We had a nice Saturday last week where we traveled down to Carmel for some lunch and sightseeing, then up to Monterey, Capitola, and then dinner in Santa Cruz with a friend.
After some exhaustive antique shopping at the nearby Cannery Row Antique Mall, we took a break at Hula’s Island Grill for a drink and some decadent Ohana Pie. We enjoy the Hawaiian leaning vibe that includes some tiki elements, including a nice shaded patio out back.
Pink Bikini Martini
Drinks here aren’t totally craft oriented but I do enjoy their longtime menu item the Pink Bikini Martini that has pineapple and watermelon infused vodka. I helped Mrs. Mai Tai find something up her alley from the premium cocktail menu where “Pick Yo Self Off La Flor” is a pretty good Espresso Martini riff featuring Flor de Cana rum and coffee liqueur, cold brew, and spices.
The International Bartenders Association (IBA) was founded in the U.K. in 1951. The trade organization is made up of chapters in over 60 countries and through the decades has hosted cocktail and bartending competitions.
The IBA publishes an officially codified cocktail list, first compiled in 1961, with the intent to provide an authoritative recipe for 102 of the most important cocktails. The official list of cocktails expanded every few years starting in 1987 when the Mai Tai was added.
The Mai Tai is a somewhat curious entry, since it calls for both Jamaican and Martinique rum but also specifically describes the Martinique rhum as coming from molasses, a recipe nominally similar to the Trader Vic’s 2nd Adjusted formula where Martinique rhum is used. The idea of this rhum being molasses distillate came from the 2016 publication of the Smuggler’s Cove book where authors Martin Cate and Rebecca Cate question the type of Martinique rhum used and suggesting that then common use of the sugar cane juice-based Martinique Rhum Agricole in a Mai Tai isn’t historically accurate.
There seems to have been a recent attempt to bring this recipe up to contemporary standards, yet they learned the wrong lesson from the Cate’s book because rather than just call for an aged rum or a Jamaican rum they instead went back to the version published in Trader Vic’s books in the 1970s where Jamaican and Martinique rums were paired. They tried to please the Beachbum Berry camp by including both types of rums and the Cate camp omitting an Agricole – and therefore essentially painted themselves into a corner.
As it stands this IBA official recipe is basically impossible to make, because molasses-based Martinique rhum is not widely available. Even worse, in the IBA’s glamour video demonstrating how to make the cocktail they simply use a Rhum Agricole anyway.
IBA Mai Tai 30 ml Amber Jamaican Rum 30 ml Martinique Molasses Rhum* 15 ml Orange Curacao 15 ml Orgeat Syrup (Almond) 30 ml Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice 7.5 ml Simple Syrup Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a double rocks glass or an highball glass. Garnish with pineapple spear, mint leaves and lime peel.
* The Martinique molasses rum used by Trader Vic was not an Agricole Rhum but a type of “rummy” from molasses.
This interesting Mai Tai riff made the rounds on a couple private Discords I’m on, and I’m thankful since it had evaded my radar up to now. The 2044 Mai Tai comes from Three Dots and a Dash in Chicago via an article in Fatherly.
The recipe features two notable changes from the classic Mai Tai. The half ounce of orange curaçao liqueur is replaced by the sweet herbal Yellow Chartreuse in a subtle change that is sort of buried in the blend due to the firebomb of a rum blend made with funky high proof rums.
The rum blend is specified as being equal parts of Wray & Nephew Overproof rum from Jamaica, Rhum JM Blanc from Martinique, and Avua cask strength cachaça from Brazil. These flavor bombs that lean on sugar cane juice distillate really come forward in the cocktail and impact a very different character than traditional long-aged molasses rums that the Mai Tai is most associated with.
2044 Mai Tai, Three Dots and a Dash, Chicago 1 oz Lime Juice 1 oz Orgeat ½ oz Yellow Chartreuse 2 oz Rum Blend Shake with crushed ice.
2044 Mai Tai Rum Blend 1 part Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum 1 part Rhum JM Blanc 55 Rhum Agricole 1 part Avua Cask Strength Cachaça
The JM I have at home is 50% ABV, so close enough in my estimation. I substituted Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin for the Avua since it is a higher ABV than any of the cachaças I had in stock, and feel vindicated seeing a Reddit post that shows Garret Richard doing the same thing at Sunken Harbor Club. The clairin is perhaps a bit too forward in this particular blend; I would suggest pulling it back a little or substituting Rum Fire for the Wray & Nephew.
The Trader Vic’s Outpost location at San Jose Mineta International Airport has been a big hit since it opened in 2021, so much so that they even expanded the seating last year. Now the same concessionaire is working with Trader Vic’s Hospitality Group to bring the concept to the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in 2026.
A recent article on SF Gate details some of the plans, noting that the Oakland Airport has done major transformations of its food options over the past couple years. Nearly all those projects have launched or are completing soon, with the Trader Vic’s being the last milestone. A spokesman mentioned that Trader Vic’s provides onboarding and training programs to ensure consistency, something we’ve been really pleased with at San Jose.
Trader Vic’s Outpost is one of a series of location concepts that the brand is running or rolling out, designed for airports and hotel lobbies. Notably, the operating hours at San Jose start as early as 6:00 am, so there’s plenty of opportunity to experience the venue before a flight. The use of large tikis, fish floats, and jade tiles at the San Jose location is an indication of the level of decor that is clean and modern, but still a significant investment that goes well beyond a plain design.
From the Trader Vic’s website:
“Trader Vic’s Outpost is the airport, and small lobby, version of the original brand that still offers table service but with a smaller menu offerings and may have a QR ordering system in place as well.
The food menu is adjusted to the location and may offer grab and go options as well. Easier, crowd-pleasing offerings are incorporated to the menu which gives it a sense of casualness.
The cocktail menu has about 25 drinks on it and is a mix of classic and new tiki drinks highlighting our signature glassware and mugs. Draft beer is also available.
The ambiance incorporates as many décor elements of the original TV as possible and may be replicated in some instances to stay within the brand. Televisions are allowed in these spaces if the location has a need for them. A gift shop, or retail element, should also be considered based on the location.”
We had a great lunch at Napa’s Wilfred’s Lounge a couple Sundays ago, including some fine food and ‘Ono pie. Mrs. Mai Tai had her favorite cocktail, the Maximum Aloha, that’s still great with a blend of rums, sweet flavors, and banana cream topping. Lots of reggae playing on our visit was relaxing but we wish they’d throw more Hawaiian onto the playlist.
New to me on this visit was a whole page of Mai Tais on the cocktail menu. I’d previously tried the standard 1944 Mai Tai of course, as well as Tai One On which is a spirit-forward riff that uses Amaretto rather than orgeat. It’s an understandable substitution for the format of this stirred cocktail, though I didn’t find the Amaretto a pleasant upgrade.
There’s been a lot of complaining online about pineapple juice in Mai Tais, and I admit I’ve probably done my fair share. But lately I’ve kind of come around to the idea that these can be great if balanced properly and this was certainly the case with the Haole Tai made with white rum, pineapple, orange, grenadine, and Wilfred’s boozy Jamaican rum blend. This is juicy to be sure, but it actually tasted really great and put a focus on that great Jamaican rum. Wilfred’s quality grenadine used in a small portion also made this better balanced than the ingredients might lead you to believe.
Haole Tai
Even more fantastic was the Tai Game, a blend of interesting flavors including fig-infused rum, amaro, amaretto, orgeat, and tawny port. This recently won Wilfred’s annual Mai Tai competition and I can see why – it is a rich and chewy cocktail that uses the Mai Tai template and layers on additional flavors. This was a big hit at our table.
Tai Game
Wilfred’s Lounge remains a compelling cocktail destination in wine country. Their Mai Tai menu is really interesting and totally worth exploring more, so we’ll be sure to return soon.
Thanks to Brenda for the featured image for the post, and to Sam and Mandy for providing tasting notes.
Another classic cocktail, this time the Cosmopolitan at the At Water Tavern in China Basin. We had a nice dinner before a concert at nearby Chase Center, but in reviewing the menu on the venue’s website I saw an entry titled “John Caine’s Famous Cosmopolitan by John Caine.” That seemed, well, it seemed really unusual. Who is John Caine and why does his name appear not once but twice next to the Cosmo?
Intrigued, I ordered the Cosmo and asked the server who John Caine is. She answered and told me he was the owner of the restaurant. Later, Caine himself popped by our table to say hello and told us that he brought the Cosmo to San Francisco from Cleveland in the late 1980s and he’s even included in the Wikipedia entry for the cocktail. Apparently he had been told about the cocktail by gay men who had visited New England where cranberry juice was prevalent and so it was natural to add it to a Kamikaze cocktail to get the pink color that the drink is famous for.
Pondering the cocktail while drinking it, I wondered what the big deal is since the lightness of the flavor profile wasn’t really doing anything for me since I’m used to bolder flavors from tiki drinks or spirit-forward classic cocktails. But I acknowledge that for many the lightness is a feature, not a bug, and the Cosmo falls into that class of cocktail. It’s pretty.
Reviewing the physical menu at At Water, it just says “John Caine’s Cosmopolitan” – slightly more modest – and the list of ingredients which say Hanson vodka, cranberry, and lime. Hanson is vodka made from grapes in Sonoma and there are several expressions including lemon and mandarin that would be more suitable to the IBA specified recipe that includes Absolut Citron, but the expression isn’t noted. Notably absent is Cointreau, a key component of the now-standard Cosmo recipe, though upon tasting the drink it does appear that Caine prefers it dryer.
At Water is adjacent to Oracle Park Lot A and is a great option before or after an event in the area. Or just an excursion to try a bit of cocktail history.
More praise for Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still rum which works great in a Kingston Negroni. The bold and funky Overproof rum works as a great balance to the bitter Campari and Sweet Vermouth.
As previously shared, while this cocktail is supposed to be an equal parts of all three ingredients, I do like to go a little easy on the Campari and a little heavy on the rum.
Kingston Negroni 1 oz Sweet Vermouth 1 oz Campari (easy pour) 1 oz Jamaica Rum (heavy pour) Stir with ice and pour over large cube. Express orange peel.
