The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai – Page 172 – Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman

June 4, 2020June 5, 2020

Lemon Juice in a Mai Tai?

It isn’t a state secret that Trader Vic’s often uses lemon juice in Mai Tais made with the Mai Tai Concentrate. The taste test is comparing a Mai Tai made only with Lime Juice and one made with Lemon and Lime.

¾ oz Lemon Juice (or Lime)
¾ oz Mai Tai Concentrate Mix
2 oz Royal Amber Rum
Shake with crushed ice and pour into glass
Squeeze juice of ¼ Lime Wedge
Garnish with wedge and mint.

Overall this was pretty close but the one with Lemon Juice indeed had a brighter overall taste and just a tad more balanced.

This tasted just like the “Trader Vic’s Mai Tai” from the restaurants.

June 3, 2020June 3, 2020

Mai Tai with Coruba and Hamilton Rums

I had an excellent Mai Tai the other day made with Coruba Jamaican Rum and Hamilton 86 Demerara Rum.

Thanks Terra Fritch and Alex Fritch for the great cocktail and the friendly conversation. A tiny toe dip of normalcy.

May 30, 2020May 31, 2020

Fab Lunch from Trader Vic’s Emeryville

It was pleasant enough for lunch on the lanai, an Aloha Bowl and a Samoan Fogcutter. Both were quite excellent. I did some walking around admiring the tikis at Trader Vic’s.

The trip to Trader Vic’s was because I wanted to get a bottle of the Royal Amber rum, which comes in a 1 Liter bottle (compare to an older 750ml bottle of Trader Vic’s Dark rum). I’m going to do some taste tests with this, though the initial reaction is that this Puerto Rican rum has a bit of a navy style flavor. More on the Royal Amber rum later.

May 29, 2020March 4, 2022

Home Delivery of Cocktails

Made these two double cocktails for a friend who was having a birthday. These jars from our take-out Trader Vic’s are coming in handy!

The cocktails are the Blue Hawai-Tai and the Disco Banana, a favorite of the birthday girl.

May 27, 2020May 27, 2020

Innovation Cocktail

We’re having Spirit Week at my company, Juniper Networks. So I submitted this for a Happy Hour event on Friday.

For those looking for something to prepare for Happy Hour on Friday, here’s an original cocktail with a uniquely Juniper theme. The yellow passion fruit syrup and the blue curacao liqueur should give you something close to Juniper Green, without the use of food coloring. The name is a play on words for a famous Gin-based cocktail, the Aviation.

This uses ingredients you can find in many mainstream liquor warehouse stores (e.g. BevMo). Of course the spirit (for Spirit Week!) has to be a juniper-forward Gin.

Innovation Cocktail by Kevin Crossman
1 ounce Passion fruit Syrup (or, passion fruit puree, such as Finest Call)
½ ounce Orgeat (or Almond Syrup, such as Toriani)
½ ounce Blue Curacao Liqueur
2 ounces London Dry Gin (I used Beefeater)

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a coupe glass or wine glass.

Cheers!

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020

New Mount Gay XO Rum

Because all the cool people are tweaking their rum formulas and changing the labels… Mount Gay is on the trend too. I am not a fan of their smoky Black Barrel expression, but I do have the XO aged expression so I thought I’d give the new XO blend a try. Instead of it being a “Reserve Cask Rum” (pictured, right) it is now a “Triple Cask Blend.” Noteworthy the presence of Mount Gay Master Blender Trudiann Branker on the label.

The new XO is slightly bolder and heavier than the predecessor, but is not radically different. This is a very good aged Barbados rum, suitable for sipping but also for cocktails when a premium spirit is called for (ahem, 1944 Mai Tai). Slightly more of the baked fig taste at least to me. Casks are from American Whiskey, Bourbon, and Cognac barrels.

If you’re looking to go a bit upscale in the Aged Barbarbadian Rum category, but the prices of Foursquare Exceptional Casks scare you off, consider Mount Gay XO. It’s widely available and in the ~$40-50 price range.

May 25, 2020May 25, 2020

Memorial Day Mai Tai

Long weekend is almost over

We’ve got a heat-wave in the Bay Area, which mean that Mrs. Mai Tai didn’t want to turn on the over for dinner. Then she looked interested in the new Shrimp Sandwich at The Kon Tiki. So you know what’s next.

Great takeout from Kon-Tiki tonight. The Kon-Tiki Burger traveled exceptionally well tonight, as did the fries. Man, that Kon-Tiki burger is sooo good. The Shrimp Sandwich was spicy and good according to Mrs. Mai Tai. We saved her Uma Uma in freezer for tomorrow.

And the Mai Tai… very good to close out the weekend. I put mine in one of the fine Kon-Tiki glasses, still for sale.

Only bummer was no cool artwork on the bag, but resident bag artiste Tony Martinez needs a day off from time to time.

Wish I could do takeout more from these guys, but even with no freeway traffic it’s hard to travel 30 mins in each direction (same for Forbidden Island and Trader Vic’s). I’m still contributing to the staff Go Fund Me, though.