Category: Rum

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HippopotoMai-Tai – New 4th Edition Orange Glaze Mug

We landed at the Disneyland Hotel on Friday evening and got some seats outside at the Tangaroa Terrace after a short wait. A pretty nice dinner, as always, and I enjoy the ambiance at night with the torches and live Hawaiian music.

I don’t love the Bacardi in their standard issue HippopotoMai-Tai so I looked at the rums on the backbar and ordered one with Hamilton 86 Demerara rum. The taste was lovely, richer than their standard.

We also got the new orange mug, which Mrs Mai Tai says is her favorite of the releases so far (I prefer the blue glaze from Trader Sam’s in Florida). The staff worked with us to adjust the level on the propane heaters. The skipper even threw in a few zingers.

When I got the bill it listed Hamilton 151 as the called rum. So that might explain why I found the cocktail so intoxicating.

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Jamaican Highball at Dr. Funk

Dropped by Dr. Funk on Monday before the Surfrajettes show for dinner and some cocktails. Aside from continued “product testing” of Dr. Funk’s still awesome Mai Tai, I tried the Jamaican Highball this time.

More than just a “Wray and Ting”, the Jamaican Highball features Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, lime, turbinado, grapefruit soda, and Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters. Those additional ingredients and flavors help to enhance the the rum and soda base. I was looking for a slightly lower ABV and asked for Rum-Bar Silver to sub for the Wray. This still provided that classic unaged Jamaican rum flavor and worked great in this cocktail.

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1923 Prohibition Bar: Speakeasy Bar in Las Vegas

We ran across the 1923 Prohibition Bar in the shopping complex between Mandalay Bay and Luxor, and once we entered through the “secret” entrance decided to take a load off with a cocktail.

As Prohibition style bars inside Casinos go, 1923 bar is pretty reasonable. Totally cut off from the shopping area and tourists, and a relaxing vibe with vintage touches inside. There are TV screens here showing period or venue-specific content (not sports/news, thankfully), plus music that is relaxing but isn’t period, so this is not 100% committed to the theme. They do however do burlesque here some nights and during mid-day when we went it was totally chill.

There’s a Mango Mai Tai on the menu, featuring Bacardi Mango Rum alongside Appleton Signature Rum and the standard 1944 ingredients. They also have Appleton Reserve and Rhum Barbancourt on their spirits list. I thought I got lucky to find a good 1944 Mai Tai in Vegas, and ordered one just with Appleton Reserve. Sadly, they said they were out of all of their rums except Myers’s.

Rather than fight a losing cause I ordered the Barrel-Aged Old Fashioned that was quite serviceable and set the mood for the venue quite well.

Check out 1923 Prohibition Bar the next time you’re in the area.

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Lost Spirits Distillery: Intimate Vegas Cirque Experience and Rum Tasting

We finally had the opportunity to check out the Lost Spirits Distillery experience in Las Vegas. This adults-only venue is an intimate cirque-style experience including burlesque, magic, and singers. Being able to see acrobatic performances so close was really a treat, and everyone really seemed to be of the highest class within their chosen genre.

The venue has a series of corridors and stages, plus some lounge spaces. So it very much is a choose-your-own-adventure and with performances happening simultaneously you literally can’t see everything. But the organic nature of the exploration is half the fun.

Rum is certainly a key aspect, with attendees given generous pours of several of Lost Spirts’ robust rums, plus tastes of their sweetened pineapple and cherry rums. All the rum tastings are included with the admission, but there are also bottled/batched cocktails available for purchase as well. These cocktails are by Alex Velez of Drink Masters fame, and the one cocktail we tried was fantastic. Bottles of various sizes are available for purchase.

Our friends Brenda and Glen know Lost Spirits co-founder Bryan Davis, and we met up with him and he showed us around the distillery portion and gave us some heads-up about some of the key performers – including one artist with an act that literally cannot be described with words – simply incredible. We appreciated the VIP treatment and thank Davis for the hospitality.

We entered at 7 pm, but they don’t kick you out once the 9 pm group comes in. So you can take your time with your rum tastings and find some time to enjoy the ambiance of the immersive space.

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Rhumbar at The Mirage

We wanted to see the volcano erupt at The Mirage before it closes and had a few minutes to spare so we grabbed a quick drink at Rhumbar. A very nice hotel bar with a cool retro vibe. There’s an outdoor portion we didn’t visit but the inside was cool and there’s also a slushy station outside.



The “Mai Tai or Die” has Rhum Clement bland, Avuá Cachaca, pineapple, orgeat, and a Myers’s float. As pineapple Mai Tais go this one was pretty good and the rest of the menu looked legit.



It’s a shame the volcano is going away but the Mai Tai helped dull the pain.

Note: Sounds like The Mirage will stay in current state until around mid 2024, then be completely “reimagined”. So there is still lots of time to check out the volcano and resort.

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Step 2 and Step 3 Cocktail

Inspired by the video this week from @rumrevival where Arminder reviewed Worthy Park 109 and then paired it with a lager.

Step one is to pour the rum and then try it. And then step two is to drink some lager. And then step three is some more of the Worthy Park 109. And then step four is to repeat steps two and three.

Its fantastic. Worthy Park 109 is such s flavorful and approachable rum, even at 54.5 ABV. And if it is a little extra boozy, there doesn’t seem to be a downside.

The Kon-Tiki was rocking pretty great tonight thanks to Arminder himself, many of the Oakhana regulars, great food and drinks, and an outstanding surf playlist.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Arminder Randhawa (@rumrevival)