So pleased to see that the majestic A-frame is now back greeting hotel and concert guests to the venue. The previous one went down in a vehicle accident.
The grounds here still look great and wandering around the gardens and pools is truly relaxing. We saw parrots, koi, turtles, ducklings, and a few tikis. We also saw them setting up for the America concert and even got a new nods for the SF Giants gear we were wearing from the roadies.
We also saw that the Humphreys Restaurant is open again, featuring its own majestic A-Frame entrance. We enjoyed our stay at the Half Moon Inn last year and would come back if we aren’t in town mostly to be by the stadium like this time.
My Official Mai Tai Number is 34 Mai Tais consumed in the State of Hawaii on my 11 day trip.
We had three correct guesses in the Mai Tai Contest (I should have considered a tiebreaker). Congrats to the winners: @we.shall.tiki, @farbrorfuzz, and @wishiwastraveling84. I’ll be sending out a prize package with coasters, cocktail napkins, and stickers (bummed nobody seems to be giving out swizzle sticks or matchbooks anymore).
You can see the chart with the plot of all the guesses. Thanks again to everyone for playing along.
Oahu: 19, Kauai: 14, Hawaiian air space: 1 23 different venues, some who served more than one type of Mai Tai, and others where I consumed more than one 1944 Style: 13, Island Style: 15, Original Riffs: 2, RTD: 4
Complete List
1. Aulani (Island style) 2. Monkeypod Mai Tai (Island style) 3. Splash Bar at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani (Island style) 4. Tipsy Tiki (Island style) 5. Tiki’s Grill and Bar (1944 style) 6. Deck (1944 style) 7. Mai Tai’s (1944 style) 8. Dagger Mai Tai at Skull & Crown (Original riff) 9. Maunakea Mai Tai at Skull & Crown (1944 style) 10. Vic’s ’44 at Mai Tai Bar (1944 style) 11. Casa Crista (1944 style) 12. ‘Awa’Awa Mai Tai at Skull & Crown (Original riff) 13. Halekulani (1944 style) 14. Halekulani (1944 style) 15. Trader Vic’s Bottled (RTD) 16. Koloa Bottled (RTD) 17. Arnold’s Beach Bar (Island style) 18. Arnold’s Beach Bar (Island style) 19. Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai (Island style) 20. Hawaiian Airlines / On the Rocks (RTD) 21. Bamboocha Mai Tai at Lava Lava Beach Club (Island style) 22. Hilton Garden (Island style)nn Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 23. Trader Vic’s Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (1944 style) 24. Koloa Tasting Room (RTD) 25. Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 26. Vic’s Top Shelf at Tiki (Island style)nikii (1944 style) 27. Vic’s Top Shelf with Denizen and heavy Orgeat at Tiki (Island style)niki (1944 style) 28. Tahiti Nui (Island style) 29. Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 30. Trader Vic’s Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (1944 style) 31. Kalapika Mai Tai at Duke’s Kauai (Island style) 32. Classic Mai Tai at Oasis at the Beach (1944 style) 33. Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 34. Stinger Ray’s Tiki Bar & Lounge (Island style)
The world’s best airport bar is celebrating its first birthday today. It was a long time coming but Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport has been slinging cocktails for one year now. We didn’t plan on being here specially for this but it was a happy accident with our flight to Hawai’i leaving at 7:30 and we still had time for breakfast.
Breakfast Mai Tai? Absolutely. It is 6:15 am somewhere, right?
Mrs Mai Tai had a Shirley Temple and we both had the Island Parfait. So good.
For those scoring at home this does NOT count for the Hawaiian Mai Tai contest.
Ran into Wayne Stonecipher at Arizona Tiki Oasis and he gifted me this cool Central California Tiki bottle opener. Wayne is the head honcho for the Central California Tiki Facebook group, and has been doing a great job helping to plan events up and down the Central Valley.
The group has done meet-ups at Bakersfield’s amazing world-class Tiki-Ko and the Sinking Ship, along with vendor events, meetups at home tiki bars, parties with guest bartenders like Skipper Christian and B-Rex, and more. It is really cool to see the folks coming together including those new to tiki along with veterans. If you’re in the area and aren’t already connected then be sure to look for the Central California Tiki group in Facebook and on Instagram.
Had a great time this weekend at Arizona Tiki Oasis. This is our first TO event (we’ve been to Tiki Kon a couple times), so it was nice to see how this event worked. We stayed at the site hotel, the wonderful Hotel Valley Ho, and overall this seemed like a great venue for the event.
Saturday was our big seminar day, and I really enjoyed the well-delivered seminars by Sven Kirsten, Matt Pietrek, Gabrielle Maser, Didi Saiki/Sam Miller/Fred Acebo, and especially the seminars from Mike Skinner. The cocktails being served in the seminars were welcome and tasty, and the event staff were helpful at getting everyone into the sessions. Seminars are always a big interest for me.
It was nice to see some old and new friends, as well as to experience the vast set of vendors. We enjoyed the suite-vending that started on Friday as well as the large marketplace on Saturday and Sunday. So many nice things, and we bought a few. I also enjoyed some of the spirit tastings and we enjoy the rooftop cocktail hour with great views of Scottsdale.
Valley Ho’s primary sit-down restaurant ZuZu is nice but upscale. I figured out too late that there is also food available from the pool bar, so if any attendees got food here I’d welcome any comments about whether or not it worked or not. Some food trucks were an option and we enjoyed the shave ice as well as the Korean BBQ trucks. But, we did end up going off-site for a couple dinners.
The Entertainment lineup seemed good, but the venues were a little tricky. The indoor Sands event space was really loud, so not really able to both listen and talk. The pool venue’s sound was great, and it’s always nice to hang by the pool – but the band location was less engaging when viewed from across the pool. Tough to have a perfect solution, of course.
We also enjoyed the scavenger hunt for Bird Man “secret immunity idols” hidden by John and Janet Mulder. We’re not “heat people” and temps were on the upper end of tolerable for us.
We had a great time at AZ Tiki Oasis.
Ms. SwizzlestickOtto Von StroheimMatt PietrekSuite VendingTiki and StitchGlen, Brenda, and AmyI found the hidden immunity idol
As if you need any more excuses to attend Tiki Kon this year, you can come attend my seminar on the De-Evolution of the Hawaiian Mai Tai. This session is based on the same research I did for the forthcoming article for next month’s issue of Exotica Moderne magazine and will include additional detail, content, media, and stories.
The session explodes a few myths about this iconic drink, as well as the timeline for when the cocktail changed at the iconic Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Tiki Kon: Rim of Fire is in Portland from July 1-3. Learn more at www.tikikon.com.
