Category: Rum

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504 Silver Rum from New Orleans

I was so happy to receive this 504 Silver Rum from Happy Raptor Distilling from a friend who brought it back from New Orleans, until I learned the distillery shut down earlier this year. It’s too bad, this is a really nice rum distilled from sugar cane juice. Very similar to some Brazilian Cachacas I’ve tried and Copalli from Belize, also distilled from sugar cane juice, but cool that it was a domestic product.

The savory notes from this cane juice rum are really fantastic in a Mai Tai.

I don’t know if there are still bottles for sale anywhere but if you can find it, do yourself a favor and give it a try.

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Mount Gay Eclipse Navy Strength

Mount Gay Eclipse Navy Strength is a new limited edition expression of the longstanding intro level Barbados rum, now available in a full flavor 57% ABV format. Eclipse is a blend of pot and column still rums and is light in body with a few years in the bottle, so while it is approachable in cocktails there isn’t always the flavor I want from cocktails like a Mai Tai, and it is sort of too much for lighter rum drinks like a Daiquiri. In the past I shied away from Eclipse in lieu of either true lighter rums from Puerto Rico or more flavorful lightly aged rums such as Appleton Signature or El Dorado 5.

But this new Navy Strength expression is much more what I want from a rum, a lot of flavor that comes through in a cocktail and is even pretty approachable when served neat in a glass. The term Navy Strength isn’t a true measurement but conveys the much higher ABV in this expression. Some of the Foursquare products from Barbados can have an overly oaky flavor, including Real McCoy 5 and Old Brigand, but this Mount Gay leans a little more floral.

I made a Mai Tai and found this expression cuts right though and you can really taste the rum, and a great alternative if you’re looking for something that’s a little mellower than the funky Jamaican rums or grassy Martinique rhums.

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$10 Mai Tai with 10 Rums on 10/10

Our friends at the Kon-Tiki continue to surprise and delight, offering a low-key but still noteworthy drink special last night to celebrate the Mai Tai being named the official cocktail of the city. The October 10th Mai Tai was the brainchild of GM and bartender Carlos Jimenez, who used 10 rums for this special Mai Tai. Even better, priced at just $10.

The Mai Tai leaned on sugar-cane juice rums as the predominant note, but had layers of flavor that worked great in this format. I compared this to the Kon-Tiki’s standard issue Mai Tai that uses heavier and longer aged rums and found that while I prefer the standard this one-off Mai Tai was still really great and of course was a killer value as well.

Plenty of people got the memo as the room was quite busy for most of the evening.

Standard Mai Tai
Carlos showing off fire skills
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Copalli Single Barrel Select Rum at Smuggler’s Cove

Picked up this really amazing bottle at Smuggler’s Cove, an aged cask strength bottle of Copalli cane juice rum from Belize.

Aged far longer than Copalli’s 18 month “barrel aged” expression, the spice notes from the barrel blend very well with Copalli’s well regarded cane juice rum. There’s no official age statement but it compares well to four or five year rums I’ve tried and that age means this tastes really different from the unaged standard issue bottle. It is very approachable for a 65% ABV rum.

This is a Smuggler’s Cove exclusive pick, so head over to SF to pick one up before they’re gone. It may be a long time before we see an aged expression of this class from Copalli.

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Ultimate Kingston Negroni

After years of having Campari in cocktails I’m finally getting accustomed this this bitter Italian liqueur, so much so that I actually like the taste of a classic Negroni cocktail and am really digging the riff that replaces gin with Jamaican rum.

New York bartender Joaquín Simó first made this cocktail in 2010, using the potent overproof Smith & Cross Jamaica rum as the featured spirit. I sure do love Smith & Cross but thought I’d try to create the Ultimate Kingston Negroni.

First I tried Planteray’s Xaymaca, a 100% pot still Jamaica rum issued at 43% ABV. This has more of the classic Jamaica rum flavor than something like Appleton and indeed it made a very nice Kingston Negroni.

Next I tried the Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend, an equal portion ratio of Appleton 12, Smith & Cross, Xaymaca, and Planteray OFTD that clocks in at 50% ABV. We love this in a Mai Tai, but it didn’t work amazingly in the Negroni to pair with the bitter Campari.

The best Kingston Negroni I could make? Well, that had Smith & Cross as the rum. Who’d have thunk it? I let Mrs. Mai Tai try this and she said “there is something funky in there.” She used the perfect word without even knowing that this is what folks use to refer to the classic overripe fruit taste of Jamaica rum. This one was by far the best Kingston Negroni.

Kingston Negroni
1 oz Campari
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Smith & Cross Jamaica rum
Stir with ice. Strain over large cubes and express an orange peel.

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Got Mai Tai?

Had to head out to Oakland to celebrate the Mai Tai becoming the official cocktail of the city, popping into a bustling Kon-Tiki in mid-evening. The crew has decorated the venue for Halloween using a variety of retro looking decorations including some nice pumpkin lanterns hanging over the bar. There was quite the crowd too, with lively music that made Tuesday seem like a Friday.

I’ve been pretty transparent about trying to get Kon-Tiki to the top of my Best Mai Tai of 2024 list, but for months it has been stuck at number 2, a fab Mai Tai with Hamilton Pot Still Blonde, and couldn’t beat the excellent Mai Tai I had at The Sinking Ship at Tiki-Ko. I’ve tried a number of exotic rums in Mai Tais at The Kon-Tiki over the past few months, including their upscale $44 Samaroli Mai Tai. But none of them could do it and as much as I want Kon-Tiki at number one for sentimental reasons I’ve also got to keep it real and base the ranking on merit.

As I scanned the shelves I saw an old favorite that I had wasn’t really considering all this time but at the moment made perfect sense. So, I asked Carlos to make an Appleton 12 Jamaica rum Mai Tai and it was absolutely fantastic. So much bold flavor even from a 43% ABV rum that still presented the orange and almond flavors the Mai Tai is famous for, not overly limey and perfectly balanced. It’s my new number one of the year, all the more appropriate given the occasion.

There’s no need to keep continually trying to top the Mai Tai at Kon-Tiki for now, so we closed the evening with the Pop Star cocktail, delightfully blending juices, watermelon, Aperol, and hibiscus. So delicious, and quite the treat.

Pop Star
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Penultimate Mai Tai at The Kon-Tiki

We thank bartender Kriss for indulging us with a little experiment, making a great Penultimate Mai Tai on our visit on Wednesday.

Based on the rums available we riffed a little bit but this is still a dark flavorful rum along with a Hawaiian rum. In this case 1½ oz of Diamond Reserve Dark and ½ oz Kō Hana Kea in a standard 1944 Mai Tai. A little less complex than our four-rum Ultimate Mai Tai blend but still really full of flavor.

The Kon-Tiki Burger and a Mai Tai is still my favorite thing in the town. Pretty busy on Wednesday, everyone keep it going and support our friends at The Kon-Tiki.