Jamaicarum – Page 3 – The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai

August 2, 2025August 2, 2025

2044 Mai Tai: Funky Rum Riff with Yellow Chartreuse

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.

July 28, 2025July 28, 2025

Pleasant Surprises from the Mai Tai Menu at Wilfred’s Lounge

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.

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.

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.

July 26, 2025July 27, 2025

Kingston Negroni with Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still Rum

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.

July 19, 2025

Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still Rum

There’s been a frenzy of social media posts about this rum this month, influenced by our mid-year ranking of a Mai Tai made with this rum being number one of the year as well as a recent fire sale on the product at SoCal retailer Hi-Time Wine Cellars. With the rum dropping in price to under $20 I made sure to secure a bottle to try again at home.

Rare Cane is a new independent bottler with a few expressions available, with this one being the largest in distribution with 1400 bottles. Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still is a boozy 68% ABV and is finished in madeira style California wine barrels. This is comparable to several Dr. Bird rum expressions finished in similar casks, and both use Worthy Park distillate. Which is to say that it is funky and a total flavor bomb, but more approachable than Dr. Bird’s standard expression aged in Moscatel sherry casks. Rare Cane has more traditional barrel aging notes to my taste and is darker in color than Dr. Bird.

Regular readers know that punchy and higher proof Jamaican rums are my sweet spot for a Mai Tai, and Rare Cane delivers at home nearly as well as it did back in March when Jason Alexander made me one at Devil’s Reef in Tacoma for our best Mai Tai of the year so far. I’m guessing Jason used a little bit of vanilla syrup, since a Mai Tai I made with a quarter ounce of syrup replacing the Demerara seemed closer to what I remembered.

Rare Cane Jamaica Pot Still Rum is a limited release and is worth seeking out if you can still find it.

July 16, 2025July 16, 2025

The Kon-Tiki Auction at Little Hill Lounge

Our beloved favorite tiki bar The Kon-Tiki closed in Oakland last December, but for one night only we got to relive the memories with a special night at El Cerrito’s Little Hill Lounge. Several former Kon-Tiki bartenders were making classic drinks such as the Kon-Tiki Grog, Virgin’s Sacrifice, and Uma Uma. Food including an amazing burger was from Chisme, the new venture from former Kon-Tiki chef Manuel Bonilla and friends soon to take over the Kon-Tiki space in Oakland. So good – just like I remember from the Kon-Tiki days.

Owned by the same ownership group, Little Hill is a dive bar on San Pablo Ave. with plenty of retro touches and a nice back room that’s typically used for live music. On this evening the back room was used to auction masks, lamps, floats, and other items that previously hung at the Kon-Tiki. Joe Kent served as the auctioneer and did an amazing job, assisted by fellow “Oakhana” member Jeff Hall. The frenzy was palpable as dozens gathered to take home something from Kon-Tiki, some mentioning that the Kon-Tiki served as an inspiration for their home tiki bar. I went home with a Woody Miller wall carving, a small Oceanic Arts tiki, and giant float.

The Mai Tai was a variant called “Now that’s a Fucking Mai Tai” and was made with the Worthy Park 5 yr Single Barrel procured by Kon-Tiki. This very rum-forward Mai Tai hit all the right spots for me and I think that the Kon-Tiki Grog and Kon-Tiki Zombie were a great as I’ve ever had them. And it was so nice for Mrs. Mai Tai to have an Uma Uma again as well.

There were so many people at this event, with some great retro music from DJ Ship Rex and Woody Miller. Doc Parks also played DJ and went a bit off the rails with some mainstream 80s top 40 but people seemed to be having a great time. While we’re really not getting Kon-Tiki back again, Little Hill Lounge is not that far away and does cocktails just as well as they do beer and shots, so check them out.

July 9, 2025

Dr. Funk Rum Asylum Meetup with Appleton Rum

We missed the first quarterly meeting that took place shortly after the Rum Asylum rum club launched at Dr. Funk in the winter but we didn’t want to miss out at the recent meetup that featured Appleton and Wray & Nephew rum.

The event featured some literature about the rum expressions plus some guided tastings from a Campari rep who also answered questions about the production process in Jamaica and history of the brands. There was also a fantastic cocktail special using Appleton 8 called Tikitastic that comes from local rum legend Mark Holt who was attendance. Plus plenty of Appleton and Wray & Nephew swag for the well-attended event.

The event also included a couple who finished Level 1 and took the Rum-o-cratic Oath, plus details about the rewards for level 2 (a pith helmet inspired by Dr. Funk himself) and the hints of a limited edition mug made by a well-known local artist for completing level 3.

The next Rum Asylum meetup is Sunday, September 21st at 3:30 pm – don’t miss it.

July 8, 2025July 16, 2025

The Worlds Best Mai Tai Contest Regional Qualifier

I had a blast attending one of the regional qualifying events for the relaunched Worlds Best Mai Tai contest held last week at Tiki Tom’s. The event is relaunching after the organizers of the previous contest withdrew from organizing the event during COVID. I attended the last competition held in Kona in 2019, so this new event was of great interest.

The contest is sponsored by Myers’s rum and Bols liqueurs, a step up from when it used to be sponsored by Bacardi. As such, the event participants had to incorporate products from the sponsors, such as Bols Curacao, Myers’s Dark, and the underrated Myers’s Platinum – but weren’t limited to those product and many contestants infused ingredients and created custom rum blends. The finals for the Worlds Best Mai Tai will be held in Las Vegas at the Palms Casino on August 25 with the winner receiving $15,000.

There were several rounds during the qualifying event at Tiki Tom’s, plus a small selection of appetizers and Tiki Tom’s Mai Tais available for purchase. Though the Ultimate Mai Tai was not on the menu, the standard Mai Tai was pretty good even when served in a plastic cup. There were brand reps from Myers’s so we got to taste a selection of rums including their Signature Cask Collection (I found the Rye casks expression to be the best), plus pins and other swag.

There were a number of interesting Mai Tais made, and unlike the 2019 competition most of them actually did resemble Mai Tais. We had a soft spot for Kriss from Boo Loo Lounge who barely missed the podium by two points and finished third. The top two spots were Jenn Crider of Tiki Tom’s who did a spam-washed rum with maple orgeat, and mobile bartender Julie from Ravendark Cocktails who reacted with emotion after finishing first.

I’m really pleased to see this competition relaunching, with an even more elaborate program in line for 2026. View the recap video.