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Tiki Tuesday at the Diller Room

They say that alcohol reduces your inhibitions, which can lead to bad decisions. Or great ones. Sometimes, it’s a little of both and that was our experience at The Diller Room on Tuesday.

Justin Wojslaw

Having already done drinks at Rumba and Inside Passage, we were encouraged by our friend Tiki with Ray to visit the Diller Room just a short drive away to see Justin Wojslaw who slings tiki drinks on Tuesdays. Ray promised Pearl Divers, which was just up Mrs. Mai Tai’s alley, so against our better judgement we headed over.

Pearl Diver at The Diller Room

When we arrived we saw Justin hard at work, but welcomed us with his special tiki menu that featured some tropical classics, as well as some originals. Ray and Julie ordered Pearl Divers and I ordered the Golden Era Mai Tai, Justin’s house variation. Special Diller Room tall glasses are also available for sale.

All the cocktails were really great, especially the Pearl Diver, and the mood in the room was happy but mellow. Justin is a true artist behind the bar, confirming his well-deserved reputation for quality cocktails and hospitality. The neon sign provides a great backdrop.

But, all the booze was catching up with us and it was time for head back to the hotel, so we didn’t stay long.

Mai Tai
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Inside Passage – The Best Non-Tiki Tiki Bar in Seattle

We had a reservation for Rumba’s sister bar Inside Passage, and coordinated the move between the two with our server. So very helpful. The entrance is via the host station inside Rumba.

Inside Passage, as many of you know, is a nautical themed bar that borrows many traditional elements of tiki bars, including the tropical cocktails, dark decor, and exotic lighting and music. But there aren’t any idols and the business has gone to great pain to distance themselves from “tiki.” So, fine, not a tiki bar. Except it basically is.

We were seated in a booth that featured decor from Notch Gonzalez and is laid out quite similarly to the booths at Dr Funk that Notch also designed. The bamboo and jade tiles really look great here. The interior feels like the inside of a ship, with a kraken named “Kiki” breaking through the ceiling. It’s very impressive.

There are several original cocktails that have over-the-top vessels, garnish, and effects with dry ice. These are pretty clever with nods to local icons Amazon and Rainer Beer. And the cocktails sure were tasty. I followed up with a Saturn that was well-balanced.

With a small capacity and higher prices for cocktails, Inside Passage feels like a special occasion destination rather than a place where you’ll become a regular. Which isn’t bad at all, and the implementation is quite grand.

Entrance from within Rumba
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Rumba: ¼ oz of Orgeat Makes a Difference

We’re in Seattle for a few days and the priority for me was to get up to Rumba and re-try their Mai Tai that I found to be truly amazing on a previous visit a couple years ago. So, Mrs. Mai Tai and I met up with Tiki with Ray for dinner.

Ray and I both ordered the Rumba Mai Tai, featuring Rumba’s House barrel aged Wray & Nephew, Rhum JM Gold, fresh lime, curaçao, and orgeat. But when we took a sip we could barely taste the funky rums. In fact, we couldn’t really taste anything except orgeat. Ray is local and said they must have changed their recipe, so he asked the waiter about it. He said that the Mai Tai only uses ¼ oz of orgeat, but we assured him there had to be far more than that.

As it turns out, our suspicions were confirmed. Rumba recently switched to a different orgeat that’s sweeter, and they dropped it from ½ oz to ¼ oz. But the bartender forgot and used the old measurement. These things can happen during a recipe transition.

We were offered new, correctly made Mai Tais and that small drop in orgeat made a huge difference as the cocktail became correctly balanced. And that Rumba Mai Tai is fantastic, with the funky rums offering savory notes alongside the tart lime and sweet orgeat.

The rest of the visit was great, with all of our drinks being truly high quality and our food coming out quite well. Service was outstanding, and they even helped us transition to our reservation at the connected sister bar Inside Passage.

Rumba has a huge collection of rums, and we got to see the wall for the members of their rum club. The postcards that line the walls and fun painted signs work well with the library-style furniture and shelving. It’s a seminal destination in Seattle.

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The Alibi

One of the oldest tiki bars in the world, Portland’s Alibi Restaurant and Lounge has a lovely feel early in the day when we visited on the Tiki Kon Sunday Bar Tour. It is even nicer when vintage exotica and lounge music is played rather than the classic rock that usually plays. Karaoke is a big thing here most evenings.

The Mai Tai was okay. Definitely using some cane-juice based rum, which surprised me. Needed to be a little sweeter though. And Mrs Mai Tai’s Pina Colada was on point.

So many little details with the vintage seating and decor.

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Tiki Kon Presentation

Had a great time with my presentation “The (De)Evolution of the Hawaiian Mai Tai” at Tiki Kon.



This was the first seminar of the day and everything ran pretty smoothly thanks to the fab AV and event staff (@elvis.hart, @kristin_v_s_, @kylevanderschick and team) and the excellent Tiki Kon management team of @jookygreg and @marquisdupre. Mahalo to all.

Truly appreciate the opportunity and also the audience which seemed to be very engaged taking photos of the slides and asking great questions at the end. Thank you for attending. And thanks to the Ultimate Mai Tai rooting section up front with @juliebeane @tikiwithray @dork_bot.

There is a recording and somehow we’ll make the session available, and we’re exploring additional speaking opportunities for this session that breaks several longstanding myths about the Mai Tai.

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Rum Club Portland

We had dinner at this very nice neighborhood restaurant and bar in Portland. Food featured Empanadas, Dumplings, and other small bites and were really good. Many vegan options.

The cocktails came recommended including their fabulous Punch offering including four Jamaican rums. Right up my alley, and very easy drinking! Mrs Mai Tai tried the Strawberry blended cocktail featuring locally grown strawberries and I have to say it was quite fruity and light. Really good. As was as her second, the Water Wings featuring Cuban rum, Apricot, Honey, and Coconut Water – topped with bitters.

Though the rum selection seemed modest, I figured this was the place to go off menu for a Mai Tai and thankfully it was fantastic. Definitely incorporating some cane juice rum, the rich Mai Tai was really savory and had a rich mouthfeel.

Punch Special
Some “team cane” graffiti in the restroom.
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National Mai Tai Day at Hale Pele

Tiki Kon weekend is here, and the first event was a ticketed, private seating at Portland’s world class tiki bar Hale Pele.

Of course we started with Hale Pele’s Mai Tai, and damn that is a fantastic cocktail! This is still made according to their longtime specs with 1½ oz Cobura Dark Jamaican rum along with ½ oz of Wray & Nephew Jamaican Overproof rum. So flavorful, and one of the best Mai Tais you can buy anywhere on planet earth.

Such a great time at Hale Pele when filled with tiki people, and the Hale Pele team really put on a great show with the fire drinks. Mrs. Mai Tai started with her default cocktail the Lava Flow (yummy!) and then we shared a flaming Jet Pilot. Such a great cocktail and even more special when set on fire by Hale Pele’s team of fire experts.

We really like the food at Hale Pele. My Mahi Tacos were fantastic, as was the Kalua Pork sandwich.

We also have to thank Appleton rum for the wonderful pour of their incredible Appleton 15 rum, along with a small rocks glass. Thank you to Martin and Rebecca Cate for hosting the event, and the entire Hale Pele crew.

Hale Pele’s World Class Mai Tai

 

Jet Pilot
Appleton 15 rum
Flaming Jet Pilot