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Pleasant Surprises from the Mai Tai Menu at Wilfred’s Lounge

We had a great lunch at Napa’s Wilfred’s Lounge a couple Sundays ago, including some fine food and ‘Ono pie. Mrs. Mai Tai had her favorite cocktail, the Maximum Aloha, that’s still great with a blend of rums, sweet flavors, and banana cream topping. Lots of reggae playing on our visit was relaxing but we wish they’d throw more Hawaiian onto the playlist.

New to me on this visit was a whole page of Mai Tais on the cocktail menu. I’d previously tried the standard 1944 Mai Tai of course, as well as Tai One On which is a spirit-forward riff that uses Amaretto rather than orgeat. It’s an understandable substitution for the format of this stirred cocktail, though I didn’t find the Amaretto a pleasant upgrade.

There’s been a lot of complaining online about pineapple juice in Mai Tais, and I admit I’ve probably done my fair share. But lately I’ve kind of come around to the idea that these can be great if balanced properly and this was certainly the case with the Haole Tai made with white rum, pineapple, orange, grenadine, and Wilfred’s boozy Jamaican rum blend. This is juicy to be sure, but it actually tasted really great and put a focus on that great Jamaican rum. Wilfred’s quality grenadine used in a small portion also made this better balanced than the ingredients might lead you to believe.

Haole Tai

Even more fantastic was the Tai Game, a blend of interesting flavors including fig-infused rum, amaro, amaretto, orgeat, and tawny port. This recently won Wilfred’s annual Mai Tai competition and I can see why – it is a rich and chewy cocktail that uses the Mai Tai template and layers on additional flavors. This was a big hit at our table.

Tai Game

Wilfred’s Lounge remains a compelling cocktail destination in wine country. Their Mai Tai menu is really interesting and totally worth exploring more, so we’ll be sure to return soon.

Thanks to Brenda for the featured image for the post, and to Sam and Mandy for providing tasting notes.

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John Caine’s Famous Cosmopolitan by John Caine

Another classic cocktail, this time the Cosmopolitan at the At Water Tavern in China Basin. We had a nice dinner before a concert at nearby Chase Center, but in reviewing the menu on the venue’s website I saw an entry titled “John Caine’s Famous Cosmopolitan by John Caine.” That seemed, well, it seemed really unusual. Who is John Caine and why does his name appear not once but twice next to the Cosmo?

Intrigued, I ordered the Cosmo and asked the server who John Caine is. She answered and told me he was the owner of the restaurant. Later, Caine himself popped by our table to say hello and told us that he brought the Cosmo to San Francisco from Cleveland in the late 1980s and he’s even included in the Wikipedia entry for the cocktail. Apparently he had been told about the cocktail by gay men who had visited New England where cranberry juice was prevalent and so it was natural to add it to a Kamikaze cocktail to get the pink color that the drink is famous for.

Pondering the cocktail while drinking it, I wondered what the big deal is since the lightness of the flavor profile wasn’t really doing anything for me since I’m used to bolder flavors from tiki drinks or spirit-forward classic cocktails. But I acknowledge that for many the lightness is a feature, not a bug, and the Cosmo falls into that class of cocktail. It’s pretty.

Reviewing the physical menu at At Water, it just says “John Caine’s Cosmopolitan” – slightly more modest – and the list of ingredients which say Hanson vodka, cranberry, and lime. Hanson is vodka made from grapes in Sonoma and there are several expressions including lemon and mandarin that would be more suitable to the IBA specified recipe that includes Absolut Citron, but the expression isn’t noted. Notably absent is Cointreau, a key component of the now-standard Cosmo recipe, though upon tasting the drink it does appear that Caine prefers it dryer.

At Water is adjacent to Oracle Park Lot A and is a great option before or after an event in the area. Or just an excursion to try a bit of cocktail history.

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Kingston Negroni with Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still Rum

More praise for Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still rum which works great in a Kingston Negroni. The bold and funky Overproof rum works as a great balance to the bitter Campari and Sweet Vermouth.

As previously shared, while this cocktail is supposed to be an equal parts of all three ingredients, I do like to go a little easy on the Campari and a little heavy on the rum.

Kingston Negroni
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Campari (easy pour)
1 oz Jamaica Rum (heavy pour)
Stir with ice and pour over large cube. Express orange peel.

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Indiana Jones Trivia at Dr. Funk

We sucked at Risky Quizness’ Friends and Office trivia, but finished in the top 5 for Disney Parks and Anchorman trivia – but a win eluded us until this week for Indiana Jones Trivia.

We enjoy the Monday trivia events at Dr. Funk and it was a pretty full house for this week’s event too. Our son Quinn picked the team name “The Boulder” and son Riley did most of the heavy lifting for the 40 questions covering all five Indiana Jones movies. It was a come from behind victory, thanks in part to better knowledge of the Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny films (my favorite: Last Crusade). Time to put the winning artifacts in a museum!

Monday is also $8 Mai Tai Monday at Dr. Funk and this week’s entry was pretty much perfect, vaulting it up several spots on our running Top Mai Tais of 2025 list. Still the greatest value Mai Tai you can buy on a regular basis.

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The Fink: Celebrating Two Years as Napa’s Premier Cocktail Destination

We’ve loved The Fink ever since it opened in downtown Napa, with a travel themed cocktail menu and an elaborate nautical interior. Sunday was a celebration of the venue’s second anniversary which included some cocktail specials and a tiki themed celebration in conjunction with the upcoming 25th anniversary of Tiki Oasis. Guests were given 2 year buttons, a wonderful touch.

Namesake owner Judd Finkelstein played his usual host role and then changed outfits to perform with his hapa-haole band the Maikai Gents. Introducing the band, Tiki Oasis founder Otto Von Stroheim noted that the band has played more Tiki Oasis events than any other and it was easy to see why with the band playing an energetic set. The performace also included Finkelstein’s wife and daughters singing along for a spell. Longtime Tiki Oasis performer King Kukulele also dazzled the audience who are familiar with his big personality and wild antics.

The mad rush of tikiphiles and Napa locals was immense at the 3 pm opening, so the staff had to work to keep up with so many cocktail and food orders. On tap was a special cocktail called the FinkelGrog, created by Smuggler’s Cove’s Martin Cate. Meanwhile, I ordered some Crab Rangoon and Napa’s best Mai Tai, followed with a New York Sour featuring Judd’s Hill red wine.

The Fink trying to steal my drink

The event did not have a cover charge, but guests were offered the option to donate to Be Kind, a non-profit spotlighting the power of kindness to strengthen community, founded by Finkelstein daughters Talulah and Ruby.

The Fink remains a gem of a venue, a classy place run by the region’s premier hospitality host and family.

King Kukulele
Otto Von Stoheim
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Straightaway Mai Tai

I’ve seen a lot of really prejudiced opinions about ready to drink Mai Tais lately, and those folks up on their high horse really need to refocus their attention on more important things. Of course they’re not as good as a perfectly made scratch Mai Tai at a bar or at home. But sometimes you’ve had a hard day and spending five minutes juicing and shaking and cleaning up is too much and you just want to pop a can or bottle and have a pretty reasonable Mai Tai.

Such is where we’ve landed in procuring Portland Oregon’s Straightaway Mai Tai, made with rum, orange liqueur, lime juice, and orgeat – and issued at 25% ABV. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, this is what those haters think all RTD Mai Tais are like – very lime forward and without much rum taste – plus strange flavors on the finish. Not even Jamaican rum in the blend can save this.

So, yeah, not good at all.

Thankfully, there’s always a shot of rum for those break glass type moments.

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Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still Rum

There’s been a frenzy of social media posts about this rum this month, influenced by our mid-year ranking of a Mai Tai made with this rum being number one of the year as well as a recent fire sale on the product at SoCal retailer Hi-Time Wine Cellars. With the rum dropping in price to under $20 I made sure to secure a bottle to try again at home.

Rare Cane is a new independent bottler with a few expressions available, with this one being the largest in distribution with 1400 bottles. Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still is a boozy 68% ABV and is finished in madeira style California wine barrels. This is comparable to several Dr. Bird rum expressions finished in similar casks, and both use Worthy Park distillate. Which is to say that it is funky and a total flavor bomb, but more approachable than Dr. Bird’s standard expression aged in Moscatel sherry casks. Rare Cane has more traditional barrel aging notes to my taste and is darker in color than Dr. Bird.

Regular readers know that punchy and higher proof Jamaican rums are my sweet spot for a Mai Tai, and Rare Cane delivers at home nearly as well as it did back in March when Jason Alexander made me one at Devil’s Reef in Tacoma for our best Mai Tai of the year so far. I’m guessing Jason used a little bit of vanilla syrup, since a Mai Tai I made with a quarter ounce of syrup replacing the Demerara seemed closer to what I remembered.

Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still Rum is a limited release and is worth seeking out if you can still find it.