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Trailer Happiness, Notting Hill Cocktail Bar

We were close enough to walk over to Trailer Happiness after dinner and had a pretty good experience. We landed around 18:30 Thursday and there were a few people up at street level at some tables but we went downstairs into the lounge. Not yet busy, we could see from the decor and music this could be clubby later in the evening.

We’d heard mixed things but felt our cocktails and the friendly service were great. I like the modern tropical vibe in here. Mrs Mai Tai’s Espresso MarTiki was really great, using rum rather than vodka.

I was impressed by the Mai Tai, one of the best I’ve had in a long while. Appleton Estate Reserve 8 is the rum here, a really great choice, and Grand Marnier as the orange liqueur. The orgeat shines in this cocktail with a long finish and great mouthfeel. I was told a new Mai Tai rum blend is coming including Chairman’s Reserve Legacy that features a bit of cane juice distillate that likely will increase the complexity of flavors coming from the spirit.

Trailer Happiness has a good rep for a rum selection and indeed we saw several beauties on the back bar.

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The Beachcomber, Queensway

We landed in Heathrow early in the morning after a red eye flight and we were zonked the entire day. An afternoon nap seemed to refresh us and we headed to The Beachcomber for dinner. They have a large selection of Rhum Agricole and serve Thai food via the Horapha restaurant two doors down.

We had the place for ourselves for a little while and got to take in the space. Not high tiki by any means, the Beachcomber is certainly doing a lot of things right. The basement level shuts out the outside world and we enjoyed the tropical elements and big screen showing island travel footage. Music was a blend of mellow Blues (Etta James, Alicia Keyes). Great back bar full of rum and rhum.

The off-menu Mai Tai is made with Agricole and is very well balanced and light and refreshing. You can do a happy hour special with Thai Curry. We also enjoyed the Salamander Sling for two that’s a Singapore Sling riff with Hibiscus syrup (we asked for it to lean heavy on the syrup). Our food was pretty good and the staff was super friendly and prompt.

If you’re looking for tiki in London, be sure to check out The Beachcomber.

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1990s Vintage Recipe: Planet of the Apes

Had to kill an orange and a lime and looked for a recipe that uses both, so ended up with this cocktail adapted by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry in 1995. I found the banana isn’t as strong as you might hope or want. Making a second version I upped the banana and dropped the pineapple juice but it didn’t really change the character too much. Nonetheless, this was plenty refreshing and obviously very juicy.

Planet of the Apes by Jeff Berry
½ oz Lime Juice
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Orange Juice
¾ oz Creme de Banana (Tempus Fugit)
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Worthy Park 109)
½ oz 151 Proof Puerto Rican Rum (Cruzan)
Shake with ice.

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Forbidden Island 17th Anniversary

Had a nice afternoon in Alameda on the patio with friends celebrating Forbidden Island‘s 17th anniversary. The seminal third wave tiki bar opened in 2006 and is still going strong. We were glad to stay outdoors in prep for our upcoming trip to the British Isles, so we missed the live Hawaiian music and hula from Haopinaka, but it sounded great from afar.

Fun on the patio at Forbidden Island

Copalli rum was doing free tastings of their line, including a delightful cask strength expression picked by Forbidden Island. Copalli was present in one of my cocktails, the nicely balanced Copalli Chartreuse Swizzle. Gotta order those Chartreuse cocktails when the French herbal liqueur is still actually available.

Following up from my visit a few weeks back I tried the Infinite Coastline again, but this time with the robust and boozy Rum Fire Jamaica Rum. I really liked this and it remains, as they say, easy drinking.

Nice to see so many familiar faces celebrating Forbidden Island’s birthday – and there was even cake. Congrats to Michael Thanos and all the staff who keep FI going strong.

Infinite Coastline
Copalli Chartreuse Swizzle
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1990s Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai Recipe

This recipe comes from a 1997 Honolulu Star-Bulletin article, and curiously doesn’t include any Pineapple Juice.

1990s Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai
5 oz Mai Tai Mix
1 oz White Rum
1 oz Myers’s Dark Rum
Fill glass with ice, add mix and rums

Mai Tai Mix
10 oz Orange Juice
4 oz Orange Curacao
2 oz Orgeat
2 oz Rock Candy Syrup
2 oz Sour Lemon
Combine all ingredients and add water to make 1 quart

This complex and large format Mai Tai Mix likely isn’t particularly approachable for the home bartender, though if a math wiz wants to scale this down for individual serving size we’ll gladly attribute your effort.

Update: our friend Cory Schoolland did the math and while the exact amounts for some of these are technically a bit higher or lower than indicated this is very close without having to measure in single milliliters.

Mai Tai Mix (single use)
1½ oz Orange Juice
⅔ oz Orange Curacao
⅓ oz Orgeat
⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup
⅓ oz Sour Lemon Juice
1¾ oz Water

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Fernet Mai Tai Recipe

I saw this recipe online and thought I’d try it. After making this I’m glad I tried it I won’t be making it again. I’ve liked Fernet-Branca in some things but the herbal flavors didn’t work with traditional Mai Tai ingredients.

Always say yes to try something new at least once.



Fernet Mai Tai by @castawaygrotto
¾ oz Hamilton Gold Jamaican rum
¾ oz Hamilton Demerara rum
½ oz Fernet-Branca
1 oz. Lime
½ oz Orange curacao
½ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Rich rock candy syrup (2:1)
1 dash lemon bitters
Shake all ingredients with ice cubes until chilled. Pour unstrained into your mai tai glass and topping off with crushed ice. Garnish with mint, fresh flowers stolen from your neighbors garden.

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Logo Glassware at Dr. Funk in Downtown San Jose

When Dr. Funk opened in December 2021 they had a souvenir Mai Tai glass featuring artwork from B-Rex, similar to the B-Rex designed logo that is still featured on their cocktail napkins. That run of “1st edition” glasses sold out immediately and it seemed like Dr. Funk had forgotten that patrons so often want to take home something from the venue.

Well, this may not be the B-Rex second edition, but Dr. Funk is now selling glasses featuring the logo designed by @gennbunn. Each is $10, or $8 with a cocktail. Each features a heavy base.

These aren’t really anything unique or irresistable, but it is really nice to sip a Mai Tai with Dr. Funk himself providing inspiration for travels to Polynesia. Or just to take home as a souvenir of a night out on the town.

Get them now before they’re gone. Do more of this please, Dr. Funk.

The Mai Tai pictured was a special from Tuesday’s “Traditional Tiki Night” and featured Myrtle Bank Jamaican Rum and Cointreau as the orange liqueur. Just a little lighter than Dr. Funk’s always excellent Mai Tai but still really great in its own right. Dr. Funk is now doing these tiki nights every Tuesday, featuring a rotating set of DJs. Having a DJ is great, and adding drink specials is even better. Do more of this please, Dr. Funk.