the Water Blog

It’s no great revelation to blog about the nice weather in Hawaii, but what may not be so well known is that is rains practically everyday here… the weather’s otherwise so nice that no one care. A few sprinkles in the afternoon are very welcome in what sometimes can be a relentless furnace in the blazing sun. The rain clouds are a blessing too, they’re not only huge & beautiful but the shade is killer. It’s tough to take the full strength of the sun in the daytime–you need shade at high noon.

A couple miles east of Waikiki starts the mountain that forms the center of the island of Oahu. It rains every single day there, and magically stops at waikiki, the skies part and it becomes beautifully sunny. Everyday you wake up and walk outside towards the east and think “Darn! rain today” , then turn around walk a block to the beach where it’s always Summer and sunny. Amazing micro-climates in Hawaii.

Trade winds are what really makes Hawaiian weather the best in the world. Trade winds come from the East, so for Waikiki the wind comes from the cool, rainy, mountains. These winds seem to blow at a perfect 76 degrees all the time. When roasting in the open sun at 86 dog day degrees, I can’t tell you how great those trade winds feel. They are cooling in the day and warming in the night.

You can’t make a good Mai Tai in SF–it’s too cold, the ice doesn’t melt (a key ingredient, like a mint julep). For the ultimate tiki bar you can’t just set the heater to 75… it’s the slightly too warm, sticky air combined with the refreshing, cool breeze and shade that make for the full tropical experience.

Last Wednesday Dolphin Club brother Vic Pizarro swam from Alcatraz while handcuffed to commemorate Jack LaLanne’s stunt in the 50’s… 93 year old Jack was down with the attempt but too busy to attend. I snapped a few photos & brief video from my surfboard!

April 1st, aka April Fool’s day, aka Saint Stupid’s day (and parade) in San Francisco. I drew this old school flyer for the official after-party tomorrow. Spot me in these parade photos published in the SF Chronicle and I’ll buy you a beer!

I went to the launch party for Adobe’s new software AIR, and got this cool t-shirt by eBoy. AIR is software that allows you to build cross-platform desktop apps with Flash actionScript. The cross platform-ness is a big deal… used to take a lot of tweaking to get Director to work on Mac & Windows. Using an AIR app is a two-step process; download the free AIR software from Adobe, then install the particular app you want. For example, eBay has a dashboard app to watch your auctions in a richer environment than a web browser.

Air. The hottest marketing trend.

Adobe Air, MacBook Air, Nike Air Max (nice site). Trend Alert! What does “air” say about American marketing in 2008? Tomorrow night’s SanFlashCisco meeting features beer, pizza, and of course AIR.

Last week I went to the 2nd meeting of the new Flash User’s group; San Flash Cisco.

It was pretty cool, about 30 people showed up and it was slanted more towards technology & coding, rather than graphics or animation.

Alex Bustin and Luke Bayes gave presentations and combined we learned about the history of Flash and actionScript (and it’s relation to Javascript), as well as other software like Adobe Air, Adobe Flex, Rake, Ruby, Rails, (Ruby on Rails), Gem, Sprouts, Thermo, and Zinc and on and on.

What is all that stuff and what does it have to do with Flash? Basically it’s software that can be used to build applications. If you wanted to build a shopping cart or address book in Flash, you could write it in actionScript with some of this software.

This is Flash for people who don’t use the timeline–they write all their code in actionScript in a one-frame movie. If you are using Flash to create graphic animations in the timeline, then this users group is probably not the one for you. That includes me. Regardless, it’s kind of interesting and I’ll probably go to the next one on March 20.

La Trappe is one of my top ten beers in the world. A strong 10% amber ale called a trappist “quadrupel”. The trappists are the most respected of all abbeys. There are only six in the world–five are in Belgium. The 6th one, this one, is in Holland and it’s just as good as the Belgians.

Abbey beers are sometimes designated as single, double & triple with the single being a strong blonde, the double a stronger dark brew, and the triple as the strongest ale with a golden color. Quadrupel is a new term for me, but is basically an amber ale even stronger than the strongest, just a notch below “barley wine”.

La Trappe is a very rich, aromatic, strong beer with a flavor profile something like a super concentrated Bass ale. A deep caramel color with a big head, it’s pretty delicious with a very complex flavor, sometimes it smells like circus peanuts, sometimes it tastes like angel-food cake, but always with a deep, warming finish.

La Trappe used to be tough to get. I had my first one in Holland at the recommendation of my bartender and never saw it again until we ordered a couple online a few months ago through a gourmet beer seller. A week later I noticed our corner “party store” was selling this exact same beer under the American brand of “Konings Hoeven”. That’s convenient.

Another similar beer is Urthel, a Belgian ale with Dutch roots that also brews a quadrupel called Samaranth. Compared to La Trappe, Urthel Samaranth is a little stronger (11%), a little richer and more head, with complex flavors very similar but tending more towards the sour end, less sweet. Splitting hairs here, the two taste about 95% the same but I still give the edge to La Trappe because the flavor is slightly more delicious and it wins extra points for being the least known of the six trappist abbeys.

Since the last blog I’ve been surprised to find a lot of support for my claim that renting may actually beat owning your home. Patrick.net is a great source for daily info culled from the nation’s largest sources, and there have been a lot of articles about investors who can’t even cover their costs with their rental income. There are also a number of “Rent vs Buy” calculators where you put in your numbers and see who comes out ahead.

Conditions have changed (lower interest & investment rates) and I left out a couple items (sales commission and property tax deduction) on my last analysis so I’ll run the numbers again on the same two properties in San Francisco. Again, the question is whether you’d make more money renting or buying your current apartment. Assume the renter and owner both spend the same amount each month, and if the rent is less than the homeowner costs, the renter puts the difference in the bank. At the end of a number of years they both decide to move to Tahiti, the owner sells, the renter closes out their bank account. Now neither one has a home, but who has more cash? If you grew up in America you were always told the owner does. Let’s see.

Here’s the facts and assumptions:

For a five year timeline, my calculations [download them] show the renter comes out ahead slightly, by $13,000. Pretty much a wash. I assume constant annual costs even though they actually change, like all those other rate assumptions, so there is a big margin of error. One of the biggest assumptions is the appreciation rate of 5%. This may be very optimistic since many sources are predicting the opposite, that prices continue to fall nationwide for the next couple years.

To make the same comparison over longer periods of time I turned to the online calculators because the little errors start to pile up. The New York Times [calculator] agrees with me that the renter comes out ahead (but by $52k) for the five year period, and for any time period up to 30 years. As long as home appreciation is below interest rates, the renter wins. But when SF gets back to it’s 25-year average of 8% appreciation then the owner wins big by $2M over 30 years.

The calculators are nice because it’s easy to see the effects of each separate factor. What if I double my down payment? Or if rents, inflation or investment rates increase? All those things make a difference, but not nearly as much as the combination of interest and appreciation rates. This makes common sense; if I borrow $1M at some rate for 30 years, and it increases in value at the same rate then I’m breaking even. All those other factors don’t do much to change the outcome. The interest/appreciation of the asset is the 800 pound gorilla, and all those other factors are like flies buzzing around it.

Another “Rent or Buy” calculator by Yahoo is not so hot. It predicts the opposite, that the renter loses by $20k in five years, like people have been saying for years. But the huge problem with this analysis is the owner paid about $30,0000 more each year! Try it for yourself, and look at what the owner pays, twice as much as the renter even after the big tax benefit. So while the renter pays $20k/year, the owner pays $50k/year and after five years comes out ahead by only $20k? That still sounds like a rip-off to me.

I’m about to become very unpopular by making a case for renting versus buying a house. The American dream is to own your home–your slice of the pie, and a popular way to become rich.

I’m saying that in San Francisco, in 2007, you can rent and not be throwing your money away. To understand how this can be true you need to compare apples to apples. Most arguments for buying a home in the bay area hinge on moving to a cheaper neighborhood, getting a fixer-upper, or paying twice your old rent. I don’t consider these fair comparisons.

To level the playing field I’ll look at the same apartment, same condition, in the same neighborhood, paying the same amount of money, and then look at selling out of your home in five years and see who ends up ahead, the renter or the owner?

If you bought an SF condo for $700,000 today, and sold for $900,000 in five years most would say you did pretty well… lived rent-free and earned a profit while the renter threw their money away. But I say the guy who rented that same condo for five years came out ahead! Impossible? Here’s how I figured it:

I found two comparable apartments on craigslist, one rented for $1,650, the other sold for $710,000. Both were 800 square foot one bedroom apartments, on a high floor with a city view, in an older restored building in good shape on the same street, seven blocks apart in essentially the same neighborhood. Both were good deals priced below average.

For the condo buyer I considered a $100,000 down payment, with 30-year 7% loan for a $4060 mortgage. HOA was given as $504/month, $10,650 property tax (1.5%), $13,000 closing costs and I’ll assume $3,000 annual maintenance costs. This brings the homeowner’s total annual costs up to $68,000 and if he qualifies for a maximum tax savings of $15,000 then his net annual cost is $53,000.

To make a fair comparison look at the renter spending the same amount for an equivalent apartment. The $100,000 down payment goes into a CD earning 5% or $5,000 annually bringing the total annual rent outlay down to $14,800. Now here’s the key ingredient, to normalize the two cases the renter should also pay $53,000/year. That’s $14,800 rent and the rest ($38,500) into some guaranteed cash investment.

That’s one way owners build home equity so fast, the huge mortgage payment. The equivalent renter also builds equity totaling $224,000 in five years at 5%. His accumulated monthly outlay was $267,000 so after five years he posts a total net loss of $41,000.

Meanwhile, assume the owners sell their condo for $910,000 five years later. Looks like a cool $200,000 profit, but wait. First, pay off the $573,000 loan balance then subtract the $380,000 paid over five years and you end up with a net loss $43,000. The renter comes out $2000 ahead even with the huge tax bonus the buyer earned.

I make a lot of assumptions and these numbers will turn out different in real life. I may also have made a huge miscalculation so let me know. If you lose your job or business slows down then not only is the mortgage gonna be tough but you’ll need to come up with an extra $15,000 to cover that missing tax credit, the double whammy! The market could rise at 25% a year like it did a few years ago and then the owner could pocket $1.3M on their sale, more than many people make in a lifetime! The renter never has exposure to that kind of a gain. But that’s like talking up the stock market because Google gained 600% in 3 years. Owning makes total sense in places like Texas or Michigan where a small down payment gets your monthly costs below the rental value and after 30 years you get to keep it, plus the huge lifestyle benefits of owning over renting no matter where you live. But there’s also a lifestyle hit in sweating a $5,000 monthly payment in an earthquake zone where no one has earthquake insurance. The point is sometimes renting may not be as bad as it seems.

A while ago I mentioned some classic books about Tahiti. Since I recently read them together here’s a quick comparison.

Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener
Pretty good but not Tahiti, it’s the New Hebrides near Australia. The fictional enchanted island of Bali Ha’i where the natives stashed all the virgins during the war is pretty awesome, looks like Moorea. Bloody Mary is a good character and the bar named after her on Bora Bora is pretty true to the story charging $8 for a shot of Cuban white rum! The American influence in French Polynesia borrowed a lot from this book. Aside from a few highlights like the fungus outbreak the book drags, and is pretty boring.

In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson
I take back what I said about Tales of the South Pacific, THIS book is the boring one! It must have been much more interesting in 1888, before planes, tv, etc. Originally written as a series of letters for a New York magazine, it reads like a list of dry observations about several island cultures. The grass is green, the men are taller than the women, etc. No real memorable characters or events. a lot of mention of cannibals but no real action. This actually does take place partly in Tahiti, so reluctantly wins the book award for now.

Typee by Herman Mellville
This was the best one of the bunch. A real adventure story filled with jungle details. A couple guys jump ship while in the Marquesas to live in paradise. It turns out to be tougher than they thought, they get captured by cannibals, fall in love with a native girl, and eventually escape. In spite of the super old-fashioned language, it’s a great story, but not really about Tahiti although it’s awful close, close enough for Gauguin.

Omoo by Herman Mellville
The sequel to Typee, hey this might be pretty good too, but was too tough to find, so I read Moby Dick instead.
Moby Dick by Herman Mellville
Again with the awkward language, but another good one in spite of being so long with way too much detail on everything whale. The characters were great, so is the adventure, and Joe Donohoe’s edition was filled with great drawings. They make a quick stop in Tahiti to pick up more workers, we meet Starbuck (coffee empire?) and the vicious Lakemen who, true to Detroiter fashion, mutiny against poor, maniacal one-legged captain Ahab.

Click here to play movie.

A lot of confusion and misinformation surrounded the issue of tides and currents on the Alcatraz swim. The swimmers and pilots were told we were swimming at slack current because low tide was at 9:15 a.m. about halfway through the race for the slower swimmers. They all thought the current would shift at 9:15 and then we would be pushed east of the entrance to the cove. If you miss the cove, it’s all over. In fact, we were swimming at max current, the worst case.

20 minutes into the race the kayaks were already threatening me with their paddles forcing me to alter my course and head west (with the current) because the “flood was coming soon”. If I had done as told I would have been swept west of the cove like the others had. The flood current did not actually start until two hours later.

Here’s the problem; tides and currents are two different things. Different directions. Tides are up & down, currents are left & right. A floating object in the water drifts with the current. If it’s low tide, that object is closer to the ocean floor but it still moves in the direction the current pushes it.

The dolphin club’s salty currents expert and English Channel trainer, Don Harrison explains: Slack current is not at the tidal extremes because of momentum. Since water has no tensile strength [it behaves like a really stretchy rubber band] when acted on by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon.

Low tide does not mean slack current. At 9:20 the tide was rising but swimmers were still being swept out of the golden gate by an ebb current. How is that possible?

My analogy is a slinky. The speed of the coils and the length of the slinky are strangely related. It’s a simplified one-dimensional demonstration, but if you can buy into it then it’s easier to understand the more complex 3D situation of tidal currents.

This Sunday I’ll be swimming from Alcatraz to the San Francisco shore without the aid of a wetsuit to determine once and for all if the Anglin brothers could have survived that fateful night of June 11, 1962 in the frigid and fast-moving, shark infested bay waters. The ultimate watery adventure. Be at Aquatic Park at 9am, September 2 to witness the spectacle.

Dedicated to Sara Lowes from Houston, Texas who lost her life attempting the crossing 3 weeks ago.

I love this sign I found on the street yesterday. Probably originally stuck in a car window, motorcycle saddlebag, or truck toolbox, a common sight summing up the urban American experience nicely.

I feel sorry for the author. He/She sounds down on their luck, the city has gotten the best of him, he has nothing left to steal–they’ve already taken it all. The only thing left is to try to reason with the next assailant as if they might care.

Part of the effect of this note is to openly announce to the world that the author has been beat down and is giving up. Reduced to advertisements like this, written on scraps of trash. Talking to people about your problems helps ease the pain.

The word steal is a little strong, and somewhat insulting. As if to stike back and remind the thief they are about to break one of the ten commandments and may be sent to hell for this. It’s also a little funny, llke we live in a society where anybody looking at my car is thinking “What can I steal from this person?”

This is like my Flash-based society pixeltown, where there are 2 types of people, citizens and robbers.

I created this animation for one of my graduate students while teaching ActionScript at the Academy of Art University-SF (ugh). The artwork is from eboy with a few of my own touches. The motion is completely randomized–reload and you’ll see it’s different each time. Each character has their own brain moving them around the parking lot, smart enough to stop at the edges and not bump into each other. People in pixeltown remain courteous while going about their business.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Mai Tai programming, to review Tahiti & French Polynesia–a magnet for artists & adventurers throughout history from the Mutiny on the Bounty, to painter Paul Gauguin, Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, Stevenson’s In the South Seas, Mellville’s Typee and Omoo.

For sure Bora Bora, Moorea & Tahiti are the closest thing I’ve seen to the classic hollywood concept of paradise. Tiny islands, soaring volcanos, surrounded by crystal clear water, powdery white sand, amazing brilliant blue lagoons and grass huts. For sheer, classic beauty, it can’t be beat.

A couple problems are the extreme cost and the French language. It’s easy enough to get around, but not as easy as poorer countries where they’re much more willing to speak English. Transportation is another problem (just a combination of the first two). Public transportation sucks. Maybe a bus or boat leaving at sunrise, and returning early afternoon. So inconvenient it’s tough to get routes and schedules even at your pensione–they just discourage you from messing with public transportation, and you’d need plenty of time because it would be impossible to do more than one thing or go more than one place in a day. Rental cars are the only way to go, but then its $120/day plus gas, insurance, parking, repairs (we got a flat right away because the roads are so trashed).

One thing that impressed me was the state of 3rd world poverty in the country. At these prices I didn’t expect dirt roads, open sewers and chickens everywhere. Just like being in the Philippines at ten times the cost. The rural conditions are cool, creating an unspoiled atmosphere, but sheesh $250 a night for this?! Unlike Hawaii the monster luxury resorts are isolated and hidden, blending into the countryside and looking like native villages. They don’t get in your way and by comparison Honolulu looks exactly like New York City. The money stays hidden in Tahiti, you wouldn’t even notice the resorts unless you had a rentacar and a reservation. What you do notice is the flimsy shacks, constructed from random junk materials hammered together, covered in plastic tarps, and decorated with piles of trash. These are everywhere along the dusty roads, beaches, surrounding the resorts… poverty.

Getting supplies is another struggle. If you’re staying in one of the biggest towns you might have one tiny general store open a few hours a day servicing that half of the island. That’s it. If you want a $2 coke, hitch hike back into town or pay $6 at your resort (unless they’re sold out). Store hours remind me of Europe, closing at 4pm, closed for a long lunch, closed Saturday at noon & all day Sunday… how do they manage? You burn up a whole day just going to market on Moorea, up at 6 back at 9 a.m. Now its already too late to go anywhere else–all the buses and boats are long gone. Staying in the 2nd largest town on Tahiti my dinner was gas station baguettes so arid they literally burst into flames while pulling from the toaster because no other stores are open at 5 after returning from a day’s adventure. Meals-on-wheels trucks have $16 dinners in the capital city but no way to get there after 3pm.

But back to the good stuff, the scenic beauty and best swimming in the world.

It turns out the Mai Tais served in Tahiti are a completely different drink from the American ones.

It’s not true that “Mai Tai” refers to cocktails in a general sense as the guide books claim. Maitais (one word) were usually listed under a category of Exotic Cocktails. In Tahitian “maitai” means good. If you asked someone how they were today, “Maitai” is a reasonable response, and consistent with Trader Vic’s account “Maitai Roa Ae” means “the best”.

The most common recipes were along the lines of: a papaya-passion fruit juice base, white & brown rums, triple sec, lime, and either almond syrup or grenadine served in a tall glass for $15 - 18, about the cost of 2-1/2 beers.

The drink pictured above left was from the Le Meridien resort on Tahiti, and although its not the classic American recipe it was good. It had an awful lot of pulp, I think from fresh-squeezed tangerines I saw in the markets, and strong enough to taste the alcohol. The taste was mostly fruity, but much better than the usual ‘juiced’ Mai Tai. In spite of the unusual red sugared rim, this was a decent drink. Of particular note, this place had the best swimming pool I’ve ever seen. They constructed a huge white sand beach, carved out an irregular pool filled with giant rocks and lined with trees. Nothing like a pool, it was just like spending a day at the beach.

The drink on the right was from the exclusive Sofitel Motu resort, located on a tiny coral island a 5-minute boat ride from Bora Bora. This was a really odd drink created with white rum, coconut liqueur, kahlua, pineapple, grenadine, and blended like a milk shake. They got an A for effort (A+ for atmosphere) but tasted really funky. All the exotics were equally creative at this place and tasted equally weird — it’s not that easy to create a whole line of great signature drinks. This particular drink took the Mai Tai joke to an extreme, they might as well have used tequila because this had nothing to do with a real Mai Tai.

Overall, the cocktails in Hawaii and the mainland are much better tasting and consistent than those in Tahiti. There was enough similarity in the recipes from place to place that one could identify a Tahitian version of this cocktail, although pretty much anything could be mixed together and called a Maitai even at the classiest of joints. I wonder if any great cocktails originated in Tahiti? Because of the french influence they have the most extensive wine lists I’ve ever seen in the tropics and that’s their strength. The great tropical cocktails seem to come more from the Caribbean, America, even Singapore came up with a good one.

Continuing our coverage of this fascinating cocktail the Waterblog staff is headed to Tahiti for first hand analysis.

Legend has it that when Trader Vic invented the drink in Oakland, CA he served it to some friends from Tahiti who shouted “Mai Tai - Roa Ae” which means “Out of This World - The Best”. The name stuck.

60 years later, the guide books now tell us that in Tahiti “Mai Tai” means “cocktail” that is, any cocktail, not just this one. We need to set the record straight and see just what they serve over there. Stay tuned.

A lot of places in Waikiki offer happy hour Mai Tais for $1.50 but what are you getting?

The Mai Tai started off as an evenly mixed cocktail. As it became popular the original rare old rum ran out, so bartenders blended different rums in an attempt to recreate the original flavor. Over the years the rums stopped being mixed together either to save time or just for appearance and you ended up with the light rum in the body and a floater of dark rum on top. That turned into the more recognizable form of the drink today.

Now just about any drink with a floater of dark rum is passed off as a Mai Tai in Waikiki. Most of the $1.50 ones are horrible–a plastic cup of cheap Hi-C punch and a dash of cheaper rum. One is enough then it’s beer after that.

Moose McGillycuddys in Waikiki has $1.50 Mai Tais (and Blue Hawaiis) just about all day long and they beat all the rest hands down. It’s not good, its not a real Mai Tai, but it ain’t bad. The current recipe seems like a glass a cheap guava juice (like Hawaiian Sun brand or worse… definitely not real juice) topped with a floater of Hana Bay dark rum (decent dark rum, a little cheaper than Bacardi, but better tasting than Myers’s) and finished off by dropping in a lime wedge. With a recipe like that Moose can crank these out all day long for as many rowdy drunks as it takes. It’s not a bad tasting drink, better than OJ & rum, and the ingredients are pretty easy to get. In a pinch you might try it, just make up a new name because it definitely ain’t a Mai Tai.

What about the rest of Waikiki? The best of Waikiki, the big luxury resorts controlling the beachfront. This is where the Mai Tai became popular, I’d expect a good one here:

• Moana Surfrider
• Dukes Barefoot Bar (Outrigger)
• Pink Palace (Royal Hawaiian)
• Sand bar (Sheraton)

All serve decent Mai Tais, about $10, but mostly unremarkable… not bad, not great. Dukes stands out not because it’s the tastiest but was good-sized and a buck less than the others, with a $4.50 happy hour special!

The Sand Bar easily serves the most delicious blended drinks on Waikiki, and has the best entertainment with the sexy Tahitian dancers… but I didn’t go back for the Mai Tai. The Sand Bar is technically next to Waikiki beach, but looks out over it. Their beach is a tiny, weird sandy patch surrounded by concrete breakwaters but an amazing tree fort thing right in the middle.

The Ala Moana has the classiest mix of them all, watching them prepare your drink is pretty good, they’re serious bartenders and serve ‘em strong. The Pink Palace was the most mysterious–I never actually did see a bar, my drink just appeared, or not, depending on your reception. Most are using Bacardi rums or something similar. I thought Dukes was using Whaler’s dark at one time.

I’d still agree the Hale Kulani is serving the best Mai Tai in Waikiki today.

The Hale Kulani resort is reported to serve the best, most authentic Mai Tai in Waikiki. We tried it last month and it is pretty good, at $9 including a fancy basket of Maui chips, is about the best deal for a premium beachside cocktail. This Mai Tai is plenty strong, with a nice taste, pretty good sized, and defintely the best looking with the edible flower and natural sugar-cane chewable swizzle stick.

Three rums are used; Bacardi Gold & Special, topped with a floater of LemonHart’s 151. I gotta hand it to them for blending decent rums while some of the luxury resorts use Hana Bay rum (which I like more than Meyer’s) but still it’s an $8 bottle of booze and I expect more in a ten dollar drink. The LemonHart’s is a nice touch as many bars float dark rum on a Mai Tai for the looks, and some tropical drinks float 151 for a kick, the Hale Kulani kills two birds with one stone using this unusual dark 151 rum.

The volume is decent too, you can see in the photo that the ice is floating on top and you’re getting a couple good shots here. The San Francisco Trader Vics has the worst deal in this category; it’s more like a snow cone than cocktail… their ice is superfine and loaded in–two slurps and you have an empty glass of ice at Trader Vics.

My only negative comment is I tasted sour mix on the bottom, and I’d rather have natural flavors. I can’t say it’s the best deal at this bar either, because I followed the Mai Tai with a Tonga itch that was the strongest drink I’ve ever had–basicall a pint of Jim Beam in a hurricane glass, I had to order two more glasses of ice just to finish it! They also serve a delicious green blended drink that tastes like passion fruit smoothie!

Speaking of Hawaii, let’s look at the quintessential Hawaiian cocktail–the Mai Tai.

The Mai Tai is perhaps the most misunderstood and mis-mixed cocktail in the world. Hosts combine any fruit juice with rum in their basement luaus and call it a Mai Tai. Bad Mai Tais are almost always too sweet and over the years have given the drink a bad name as a fruity cocktail not for serious drinkers.

A real Mai Tai is more like a Manhattan in that it’s a strong cocktail, basically different liquors over ice–not a fruit juice drink. It’s served in a short, wide glass, and has a color about like iced tea. Decorations are a big part of the drink and can include a pineapple wedge, maraschino cherry, mint sprig, lime shell, tropical flower and novelty umbrella.

The Mai Tai was invented by Trader Vic during WWII with a subtle blend of flavors conjuring up the South Pacific. The original six ingredients are very rare rum, orange curacao, lime juice, orgeat (almond) syrup, rock candy syrup, and mint over shaved ice.

When mixed right, you’ll have a strong, refreshing cocktail, on the sweet side like a manhattan or old fashioned, with hints of orange, almond, and mint in the background. It’s a delicious mix, and delicate balance of sweet, sour, and heat (alcohol).

There are a number of ways to upset the balance of this drink. It’s very easy to become too sweet since most everything in it is sweet. Rum is distilled sugar cane, so it’s sweet, and the orange curacao, orgeat, and rock candy syrup are all horribly sweet, only used sparingly to flavor the cocktail, not add volume.

There are only two ways to repair a Mai Tai that’s too sweet, either add more rum or lime juice. The lime juice cuts the mix making it more drinkable and refreshing. The other way to cut the sweetness is by adding rum. A sickly sweet drink can really suck up a lot of rum before you even taste the alcohol. Some sweet drinks like a good Lava Flow or Slippery Monkey hide the alcohol entirely, you’d never even know until it hits you halfway through the second one.

Think of a Mai Tai as basically rum & ice. The dominant flavor and main ingredient is rum. The original recipe calls for a particular brand of 17-year old rum and that’s the biggest flavor in a Mai Tai. You can’t find this rum anymore but would be about a $60 bottle of booze. Is there any drink today that uses that kind of base? I doubt it. The best bars in town use Bacardi at most, about $10 a bottle. So the problem becomes how to make a drink using cheaper booze that tastes like the 17-year old stuff? This is where the different bottled mixes, and new recipes come in, all trying to recreate the particular flavor of that premium old rum. Our next few entries will look at some modern Mai Tais and see how they measure up.

A water enthusiast’s dream—plenty of water in Hawaii, surrounded by nothing but, and rains everyday even when sunny. Stuff’s always happening here. Spam Jam block party last weekend (the canned meat is very popular) kind of like the Haight street fair, and May day / Lei day festival on May 1st in the park with food, music, hula, crafts, costumes… I love May day and this was the best celebration yet. Now they’re setting up a huge stage on the beach for another event this weekend (Don Ho’s funeral), and oh yeah, a big swell came in yesterday, surf’s up!