Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
A Blue Hawaiian riff I came up with a year ago and decided to revisit. This version has less Pineapple Juice and uses a lightly aged “gold” Jamaican rum rather than a dark one.
Enjoy!
Blue Caribbean
½ oz Lime Juice
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1½ oz Coconut Creme
½ oz Blue Curacao
1¾ oz Unaged Rhum Agricole
¼ oz Lightly Aged Jamaican Rum
Shake with crushed ice.
Took another shot at a ready to drink cocktail, and even made a fresh Scorpion to compare to. Ingredients are rum, brandy, orgeat, tropical gimme, fresh pineapple, orange, and lemon juice. So, this looks overall like the right list of ingredients.
Unfortunately this one had a weird and funny taste and wasn’t very good. Plenty boozy at 28% ABV.
Truth be told I do find the actual Scorpion to be too heavy on the citrus and leans too much on light rum.
Scorpion (Trader Vic’s)
2 oz Orange Juice
1½ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Orgeat
2 oz Light Rum
1 oz Brandy
Flash blend with 8 oz crushed ice.
We were the fortunate recipients of this glass from a neighbor who perhaps saw the counterpart color print glass in our house, designed by @artofbrex back in 2019 for Club 33’s tiki summer event.
We had the lucky opportunity to go to Club 33 at Disneyland during this event so we had to buy the glass set designed by our friend @brianrechenmacher on sale that summer. That was a fantastic experience: not often you have a three Mai Tai (yes, three!) lunch at Disneyland, which at the time was still “dry” other than in the members-only Club 33. The white version pays obvious homage to the classic Trader Vic’s Mai Tai glass design.
To celebrate I made a Smith & Cross Mai Tai, the rum that Brian used in Mai Tais made for me at several venues during his bartending days where he amazingly remembered that I loved that potent Jamaica Rum in a Mai Tai. It is fantastic but hardly subtle. Kind of like B-Rex himself! Cheers.
The list includes commercial restaurants and bars, plus Mai Tais we had at home tiki bars and events. You can view the full list and additional details on our page:
Top 10 Mai Tais of 2022
10: The Rum House
Trader Nic’s Mai Tai, named after the head bartender, features Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black and unaged Rhum JM, plus a tiny float of OFTD.
9: Dealer’s Choice Mai Tai by Adrian Castañeda at The Kon-Tiki Room
Adrian used 1 oz of Worthy Park Kon-Tiki Single Barrel (aged 5 yrs, cask strength), along with ½ oz each of Worthy Park 109 and Uruapan Charandra Anejo.
8: Sunken Harbor Club
Everything they say is true! The famed Mai Tai created by Garret Richard for Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn is indeed a top-notch Mai Tai.
7: The Kon-Tiki Single Barrel Mai Tai
This version with Kon-Tiki’s special single barrel release from Worthy Park was totally fantastic.
6: Dr. Funk (original blend)
The original rum blend in the Dr. Funk Mai Tai featured two of our favorite rums, Appleton 12 and Smith & Cross.
5: Smuggler’s Cove with Appleton and Hamilton Rums
We thank bartender Steven Liles for indulging us with the custom order and for making a great Mai Tai.
4: Hale Pele
Who knew that a combination of inexpensive Jamaican rums like Coruba Dark and Wray & Nephew Overproof could be so flavorful and memorable?
3: Maunakea Mai Tai at Skull & Crown Trading Co.
Skull & Crown three Mai Tais on their menu but we prefer this traditional 1944 style Mai Tai made with Appleton 12, Clement Select Barrel, Smith & Cross Jamaican Rum.
2: Classic Mai Tai with Appleton and Hamilton Rums by Skipper Nate at Trader Sam’s
I found myself at the bar at Trader Sam’s on a slow afternoon and Skipper Nate totally willing to work with me to find the very best Mai Tai that could be made on the premises.
1: Birds of Paradise Lounge
This Mai Tai features a complex four rum blend of Appleton 12, Smith & Cross, Plantation Xaymaca, and Kō Hana Kea.
It seems impossible to believe that a party Mai Tai served in a plastic cup could be the best this year but when the Correy and Mariella Bravo make a Mai Tai their way you know it’s going to be Maita’i roa ae.
For those of us who still value photos on Instagram, here are my top nine most liked photos. Thanks to all the followers and lurkers, plus my relentless almost daily posting, I received 38,400 likes in 2022.
Finally made visiting The Grass Skirt a priority. We thought that since it is all-ages at dinner time that it would work for our family trip, plus we were interested in experiencing Sippin’ Santa pop-up one more time this season.
Definitely a mixed bag.
The decor here is pretty nice, but the music was nothing but reggae covers of pop songs. Which got old very fast and kind of ruined the Christmas vibe too. They also had sound system issues with their special effects. We do really dig their speakeasy entrance and there were some nice Christmas decorations up, though this is not as elaborately themed as some holiday pop-ups we’ve patronized.
We enjoyed the Shrimp and Pork Wontons, but overall didn’t think the food was that great here, with small portions and some odd choices (why does the tofu come with ground beef?). Our service was pretty good, and our server had a nice Christmas sweater on.
We ordered cocktails off the Grass Skirt menu rather than Sipping’ Santa, which in retrospect was overall a mistake. We didn’t care at all for the Clarified Painkiller (doesn’t taste like a Painkiller at all) or the Banana Berry Old Fashioned (barely any banana or berry flavors). The Tropical Soda needed more tropical flavoring. Boozing’ Susan’s World Famous Chi Chi did not live up to the hype in the name (like nearly all cocktails claiming to be “world famous” truth be told) and felt a little flat to me. Mrs. Mai Tai didn’t really like it at all and this type of cocktail is right up her alley.
Thankfully, I’m pleased to report that Tropical Tony’s Mai Tai was really good. A very nice rum blend and a nutty orgeat put this on my honorable mention list for best Mai Tai of the year. I would definitely return for this, one of the better Mai Tais in the city.
We had a nice family lunch at Bali Hai Restaurant. A very relaxed vibe with some great views of San Diego Bay, so this is always a favorite destination. It is a good option when you have underage people in your party, too.
I enjoyed the Goof Punch, with a blend of rums, orgeat, and juices. The thing I like about this is that it has a good rum to juice ratio, so this tastes like a balanced cocktail and not just a punch of random juices with alcohol.
I did not have the Mai Tai but they do have a stock ticker showing how many of the infamous cocktails they’ve sold. 2,910,446 as of Wednesday, with 75,010 this year (around 80,000 in 2021). Which means that they should hit 3 million in early 2024, something I’m sure that will be a big deal for the restaurant and for the greater San Diego community.
They’ve replaced the tables and chairs in the restaurant since our last visit in July. A little tighter for four but with wings to expand.
Still so many tikis and artifacts to look at here, including the Goof on the Roof and Mr. Bali Hai out front.
