The last stop on our SoCal trip was an overnight in Solvang where we made sure to visit High Roller Tiki Lounge before dinner. The nice thing about High Roller is that they are open early in the day and stay open as late as Midnight on the weekends, plus they have some great merch and friendly service. They only have a wine and beer license, so the “rum alternative” they use in some of their drinks is a lower ABV variant with additional ingredients.
The vibe inside was very nice with a tiki compilation showing on the TV plus great retro music. The Mai Tai was just fine in this format including a good amount of alcohol and Mrs. Mai Tai’s cocktail with Chai was very good. Had I been feeling a little better we would have stayed for a second round or returned later in the evening, but I was tired at the end of a long trip.
It has been a while since our last experience in the back room at Strong Water Anaheim that is called the Captains Quarters and features a separate bartender and a more intimate environment. The section is themed to the inside of a marooned ship, including faux night sky above and Victorian era decor, though the music in this section varied from this strict theme. We included dinner in our experience including some shell-on garlic shrimp, sweet chili salmon, and grilled chicken, all wonderful and a good value given the quality and quantity.
I started the cocktail experience with a Bitter Mai Tai, a riff featuring Campari but still really great. Next, I challenged the bartender with an off-menu order for a Planter’s Punch, a drink that can vary depending on where you get it and how they make in. In this case, it leaned fruity and featured Hamilton 86 Demerara rum and even though it didn’t lean spicy or with Jamaican rum I still loved it.
Tales from the Black Lagoon
Meanwhile Mrs. Mai Tai revisited the complex flavors of the Tales from the Black Lagoon, an outstanding Strong Water original that includes butterscotch and banana notes. Next she tried Velvet Banana that is an inspired riff on the Espresso Martini. Since we were seated at the bar we got to see the cocktail preparation including the smokey Cannon Fire that inspired us to order it ourselves. This Old Fashioned style cocktail has bourbon and allspice, wonderful in this format.
Cannon Fire
We continue to be impressed by the quality of the food and drinks at Strong Water, along with high quality service as well. The Captains Quarters concept is available in other venues but few are executed as completely as it is at Strong Water.
I should have bought this great Woody Miller mug when it came out years and years ago, but couldn’t skip it when Smuggler Steve had it available at the Dr. Funk Bazaar last month.
Love the orange glaze on this, very reminiscent of the venue’s graphical design. RIP Kon-Tiki.
After all the rum lists I’ve completed over the years I have to applaud my wife Julie for giving the rum list thing a shot with the Level I of the Rum Asylum list at Dr. Funk. This curated list of twenty mainstream rums covers a variety of styles and countries of origin and is a fantastic introduction to rum. Even better for folks like Julie who aren’t used to drinking spirits neat, Dr. Funk allows participants try to the rums in Daiquiri format. Pusser’s was the last rum and Julie said the Xaymaca Daiquiri was her favorite.
After completing the list, Justin walked her through the materials for Level II, she took a little rum pledge, received her completion pin, and then got to ring the bell. A soon-to-be bride sitting nearby was so inspired by the ceremony that she jumped up and threw a flower lei over Julie’s head. Ringing the bell *and* getting lei’d, it was quite a night.
Dr. Funk is hosting a Rum Asylum meetup on June 22, which Julie will be attending. I’m not sure how far she’ll get on the level II, but completing the first level is still a great accomplishment. Congrats.
San Francisco’s Zombie Village launched their first major menu refresh since they opened in 2018, offering several new cocktails and also adding in some classics such as the Port Light and Three Dots & a Dash. Thankfully, our favorite Zombie Village favorites including the Disco Banana, Coco Pandan, and Doc’s Grog remain on the menu.
Many of the new cocktails include coconut, including the creamy Catamaran that features pisco, Jamaica rum, and apricot. This cocktail isn’t too sweet and is supposedly inspired by the Tradewinds cocktail, but the apricot is more in the background. We also liked Over the Garden Wall that has rum, elderflower, coconut, and absinthe – again very balanced and not too heavy on the absinthe or coconut.
Over the Garden Wall
Our favorite new menu item was the Beach Hopper, with rum, cacao, mint, and coconut – this isn’t your grandfather’s Grasshopper but it’ll give you a lot of those same vibes. The balance for drink like this can be tricky and Zombie Village has it dialed in perfectly. We were impressed by the new menu that features 17 cocktails and seems to have a little bit of something for everyone, including cocktails based on bourbon, tequila, and mezcal plus a few well-known tiki favorites including the Mai Tai and Painkiller.
The new menu includes interior illustrations by Tony Canepa and is available for purchase. The menu launched on Wednesday with a low-key launch party that included a DJ set by Woody Miller who is also one of the artists who contributed to the venue. We think this is a great step forward for Zombie Village which previously had been resting on the laurels of the original cocktail menu and hopefully sets the place up for a fresh round of tropical cocktail converts.
After an exciting day of tasting and socializing at the Rum Curious Summit we decided to keep the party going in a more relaxing fashion by going over to Long Beach’s Bamboo Club for a meal and drinks. The team was able to let us have a larger table for our group and between us and others from the event it was sort of like a final farewell with friends.
There was a DJ playing some great retro tunes including lounge and exotica favorites, and we enjoyed the atmosphere inside this tiki bar with dive leanings. There’s a Bamboo Mai Tai that uses 122 proof Copalli aged rum, which I’m sure would have been my preference had I not been looking to limit alcohol. So I went with the standard Mai Tai with Jamaica and Martinique rum and found it to pretty good especially on a Monday when it is only $8!
We’d only visited once before but Bamboo Club was a fun time and we enjoyed exploring all the little rooms and patio outside, featuring eclectic artwork and cool lighting.
We had another amazing visit to Strong Water Anaheim, coasting on Nav’s reservation for a totally relaxing Sunday evening over superior cocktails. While reservations are especially important here and can limit spontaneity, it is nice to be able to get them and plan your day around the time. Mrs. Mai Tai and I arrived a bit early and had dinner at the Packing District Food Hall, a short walk away.
After overindulging the previous night I stuck to one cocktail, so I made sure it counted by having Strong Water’s excellent Mai Tai – rich and nutty with some flavorful but approachable rum. It is one of the best Mai Tais of the year so far, once again. Mrs. Mai Tai’s Pearl Diver was also top-notch.
This was the first visit for Nav and Alissa, and the crew made a great impression by being so responsive to food and additional drink orders. We hardly had to wait when the mood struck, but at the same time we were never pestered, a delicate balance. Alissa was impressed by the merch for sale and went home with a mug and the staff took care to fulfill the order. Music was relaxing exotica and vintage music, totally appropriate and setting the mood for great conversation.
Strong Water’s commitment to high quality never seems to waver, making it one of the best examples of the genre. But as with the best tiki bars where quality is a concern, there’s never any snobby attitude from the staff who know you are there to have a great time. And that’s how it went for us, once again.
