Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
A little twist on the usual weekday Mai Tai, using a 50/50 split with the Ultimate Mai Tai rum and Hamilton Pot Still Gold. The curaçao is a blend of DeKuyper and Clement Shrubb.
Quite tasty, a little more wild and funky than usual. Really love all the flavors coming together.
Another Yellow Chartreuse cocktail, though when I looked up the recipe online it varied wildly. This one is basically the Smuggler’s Cove version and I chose to keep this with Cuban roots by using Havana Club 3 as the base rum.
I found this to be light and refreshing, though in the future I probably would up the Chartreuse a bit.
Daisy de Santiago
1 oz Seltzer
1 oz Lime Juice
¼ oz Demerara Syrup
½ oz Yellow Chartreuse
1½ oz Havana Club Rum
Shake with crushed ice. Garnish with mint sprig.
No mint, but this was still very nice to drink. I think adding the seltzer before pouring the shaken contents is an improvement from the published recipe.
I picked up a bottle of Yellow Chartreuse in London for just £44. It has a lower ABV than Green Chartreuse and is sweeter and less herbal, but it is still unmistakably a Chartreuse.
The cocktail is Almost Famous by Laura Bishop of Navy Strength in Seattle, published in Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails by Shannon Mustipher (2019). It is a riff on the Naked & Famous, replacing the Mezcal with an Overproof Jamaica Rum. This easy to make and flavorful cocktail leans boozy but I really enjoyed the complex flavors of the two liqueurs and of course the backbone from the Jamaica Rum.
Almost Famous by Laura Bishop
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Aperol
1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 oz Overproof Jamaica Rum (Rum Fire)
Shake with ice and strain into a coupe
Had a great time at The Kon-Tiki Oakland on Wednesday. I’m still off dairy for the time-being so I ordered the Kon-Tiki Burger sans-cheese. Definitely still very good, but clearly not as awesome without cheese. Service tonight was really great.
Kon-Tiki is in between major menu changes, so the current menu is via a paper menu with about ⅔ of the cocktails from the last published menu. I did order the premium Golden Gong which I found to be rich and complex, consistent with previous orders.
I also ordered a Mai Tai made with Paranubes Aguardiente de Caña, a rum from Oaxaca, Mexico. This sugarcane juice-based spirit is quite flavorful and savory, not unlike some of the Clairins I’ve enjoyed from Haiti. Not grassy at all. Combined with the Kon-Tiki’s excellent base Mai Tai ingredients, this was an awesome Mai Tai.
Some additional notes and commentary from the Appleton 17 Legend event last week in London, this time pulling out a few items that weren’t directly related to the release of that rum expression.
Dr. Joy Spence noted that Appleton only uses high quality barrels for aging, because “if you age in crap barrels you get… crap.” Finely noted and certainly a factor in the end result quality of any aged rum.
According to Spence, the Scotch Whiskey Institute did a study of the same distillate aged in Scotland and In Jamaica. The study found that the distillate aged in Jamaica was three times as fast for the same effective taste.
We asked about the shortage of Appleton 12 and Appleton 8 during most of 2022. Spence noted that it was a supply chain problem due to inability to get bottles from their sole supplier. That supplier couldn’t make the bottles because they got their raw materials from Ukraine. So, if you’re looking for another reason to dislike Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion… Hopefully we won’t have to revisit Appleton 12 shortages again.
Lastly, Spence described a cocktail that’s a favorite in Jamaica. The drink is called the Epic Cocktail and it is made thusly. 1) Open a coconut. 2) Crack open the top. 3) Pour in some Appleton 8, then drink. “You’ll have an epic time!” I’m sure that’s definitely the case.
I picked up this bottle of Ron Santiago de Cuba in London since I wanted to see how a long-aged Cuban rum would compare to similarly aged rums from countries like Jamaica or Barbados for which I’m more familiar. Cuban rum (“Ron de Cuba”) is a lighter style made with column stills and unlike many Spanish-heritage distilleries there does not appear to be much in the way of added sugar in the finished product. The product is issued at 40% ABV and is quite dark in color.
Indeed Extra Añejo includes typical spicy barrel aging notes but those flavors do not overwhelm. The dry and lighter style means this is very easy to drink. While I find the taste pleasant, there is not a great deal of depth nor is there the lingering finish more common from pot still-based rums. As a point of comparison I find Havana Club 7 to have a richer taste with a longer finish including pleasant toffee notes.
Ranking the top Mai Tais we’ve tasted so far this year. Note that some of these include rum substitutions, indicating that calling for premium spirits often elevates the cocktail.
10. Strong Water Anaheim with Lost Voyage Rum
Made with Strong Water’s Lost Voyage Rum released in conjunction with Hamilton Rum. Bold and very flavorful.
9. Tangaroa Terrace with El Dorado 8
We really appreciate the Trader Sam’s bartenders ability to improvise with called spirits. This one featured an aged Demerara rum and was totally rich and satisfying.
8. Trailer Happiness
The best Mai Tai in London was made with Appleton 8 and Grand Marnier and was really complex with a wonderful mouthfeel and long finish.
7. Smuggler’s Cove
As per the photo, there were some drunken shenanigans at the Cove that evening. But there’s nothing frivolous about the Cove’s legendary Mai Tai.
6. Ultimate Mai Tai at Tiki Tom’s
We were honored when Tiki Tom’s put our Ultimate Mai Tai on the menu, featuring our hand-picked blend of heavy rums. They make it great there, and we pop in occasionally for “quality control” tasting.
5. Buz-Tai at Hula Hoops
The boozy Buz-Tai is a Mai Tai riff created by local impresario Buz Deadwax and has been on the menu at South San Francisco’s Hula Hoops for years. Set on fire and including a complex blend of rums plus pimento dram.
4. Dr. Funk
San Jose’s Dr. Funk is still making excellent Mai Tais. This was their standard issue and I loved it.
3. Kon Tiki with Saint Benevolence Aged Clairin
The Kon-Tiki’s standard Mai Tai is excellent, but we really loved this one made with an aged Clairin from Haiti. Savory but still with good barrel aging notes.
2. Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport
There’s no way that this airport Mai Tai should rank so high, but a second that day confirmed that it was perfectly made and balanced. Mai Tais at sunset are just fine before a flight.
1. Mai Tai with Appleton 17
Appleton created this rum replicate the Wray 17 used in the original Trader Vic’s Mai Tai. And, yes, it is spectacular in a Mai Tai. Made by Chris Dennis at an Appleton 17 event with Ferrand Dry Curacao and homemade orgeat / rich simple.
Honorable mentions: Red Dwarf, Formosa Cafe, High Roller Tiki Lounge