Tag: Jamaicarum

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Rhum Tavern: London’s Best Rum Selection

Staying in Soho, we got to try a bunch of new cocktail bars that we hadn’t visited before in London. One of these was Rhum Tavern, located just off Oxford and Regent Streets. Rum/Rhum/Ron is a focus with many rare and interesting bottles on display throughout the venue (do not steal!) and the decor decidedly nautical with pirate touches.

The cocktail menu is varied and does include non-rum cocktails including a few classics such as a Paloma and Espresso Martini. Seeing that this is a rum bar, I asked the server if they could make the world’s best rum cocktail, but they told me that they don’t have orgeat and the owner specifically doesn’t want to do tiki drinks.

So, I ended up doing the rum old fashioned with Worthy Park Estate rum from Jamaica, super tasty. I also killed the last little bit of a bottle of Port Mourant 10 year from Guyana, and had we not been drinking already that day I likely would have explored more of the variety of rums that Rhum Tavern offers. Mrs Mai Tai’s Black Pearl came in a little glass held by an octopus. There are limited food options here, but we had a pretty good charcuterie and cheese tray.

I understand the desire for some venues to not be associated with “tiki”, though a pirate bar doesn’t seem like a substantially more sophisticated genre if you’re asking me. Nonetheless, we did enjoy our visit and the ambiance of Rhum Tavern and would return again for the good cocktails and great rum selection of over 300 rums.

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New Menu at Dr. Funk Features Fan-Favorite Cloud Over Kona

You’d expect a World Cup hangover at San Pedro Square, but the crew at Dr. Funk aren’t waiting to launch an updated cocktail menu for the first time in a just over a year. The new menu contains a number of new original cocktails that build on the foundation of exotic classics and are embracing newer cocktail trends. The food menu has not changed, for now.

We visited twice this week to check out the new items and found them to all be well worth checking out the next time you’re in downtown San Jose, with one that’s a clear frontrunner for fan-favorite. The Funky Grog, Mai Tai, Dr. Funk, Espresso Oasis, Shipwreck, and Lychee Luau are heavy-hitters that remain from the previous menu.

Clockwise: Scarlet Macaw, Chartreuse Swizzle, Cloud Over Kona, East Meets Funk

I was interested to try the Chartreuse Swizzle, a modern classic that previously graced Dr. Funk menus in the past. The team has been stockpiling the rare Green Chartreuse and apparently have enough to put this amazing tropical cocktail back on the menu. It’s great! Dr. Funk is also adding another classic with their floral Pearl Diver that I thought was rich and sweet in the best way.

The standout new entry is Cloud Over Kona, a milk-washed blend of coffee and chocolate flavors with a rum-spiked macadamia foam. This drink was basically everyone’s favorite, so smooth, velvety, and rich with Hawaiian flavors.

Scarlet Macaw is a fruity tropical drink with plenty of nice tasting grenadine working with spices and Jamaican rum in the background. It’s not as sweet as you’d expect and isn’t too funky for those who don’t always like Jamaican rum.

Speaking of Jamaican rum, East Meets Funk is an elevated Eastern Sour with Rye and falernum, topped with a Worthy Park 109 Jamaican rum float. The balance of flavors is spot on, though you have to get past that rum float first. I’d suggest asking for a straw to use to drink from the bottom or to gently incorporate the smoky and funky rum into the blend.

There’s also a new Mai Tai glass that’s moderately priced when you purchase it with Dr. Funk’s still world-class Mai Tai

Pearl Diver and Dr. Funk Mai Tai
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Crowd-Pleasing Tiki Recipe: Blue Hawai-Tai Cocktail

I had a lemon to kill and I’d been thinking about revisiting this hybrid Mai Tai / Blue Hawaii cocktail that I developed a few years back. It leans sweet, so feel free to pull back on the simple syrup, but I do still think this works and can be a crowd-pleaser for cocktail newbies.

Blue Hawai-Tai by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Simple Syrup
½ oz Blue Curacao
1 oz White Overproof Jamaican Rum
½ oz Aged White Rum
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake and dump into a small snifter glass.

  • Giffard is an amazing orange liqueur that also happens to be blue, strongly recommended.
  • Any overproof Jamaican rum would do fine here, demonstrated in this case by the Monymusk. If you like it more punchy than use one that’s 100% pot still, like Worthy Park Overproof or Rum Fire.
  • For the white rum, use one with a bit of age and ideally at least some pot still components to remind you that a Mai Tai started with an aged rum. My old bottle of Denizen 3 works great, as would Probitas, Breezeway blend, or Myers’s Platinum White.
  • Latitude 29 Orgeat is great in this application as the syrup is fairly clear and not cloudy like some orgeat can be.
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Fireworks at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

The Golden Gate Bridge fireworks were of interest to Mrs Mai Tai, but the high threat of fog made elaborate plans seem risky, so we took a sort of safe route by heading to Emeryville to have some drinks at Trader Vic’s before heading to the end of the peninsula to see if we could see any fireworks. Powell Street was closed at Access Rd before you get to the Watergate complex but we knew we could park at the Hilton Garden Inn, then walk down the street to Vic’s and the marina later.

Trader Vic’s had the Mai Tai Lounge open in “Speakeasy” mode with a somewhat limited drink and small bites menu. Additionally, there was a private event in the back of the venue that we saw people heading back to, but the dining room was not open. The bar was not that full, mostly locals, but we enjoyed sharing the table Debbie and Greg Smith who arrived just before us. The Crispy Prawns were really great on this visit, just about the best I’ve ever had.

Since the bar wasn’t too busy we did go off-menu slightly with a couple of called rum Mai Tais, which Carlos was kind enough to roll with. The Appleton 12 Mai Tai was really good but even better was the one made with Hamilton Navy Strength whose bold flavors shine in this cocktail. We also had a San Francisco Mai Tai, Guava Tai, Chi-Chi, Trader Vic’s Grog, and standard Mai Tai and found them all to be made perfectly for a group of five that know how these are supposed to taste like.

Mai Tai with Hamilton Navy Strength Rum

The fireworks were scheduled to start at 9:30 so we walked from Trader Vic’s down the end of the Emeryville marina. Crowds had gathered but we could tell we were unlikely to see much since the fog over the bridge was quite heavy. We saw a few fireworks coming from Treasure Island, and lots more in Oakland, but not the signature show on the Golden Gate. It was sort of expected, so at least we got to have drinks at Trader Vic’s.

As we walked back to the car we saw that someone had pulled into the Trader Vic’s parking lot with a van full of illegal fireworks. It was quite the show, but seemingly dangerous where a little spark would threaten the 50+ year old tiki temple. We heard the police were called and hopefully the perpetrators prosecuted.

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Dr Funk Rum Asylum with Worthy Park Rum

The sea of World Cup revelers parted for the afternoon on Sunday, offering the opportunity for Dr Funk to hold their quarterly Rum Asylum rum club meeting. The featured rum this time was Worthy Park from Jamaica, one of our favorites.

The session included tasting seven of Worthy Park’s expressions, including the recent 12 year bottle that is by no means inexpensive so that was a true treat. We also had a nice presentation from a couple Worthy Park reps and some informative Q&A.

Each Rum Asylum meet up includes a cocktail made with the featured rum, and the Dr Funk did a great job with the spicy and rummy Going Bananas. This worked great with the fruit notes that Overproof Jamaican rums are known for.

Several people completed the third level of the Rum Asylum to great applause and those of us in level II took a group photo. There were also several people joining for the first time and starting their rum lists as well. The rum community in San Jose is building nicely thanks to Dr Funk’s fine collection and these fun and informative Rum Asylum meetups.

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Probitas Green Label Rum

Probitas is a blended rum collaboration between Barbados’ Foursquare distillery and Hampden Estate from Jamaica, known as Veritas outside the United States. The expression launched a few years ago as a 47% “white” rum with bolder flavors than your typical light rum. The blend of Coffey still rum from Barbados and a bit of Hampden’s heavy pot still rum means it has a ton of flavor in a daiquiri or other cocktails where you want the rum to be clear or nearly so.

The collaboration now has a second “green label” expression that is going after the dark rum category for use in Painkillers and Planters Punches. The new expression contains caramel coloring which provides color of course but also imparts flavor you’d recognize from many Demerara rums. The green bottle also ups the ABV to a hearty 57%! There’s no “Navy Strength” moniker here but it clearly is playing in the same area. It’s around $35-40 at retail.

This tastes pretty nice neat in a glass, though that caramel does come at you right up front. It works much better in cocktails including a Mai Tai where the higher ABV means you get a ton of flavor even as the drink dilutes. This seems like it would work best in cocktails without a ton of heavy ingredients, as it isn’t quite as funky as something like Smith & Cross Jamaica rum or rich as dark rums like Worthy Park 109 or Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof.

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Checking in at Bamboo Hut

Every once in a while we find ourselves in North Beach with maybe some time to kill or looking for a cocktail escape. Such was the case on Saturday after an amazing dumpling and noodle focused dinner at nearby China Live but where I was underwhelmed by the cocktails. So we walked over to Bamboo Hut shortly after opening to see if the cocktail game would get any better.

Bamboo Hut is one of the most unusual tiki bars in San Francisco in that it doesn’t fit in neat boxes. It opened in 1997, so it predates the craft cocktail renaissance, but also doesn’t have the longevity of Trad’r Sam or Tonga Room. The interior has some nice decorative elements, including a large tiki mask that dates from the 1940s, yet also has a lot cheap wall tikis and neon signage that plays up the party bar aspect that’s a focus for the venture. The cocktail program was refreshed in 2019 and there are some craft elements, but the nods of “blow job shots” and frozen drinks again leans in the party vibe. So it is sort of good, sort of not for the average tiki aficionado.

Who Burnt My Banana Bread

There was no issue with our service though, as the bartender was quite personable and even indulged in a called rum Mai Tai, where I asked for Planteray Xaymaca to replace the Planteray 5 Year that I don’t enjoy. The Mai Tai turned out pretty good, way better than the limey one I had at China Live. Even better was Mrs. Mai Tai’s Who Burnt My Banana Bread, which is a sweet old fashioned style drink with walnut bitters and liqueur, banana liqueur, spiced rum, and served smoked. It was actually really great.

This place has a party vibe later in the evenings including DJs playing anything but tropical, but the island vibes and music during our visit were very nice. All of which means that Bamboo Hut isn’t bad at all and I’d be more than willing to pre-game here anytime.