The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
Check out this cool pin that has a double meaning for rum cocktail fans.
This is produced by Hale Manu, a home tiki bar from Justin Bird located in Nashville TN and looks great! Only $8 including shipping.
Check out @halemanutikibar for gorgeous photos and shots of party shenanigans.
New York City has a notorious reputation for not being able to support true tiki bars, but there is hope that Brooklyn’s Sunken Harbor Club can combine most of the elements we seek at tiki bars while forging a distinct and slightly different path.
Located above restaurant Gage and Tollner, Sunken Harbor Club doesn’t have any totems but is otherwise everything you’d want in a tiki bar. It’s an intimate and immersive experience featuring nautical decor, exotica/surf/lounge music, and cocktails from the tiki tradition. Along with an innovative approach to the extensive cocktail list, small bites are also available. We loved the Miso Butterscotch Pudding with toasted coconut.
Aside from the fantastic Mai Tai we highlighted a few days ago, we were impressed by the cocktails. Thanks to Garret Richard and team, the cocktails use high quality ingredients and modern techniques to deliver superb cocktails. I really dug the Special Daiquiri No. 1 featuring Jamaican rum, passion fruit, honey, and falernum. Meanwhile Mrs. Mai Tai had the Yellow Tang with vodka, banana, pineapple, and passion fruit. This was from the “In the Shallows” section of the menu that features lighter cocktails, but was a little too light for what she wanted. She had better luck with the Ango Colada and the Bridge of Sighs, a complex blend of aperitivo, coffee, ginger, and rum.
The experience at Sunken Harbor Club was exquisite. Our bartender Dan Olivo was super friendly and engaging and watching him prepare the cocktails was like watching a mad scientist working with precision to prepare the cocktail and the garnishes. Dan also led the fire displays when customers ordered flaming cocktails such as off-menu Jet Pilots. Those are always a big hit with audiences and all the staff including Clayton (on shift this evening) and Garret and Adam truly have hospitality in mind when promoting the venue.
If you like tiki bars you’ll probably be having too much fun to notice totems aren’t there. It was very easy for us to take the Subway from Midtown to the Jay St./Metrotech station right across the street, so any tourist in the city should prioritize a visit.
The annual holiday pop-up with a tiki theme is back at 55 South in San Jose. This craft cocktail bar and restaurant did the decor even more elaborately this year, and staff was ready to serve us at opening on Sunday. Music was peppy and got everyone in the mood.
Sippin Santa comes from the our favorite cocktail historian, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, in partnership with Cocktail Kingdom that also runs the Miracle pop-ups (including two downtown San Jose locations within a 5 minute walk of 55 South, Paper Plane and Miniboss).
This year the Mersanta mug is available for sale after the cocktail debuted on the menu last year. Such a cute mug, and the cocktail with tequila, applejack, and maple-cranberry syrup is quite a delight. I went with the classic Sippin’ Santa cocktail that has Demerara rum, amaro, and gingerbread mix. Really great, and prices for both the cocktails and merch are pretty reasonable.
A new drink this year is Island of Misfit Toys, featuring Jamaican Rum, Chai Tea, cream, cinnamon, and pumpkin puree. If you like Pina Coladas and Pumpkin Spice, this will be your new all-time favorite. I like both, as does Mrs. Mai Tai, so this cocktail is right up there with Sippin Santa’s Kris Kringle Colada as something to go out of your way to try.
55 South has a pretty decent food menu. I enjoyed the Shrimp Roll and we all looooved the Cream Cheese Bread, a small loaf of Olive bread covered with cream cheese. Probably the best thing in the entire building.
Had a fab time over at Oakland’s Kon-Tiki Room at Palmetto to send best wishes to local raconteur Adrian Castañeda who is moving to Barcelona in a few weeks. We’ve bumped into Adrian in all sort of places, including tiki bars where he’s worked such as Zombie Village, helping Doc Parks at Mai Tai Day 2021, and once even ran into him at the Midway Antique Emporium in Sacramento.
Last night he was doing a shift behind the bar at The Kon-Tiki Room and made a Zombie variant from the ZV days called the Sparkle and Froth. A very nice pineapple-forward cocktail that was super tasty.
I also asked Adrian for a “Dealer’s Choice Mai Tai” using the rums available at The Kon-Tiki Room. It was great to see a rum expert scan the shelves and pull down three bottles to work with, and to use them in just the right ratios. For the Mai Tai, Adrian used 1 oz of Worthy Park Kon-Tiki Single Barrel (aged 5 yrs), along with ½ oz each of Worthy Park 109 and Uruapan Charandra Anejo. This was a fantastic Mai Tai! So rich with flavors, where the aged Jamaican rum really paired well with the molasses and sugar cane juice-based Charandra from Mexico.
This unique blend was so great it is currently on my top 10 list of best Mai Tais for 2022. Mahalo Adrian and best wishes.
The Kon-Tiki Room now has a subtly placed TV for their regular Thursday Star Trek Nights, and last night was playing a vintage 1960s beach movie. Which then allowed them to play some traditional lounge and Hawaiian music, which was totally fantastic. This place is a lot better when there’s escapist tropical music.
Had a really good experience at Tiki Tom’s the other night, where Mrs. Mai Tai and I went over for dinner and drinks. We both tried the butterfly-shaped Bao Buns, hers with Tofu and mine with Kalua Pork. Though this format was a little messy to eat it was only great on the palette. There’s a really good tangy sauce on these, though note that the peppers are a little spicy. I also tried the fried Tiki Spamsubi, very filling with tempura, rice, and spam. Mrs. Mai Tai had the Chicken Katsu as a fried tofu option and declared it great.
Mrs Mai Tai still loves the Ohana Punch that includes little chunks of green apples and walnuts. It is delicious but the servers always ask if you’ve had it before just to prepare you. Don’t skip past this as a pina colada clone, it’s really great.
We also both enjoyed the Carmen Miranda cocktail, featuring an over-the-top garnish and a side of Dole Whip soft serve. The creamy cocktail with mango and cachaca leans sweet – but not too far. And as noted yesterday, we also got to try the Ultimate Mai Tai, coming soon to the new cocktail menu.
We’ve heard from folks that they’ve had mixed experiences here, though we had no complaints on our visit. Everything came out great. Prices are still a tad higher than average, but we do find the quality of the interior decor, ambient music, and service to be in line with that pricing.
Since Tiki Tom’s let the cat out of the bag on their Instagram Story, we can confirm it is true. Our “Ultimate Mai Tai” recipe is going to be used as a premium Mai Tai on the forthcoming new cocktail menu at Tiki Tom’s in Walnut Creek.
We get a kick anytime someone makes a Mai Tai with our Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend, a boozy combination of four heavy rums mostly from Jamaica. So it is our honor and pleasure that Tiki Tom’s is interested in trying this for their new menu. And it is not without some significant challenges most notably the limited availability of Appleton 12 rum.
There are some other interesting things coming to the new cocktail menu so be sure to stay tuned to their social media for updates.
Ultimate Mai Tai by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
¼ oz Demerara Syrup (BG Reynolds)
½ oz Orange Curacao (Ferrand Dry Curacao)
½ oz Appleton 12 Jamaica Rum
½ oz Smith & Cross Jamaica Rum
½ oz Plantation OFTD Rum
½ oz Plantation Xaymaca Jamaican Rum
Garnish with Mint Sprig and spent Lime shell
Perhaps no destination demonstrates the search for the ultimate Mai Tai better than The Kon-Tiki in Oakland. Their Mai Tai has always been good, but self-described constant R&D means their 2022 Mai Tai has leapfrogged into the top 10, replacing sister bar The Kon-Tiki Room.
This sweet and savory cocktail uses Super Jugoso Orgeat, rum-based orange shrubb, and a blend of rums from Guyana, Martinique, and Jamaica. The house Mai Tai is excellent at Kon-Tiki, or try one with their special Kon-Tiki Single Barrel Rum from Worthy Park.
Kon-Tiki is also the place where where a customized Mai Tai was the best we’ve ever had.
Here are the top 10 Mai Tais that you can have right now.
Mrs Mai Tai and I are going to New York City at the end of the month and expect to visit Sunken Harbor Club, home of Garret Richard’s famed Mai Tai. A possible new entry in this list, so stay tuned.