The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
We’re staying at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and stopped by the Splash Bar for lunch. I enjoyed my beef skewers but felt the Mai Tai was just so-so.
Plenty of tikis on the grounds and we enjoy the central Waikiki location. At least we can see the ocean peeking over the Moana across the street.
We ventured across the street from Aulani for dinner at Monkeypod Kitchen. Their Mai Tai has honey-lilikoi foam, as well as Kula silver and dark rums, Macadamia Nut Orgeat, and Bots Orange Curacao. When I tried this in 2019 I didn’t love it, but I have to say that this time it was a better experience. The foam overlowed everywhere, like lava from a Hawaiian volcano, but once we mixed the foam and rum float together with everything then this was a pretty good cocktail.
Even better for me was the Fifty-Foot Pole, with Ko Hana Kea Hawaiian rum, Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, Joto Yuzu, Mango Shrub, and Ango. One of the best cocktails I’ve had in a while. Meanwhile, Mrs. Mai Tai loved Gin/coconut cocktail White Walker again, and then tried Ai’ono with Bourbon, pineapple, and cinnamon syrup. It was a good cocktail night.
And dinner was even better, since the Mahi fish sandwich I had was probably the best fish sandwich I’ve ever had. Julie’s Macadamia crusted Mai Tai was also excellent. The Strawberry Cream Pie was delightful. We had a slight issue with the meal, but our server went overboard to address it, with our appreciation. We really had a great time.
Mrs Mai Tai and I landed in Honolulu and made our way over to Disney’s Aulani Resort for a one night stay. We love the grounds and atmosphere but it is so pricey it doesn’t warrant a long stay. We enjoyed the lazy river, pools, and even a quick dip in the ocean.
The Tropical Mai Tai (Hawaiian Mai Tai 1) was nothing special but I liked the Tropical Itch a lot better.
I’m leaving Wednesday for 11 days in Hawaii (June 8-18). We’ll be at Aulani for one night, then in Waikiki for five nights, then in Kauai for four nights.
The contest is simple: guess how many Mai Tais I’ll drink while I’m in Hawaii or while in transit in the air.
Any cocktail with “Mai Tai” on a menu or packaging counts, as does any cocktail handed to me when I ask a bartender for a “Mai Tai.” RTD Mai Tais count as one per can or bottle. If I order but don’t finish the Mai Tai it still counts.
Participate in the Contest on Instagram
Deadline for entries: 7 am PDT on Wednesday June 8.
Winner gets prize pack from Hawaii including swizzles and swag collected on the trip. Plus bragging rights. Shipping overseas is okay.
This recipe appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on January 28, 1962 and is one example of a de-evolved Mai Tai. Though, notably, it doesn’t include any Pineapple or Orange Juice. The source is “a reasonably neutral, presumably unbiased source” according to the column, “Dining Out with the Gourmet.”
1962 Mai Tai
½ oz Fresh Lime Juice
½ tsp Sugar
½ oz Grenadine
½ oz Orgeat
1 oz Orange Curacao
1 oz Light Rum
1 oz Dark Rum
Build in glass and add 2 oz crushed ice, then stir.
Garnish with Pineapple and Cherry
“For the hardier types, float a final dash of 151 proof rum. And stand back/”
This actually is not bad at all, with a pleasant rum-forward finish. Though for sure it doesn’t need the 151 added. I used Pomegranate-based Grenadine, so I can’t say how this would work with Rose’s. I used DeKuyper Orange Curacao, Cruzan Light Rum, and Myers’s Dark Rum, modestly priced spirits that indeed worked just fine in this.
You can learn more about the De-Evolution of the Hawaiian Mai Tai here on the site and at our presentation at Tiki Kon this July.
In 1958, a syndicated news story published in newspapers nationwide provided a Mai Tai recipe that was attributed as coming from a bartender at the Royal Hawaiian.
1 oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Fresh Lime Juice
⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup
⅓ oz Orgeat
⅓ oz Orange Curacao
1 oz Light Puerto Rican Rum (Cruzan Aged)
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Hamilton Florida Rum Society blend)
Decorate the glass with a stalk of Sugar Cane, a sprig or two of Mint, and a Pineapple stick or two.
The ⅓ ounce measures for the Rock Candy, Orgeat, and Orange Curacao are most likely due to those ingredients being batched so that the bartender can more easily measure 1 ounce of sweetener.
In practice, this cocktail is significantly too tart. Most 1944 style Mai Tais feature an equal or slightly more sweeteners compared to the citrus. Adding additional sugar made this taste better to me, but didn’t taste as rummy as I like. Only using 1 oz of citrus would have been better.
The glass was a limited edition release from our friends at Skull & Crown Trading Company, the best tiki bar between San Francisco and Tokyo. We’re going to be visiting O’ahu in June and will be making a pilgrimage to Skull & Crown where we expect to have a properly balanced Mai Tai like we did back in 2019.
An important piece of cocktail journalism is launching this week with my article in the latest issue of Exotica Moderne, available today at the Tiki Caliente weekend event in Palm Springs.
The article describes how the Hawaiian Mai Tai evolved from 1953 to present day and also explodes several myths.
All of the above are not true.
Just this week I saw two fresh articles that stated that Trader Vic himself added pineapple juice when he brought the Mai Tai to Hawaii in 1953. This is clearly not correct based on my research, and the Royal Hawaiian isn’t documented to have added pineapple juice until 1972!
So, we’ll be doing our best to get the word out about this. As a starting point, you can catch my appearance on the Pod Tiki Podcast episode from last week.
Since the article was submitted for print publication, we’ve uncovered additional details on the history of this iconic cocktail. Those added items are now included on the version of the article now available on this website:
We’ll have even more historical details and context in my presentation at Tiki Kon in July. Come join us if you’re attending and weekend passes for Tiki Kon are still available.
I’m always on the hunt for more historical details. Leave a comment or send me a message if you have any details or breadcrumbs for us to follow.
