Category: Tiki Bar

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New B-Rex Glass at Forbidden Island

I made Lemonade out of Lemons, or rather a good Mai Tai out of a “meh” Rum.

I cracked open a rum sample from my Forbidden Island Kill Devil list and tasted it neat as is my usual practice at home. This rum will remain anonymous but suffice to say I can thank of several aged expressions from Puerto Rico that I like drinking, but this rum wasn’t one of them.

So, I switched gears and made a Mai Tai with the rum instead. So much better, and it allowed me to use this FABULOUS new glass from B-Rex that is now available from Forbidden Island. What a great design! And this glass is a little smaller than the Double Old Fashioned / Mai Tai glasses that I have a million of.

Fixed It Mai Tai
1 oz Lime Juice
¼ oz Demerara Syrup
½ oz L’Orgeat almond liqueur 
½ oz Clement Creole Shrubb Orange liqueur 
2 oz Aged Puerto Rican Rum

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Hot Buttered Rum

Closing out the Holidays with this winter favorite, a to-go cocktail from Forbidden Island.

Hot alcoholic drinks aren’t really my cup of tea 😉 so I made mine with lukewarm water rather than piping hot. The Forbidden Island rum batter and dark rum is quite delicious.

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First Mai Tai of 2021

Yesterday was sort of nice, so time to relax on the lanai with a to-go Mai Tai from The Kon-Tiki in Oakland. A good Mai Tai (I added extra Orgeat and fresh mint) and plenty boozy too.

Even better is this cute plastic stadium cup (Kon-Tiki also sells an orange one). Love the way the blue pops. The merch from Kon-Tki has always been so great. I love the design of their Mai Tai and Zombie glasses.

What’s missing? Well, I’d love to see a Kon-Tiki Swizzle Stick.

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RIP 2020 from the Kon-Tiki

2020 sucked in so many ways. I had to cancel trips to New Orleans, Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, Southern California, and London/Dublin/Scotland. I missed visiting a bunch of great tiki bars, even local ones. After visiting 52 different tiki bars in 2019, I only got to 15 in 2020. But, at least our family stayed safe.



The East Bay tiki bars were my life-blood. In 2020 I patronized Trader Vic’s, The Kon-Tiki, and Forbidden Island at least once a month each. But my most visited tiki bar was The Kon-Tiki (same as 2019 and 2018). So we had to end the year on a high note with to-go drinks and their amazing cheeseburger.

I can’t wait to come and hang out indoor or even outdoors soon.

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Best 9 of 2020

RIP 2020

Here’s my Top 9 from 2020 on Instagram. Thanks for all the likes and comments and shares. Let’s keep the Mai Tai, rum, and tiki bar discussions going in 2021.


1: thanks to Alexis Antonio (@atomictikigal) for letting me use her photo of Maikai Santa Cruz for a Central California Tiki Bar feature on UltimateMaiTai.com. Great composition.

2: An old photo with a timeless message: Fuck Trump

3: Smuggler’s Cove mug and Pampanito cocktail

4: Cocktails and rum at Forbidden Island

5: Mai Tai with Foursquare 2007

6: Trader Vic’s Emeryville

7: New and old Appleton 12 rum

8. Custom Navy Rum blend for Black Tot Day 50th Anniversary

9. Three generations of Appleton 12 rum

363 posts in 2020, with 30.9 thousand likes (85.1 per post)

Join the fun: instagram.com/ultimatemaitai

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Number One Mai Tai of 2020

The Last Ultimate Mai Tai at The Kon-Tiki (Oakland, CA)

For the second year in a row, my best Mai Tai was at The Kon-Tiki. In early March, we said goodbye to bartender Terry Six as he left the bar to move to Southern California. For one last time I got have the Ultimate Mai Tai made by Terry. This was number one in 2019 when it was on the menu the night I completed the Kon-Tiki Rum Expedition, and was made the way that Terry knows I love it – thank you again. 

Made with Appleton 12, Plantation Xaymaca, Plantation OFTD, and Smith & Cross rum – along with heavy orgeat – this was the best Mai Tai I’ve ever had.

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Final Trader Vic’s Mai Tai of 2020

Mrs. Mai Tai and I ran some errands and landed at Trader Vic’s for lunch. It was nearly outdoor dining as we enjoyed the view of the restaurant and lush greenery from our car.

Lunch was fab. I had the Kalua Pork Sandwich with fries and it tasted great. Even better was a bun that completely held everything together. Mrs. Mai Tai had the Volcano Shrimp bowl and once again really liked it. Though, we both really miss the Aloha Bowls. Please, Trader Vic’s, bring back the Aloha Bowls!



The cocktail was the San Francisco Mai Tai, the Mai Tai served with a float of dark and 151 rums. Though it’s all mixed together when served to-go, this Mai Tai had a deep and rich flavor no doubt influenced by those float rums. It was really great and made two full Mai Tais. I don’t know what it is about the Vic’s Mai Tais but they travel very well.



One of the few benefits this year has been the generally reduced freeway traffic, though today was much heavier than expected. Nonetheless, that light traffic has given us the opportunity to patronize Trader Vic’s many times during the various phases of quarantine, take-out, outdoor dining and everything in between. Today, the Trader Vic’s Captain Cook room was all set up for merchandise sales and there was plenty to choose from (I’ve bought plenty of merch this year, too). Thanks to the lovely day in Emeryville, it was a nice way to cap more than a dozen visits to Trader Vic’s this year.