

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Spring Saturday in Sacramento

Mrs Mai Tai and I drove up to Sacramento and had what Frank the Tank called “a nice little Saturday.” We visited several antique and vintage stores including the Midway Antique Mall which is our favorite.



Dinner was at The Jungle Bird at opening at 4 pm (hence the line outside in the photo). The cocktails were on point as always, and in addition to my Mai Tai I decided to order a Mint Julep since it was Derby Day. Man, that Mint Julep was fantastic, so sweet and minty.

The food options at Jungle Bird seem to be more limited than they used to be. The veggie Potstickers were good, as was the Veggie Stir Fry with noodles, but Mrs Mai Tai seems to recall more veggie options in the past. I really liked the Crab Rangoons but have had very mixed experiences with their burger and pork belly sliders.

Jungle Bird still has a big patio out back which was great for us (I get my second shot tomorrow) and they have done a good job with the spacing of the indoor seating. The staff was super friendly and very quick with the service.

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Mai Ta-IPA

This was of the recipes during the segment of “Mai Tai or Not a Mai Tai” during my appearance on the The Rumcast a couple weeks ago. My father likes IPAs like I like Mai Tais so seemed like a perfect opportunity to give this one a try with my parents coming over for dinner.

I gotta say, this was pretty damn good. There was just a hint of the IPA in there, and we used a pretty potent one, the Denogginizer! This is a Douple IPA from local favorite Drake’s Brewing Co. just up the freeway in San Leandro. I’d even say that you could up the IPA to 2 ounces and still keep this light and refreshing.

This was so good, I’m declaring it enough of a “Mai Tai” to go on my running total of Top 10 Mai Tais of the Year.

Mai Ta-IPA
1 oz Lime juice
¾ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
½ oz Orange curaçao (Clement)
1½ oz IPA beer (Denogginizer)
1 oz Aged rum (Appleton Signature)
1 oz Light rum (Cruzan)

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled rocks or Collins glass. Garnish with Luxardo cherries.

Recipe by Jacob Grier and Ezra Johnson-Greenough.

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New Jumbo Sized Hay! Straws

I’m loving these new jumbo sized Hay! Straws. I ditched plastic a while back but can’t deal with steel or glass. These don’t get soggy like paper straws and I like the smaller “cocktail straw” sized diameter straws which are great for Mai Tais (5”) or tall drinks (7.75”). These work great but Mrs Mai Tai prefers larger straws.


Now these Jumbo Straws will do the trick, and obviously seem better for frozen drinks that are more in Mrs Mai Tai’s wheelhouse.

Highly recommended.

Visit HayStraws.com

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Light Mai Tai

Riffed a little on this Mai Tai, which leans much lighter than my usual recipe. This is based on some rums I had on hand and I can see how this style might be preferred in scenarios such as Mai Tais by the pool on a hot day. Or even just personal preference.

Light Mai Tai
¾ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Cointreau
½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
¼ oz Simple Syrup
2 oz Ron Barcelo Gran Platinum
Shake with ice and float with ½ oz aged and sweetened Spanish style rum (mine was a multi-rum “infinity bottle”). No garnish.

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Patio Mai Tai at The Kon-Tiki

Quick drive up to Oakland for a Mai Tai on the patio and a peek at the indoor dining situation at The Kon-Tiki. Man, the Mai Tai was really good on the patio, listening to Yacht Rock that the Kon-Tiki is famous for.

Nice to see Chris Day and Chris Parker and of course some of the Oakhana who were doing the indoor thing. After my second shot in a couple weeks, we’ll be indoors too.

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Sunday Mai Tai at Trader Vic’s

Mrs. Mai Tai and I took our adult sons to get their first COVID vaccine shots in the morning and then we arrived after noon for the Trader Vic’s Sunday Brunch and Mini-Bazaar. We had planned to just do shopping (more on that later) but we spotting a small table out on the patio and out of the sun and the staff was able to seat us without a reservation.

We enjoyed a light brunch, but what I really enjoyed was a freshly prepared Trader Vic’s Mai Tai. So frosty and refreshing. This is the best one so far in 2021.

Mrs Mai Tai enjoyed her Guava Mimosa, and it made a nice bubble bath for the Menehune!

So nice to see so many familiar faces at Vic’s today, some of which I know are toe-dipping back into group indoor dining. We will be in that place soon.