Grab These Hawaiʻi-Made Ingredients to Celebrate National Mai Tai Day
From rum to orgeat, these locally crafted products make the perfect Hawaiʻi-style mai tai.
Thanks to a history full of sugar cane production, the mai tai has become synonymous with Hawaiʻi, even though the tiki cocktail didn’t originate in the Islands. To celebrate this National Mai Tai Day (Aug. 30), make your cocktails with more of a Hawaiʻi vibe by using locally made ingredients and shopping at local stores and farmers markets to source ingredients. Have a go-to recipe that you love? Change things up a bit by trying some of the signature recipes from Hawaiʻi hospitality purveyors listed below.
Rum
Kō Hana Rum, O‘ahu
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Known for its high-quality, single-varietal rums carefully crafted at their farm and distillery in Kunia, Kō Hana Rum is doing big things with kō (sugarcane). Learn more about the meticulous process of cultivating heirloom Hawaiʻi sugarcane with a farm tour or check out the barrel house on the distillery tour, both of which end with a rum tasting (you can also opt for just the tasting, available daily every half hour). Rum options include Kea (unaged), Kokoleka (cacao & honey), Koho (barrel aged) and Kila (cask strength).
Kō Hana also makes it really easy for consumers by mixing up a ready-to-drink version of the mai tai, which can be poured over ice and accessorized or drank straight from the bottle. Keep an eye out for the cocktail the next time you’re flying Hawaiian Airlines—it’s the signature in-flight cocktail.
Kō Hana Mai Tai recipe.
Kuleana Rum Works, Hawai’i Island
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New to the rum game, Kuleana Rum Works is putting Big Island rum on the map with its Kohala farm that’s growing around 35 heirloom varietals of Hawaiian kō. They use the canoe plant to create rum made from freshly pressed sugarcane juice (a rare feat, Kō Hana is the only other Hawaiian rum creator that uses sugarcane juice) including its light cocktail rum (Huihui), fresh-juiced rum (Hawaiian Rum Agricole), and aged rum (Nanea). At Kuleana Rum Shack in Waikōlōa, guests can dine on island cuisine and enjoy rum cocktails and flights. They also offer a Rum 101 Guided Tasting and a Kuleana mai tai class.
Visitors can find Kuleana Rum Works making its mark at local hotels with the Mauna Lani Beyond the Barrel Rum Tour and KRW Monarch Blend made exclusively for King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort (you can find it at Honu’s on the Beach; it’s the signature mai tai).
Kuleana Rumworks Kuleana Mai Tai recipe.
Kula Rum, Maui
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In Upcountry Maui, Ocean Organic Farm & Distillery is showing off their lineup of spirits with tours of their farms, distillery, and the panoramic Maui views that set the backdrop for a wonderful drinking and dining experience from its farm café. Part of that lineup includes Pacific Organic Rum with light rum, dark rum and coconut varieties, all of which would taste great in a mai tai.
Kōloa Rum, Kaua‘i
Kōloa Rum produces white, dark, gold, spice, coconut and coffee rums.
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Made with water from Mount Wai‘ale‘ale, Kōloa Rum comes in a range of flavors including Kauaʻi White, Gold, Dark, Spice, Coconut, Coffee, Cacao and Aged rums for your sipping and mixing pleasure. The company also makes things easy by offering both a ready-to-drink mai tai and a just-add-rum mai tai mix.
Visiting Kaua‘i? Stop by their tasting room in Līhuʻe where it offers complimentary tastings every hour. Or, for a little extra fun, Kaua‘i Safaris Rum Safari Tour lets you check out Kōloa’s farm, visit the animals and enjoy delicious cocktails.
Classic Kōloa Tai recipe.
Mahina Rum, Maui
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Hali‘imaile Distillery may be better known for what’s made from the pineapple patches around its facility in Makawao (spoiler alert: it’s vodka), but under its airplane hanger roof the distiller makes a few varieties of alcohol, including the Mahina Rum line. Options include premium, dark, platinum and coconut rums, all of which taste great in cocktails. To learn more about what’s brewing over at Hali‘imaile, book one of its daily tours, complete with tasting for those over 21.
Hanalei Spirits, Kaua‘i
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With a range of interesting rum flavors like Sugarloaf Pineapple rum and the sipping Rooster rum, as well as unique liqueurs like Lilikoicello, Hanalei Spirits bottles up some interesting flavors. At around $75, the price points on these bottles probably won’t have you running out to grab one to mix mai tais with. However, next time you visit the North Shore of Kaua‘i, you may want to stop in for one of its tours and tastings to see if these rums are worth a special spot on your liquor shelf.
Hanalei Spirits Mai Tai Recipe.
Old Lahaina Rum, Maui
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Fill your light and dark rum needs with Kolani Distiller’s Old Lahaina Rum. Kolani makes rum from Maui-grown, grade-A molasses, then distills and bottles its products in a vintage sugar mill in Pāʻia. The company has been barreling rum since 2006; it’s the oldest distillery on Maui still in operation. Old Lahaina Rum is the rum of choice for the Four Seasons O‘ahu’s Sunset Mai Tai. See recipe below.
Additional Ingredients
While rum is the star ingredient, there’s a lot more to a mai tai than just that. Believe it or not, some of the support cast that help to elevate the rum is also made in Hawaiʻi. For a local version of orange curaçao try Hanalei Spirits’ Alani Orange Liqueur for those sweet, citrusy notes.
Of course, a mai tai isn’t a mai tai without orgeat. Though it’s typically made with almonds, the Hawaiʻi version sometimes includes the nutty liqueur made with macadamia nuts. Locally made options include Pono Potions’ Maika‘i Macadamia Nut Orgeat, Hāmākua Coast Premium’s
Macadamia Nut Orgeat Cocktail Syrup and Sugar Cane Dane’s Macadamia Nut Orgeat.
Where to Buy
If you can’t make it to the actual distilleries for tastings, tours, and shopping, there are plenty of specialty stores across the islands, many of which carry a variety of local bottles.
- O‘ahu: Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquors, Harry’s Liquor Grocery, Waimalu Gourmet Liquor
- Maui: Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquors, Wailea Wine, Aloha Discount Liquor
- Hawaiʻi Island: Hilo Bottle Shop, Kona Wine Market, Kadota Liquor, Kamuela Liquor Store
- Kaua‘i: Princeville Wine Market, Waipouli Wine & Spirits, Wine Garden
How to Make It
Though the Trader Vic’s mai tai is known as the original recipe, as with any cocktail it has welcomed its fair share of variations and “improvements” on the classic. Here are a few variations from Hawaiʻi hotels, restaurants, and beverage makers.
- Signature Mai Tai from Duke’s Waikīkī with the added special ingredient of PPOG.
- Sugar Cane Dane’s Mai Tai Recipe.
- Grand Wailea Hotel’s “The Grand” recipe.
- The Royal Hawaiian’s Mai Tai Bar recipe.
- The Halekūlani Mai Tai recipe.
- The Tua Tai recipe, inspired by Tua Tagovailoa.
Koʻa Kea Resort’s Signature Mai Tai Recipe:
- Light rum 1.5oz
- Orange Curacao .25oz
- Pineapple juice 1oz
- Lime juice .5oz
- Orgeat .25oz
- Dark rum float .5oz
Four Seasons Oʻahu at Ko‘ Olina’s Sunset Mai Tai Recipe:
Combine the following:
- Old Lahaina light rum 1.5 oz
- Old Lahaina dark rum .5 oz
- House-made cherry spiced vanilla puree .5 oz
- Amaretto ¼ oz
- Cointreau ¼ oz
- Lilikoʻi (passion fruit) juice
- Pineapple juice
- Lime juice
- Rock Candy swivel or Red Vine garnish
But hey, half the fun in enjoying a tropical cocktail is having someone else make it for you. If you don’t feel like hopping behind the bar, try some of Hawaiʻi’s standout mai tais including the classic topped with lilikoʻi foam at Merriman’s and Monkeypod restaurants. Find other great options listed in this year’s HAWAIʻI Magazine’s Readers Choice Awards which includes the Top 5 places in Hawaiʻi to get a mai tai, as voted on by readers.
