Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
These new swizzle sticks from The Hula Girls’ Spike Marble are really great. Designed by @larissapinupart, they are a counterpart for Spike’s YouTube show. Good branding and attractive colors, of course.
Most noteworthy about these is the notch that allows the girl to sit on top of your glass. Genius! More swizzles should do something like this.
The set of 8 swizzles is still available but supplies are selling fast. Check out The Hula Girls store for additional details.
First and last. No faux April Fools pretend to like it write up.
It tastes like coffee liqueur watered down with Vodka, because that’s what it is.
Felt like making it a little extra spicy tonight, so did a riff between two favorites. This was quite nice, without overpowering sweetness or spice.
1½ oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate Syrup
⅓ oz Don’s Spices #2 (50/50 Vanilla Syrup/Pimento Dram)
3 oz Jamaican Rum Blend (courtesy Andy from @easytikidrinks)
4 dashes Angostura Bitters
I love this Trader Vic’s Pilsner glass for tall drinks like this. Looks great with the classic logo treatment. We’ll see if the Mai Tai Planters Punch ever gets famous.
For Tiki Mug Monday, we’re looking at mugs Trader Vic’s, the home of the Mai Tai. They’ve had so many iconic mugs over the years, but these are our favorites.
Maori Haka, based off the totem in Trader Vic’s Emeryville. I also like the white variant.
Seahorse – the drink they serve the Seyhorse cocktail in, not sure which spelling is preferred
Marquesan Drum – great on top of the bar to store mint, garnishes, straws
Coconut Cup – fine for any drink
The Modernist – produced in 2021 in conjunction with a book from Sven Kirsten
And my personal fave? The Seyhorse with handy spines to grip the mug!
Which is your favorite?
A fun Saturday night to see Depeche Mode in San Jose. We had intended to pregame at Dr. Funk but we got a little bit of a late start and there were already patients in the waiting room see the Doctor, so we had dinner at Olla Cocina a couple doors down instead.
We’ve enjoyed this restaurant over the years, and see it has returned to a traditional table service restaurant after a little while where their method was to order food when you entered. The food here is pretty good, but I do need to rave about the cocktails.
Traditional favorites the Margarita and Paloma were well-received, as was the Chicha Sangria that blends red wine with sherry and vermouth.
But the standout for us was the White Sangria, with white wine, grapefruit, elderflower, pisco, agave, pineapple, and lime. Garnished with a blackberry and grapefruit wedge. The elderflower was really forward in this cocktail and I didn’t really taste the wine much – fine by me as I’m not a big wine person. Really rich and very satisfying. So good that all ordered it for a second round and took advantage of the offer to have it served in a carafe for a little bit of savings.
I’ve been mostly on the wagon for the past two weeks after coming back from Bakersfield with a pretty bad flu. But felt well enough to try a few things tonight. The Blue Curacao was being used for a comparison test we’ll cover in the upcoming days.
But I had a little bit left over, so made myself a quick and dirty unmeasured cocktail. And you know it ain’t too shabby.
National Cocktail Day Cocktail
2 glugs of Giffard Blue Curacao
2 glugs of Probitas Rum
1 scant pour of Lemon Juice
2 Dashes Orange Bitters
Stir with ice
The orange bitters actually did improve this a little and there’s nothing wrong with a half-half pour of my favorite Blue Curacao and my favorite “white” rum.
Happy National Cocktail Day!
I’m really enjoying the new album from Tikiyaki Orchestra, released earlier this month. This album is a return to form after two Tikiyaki 5-0 surf albums (which were awesome) and 2020’s Jim Bacchi solo “minus Orchestra” e.p. Sketches with Guitar and Bongos.
Tropika is sort of like a greatest hits of the Tikiyaki sound, with varied instrumentation and styles. The rock-style drums set a foundation across the record, with guitar and vibraphone taking the lead for most of the songs, perhaps most effectively with the Hawaiian swing of “A South Pacific Soujorn.” Other standout tracks include “Bombs Away!”, “The Boobam Song”, and the bouncy “Walkabout.”
For more than a decade the Tikiyaki Orchestra have the most prominent band playing exotica and tropical music, paying homage to the style’s 1950s foundations and showing that the genre is still an exciting musical form. Their energetic shows are always a hit, so be sure to seek them out if they’re appearing at club or event near you.