You could forgive the owners, management and staff of the Mai-Kai for taking a deep breath and resting on their laurels in early 2026 after a spectacular 2025, the first full year back in business after a four-year hiatus and $20 million restoration of the historic South Florida restaurant. Luckily for fans of the 69-year-old Polynesian palace, that’s not the case. Not by a long shot.
More than a year after reopening, the Mai-Kai’s lush landscaping is thriving. The signature cannibal carvings bid guests farewell. (Photos by Hurricane Hayward, February 2026)
Business is booming as the Mai-Kai remains laser-focused on improving the cocktails, food and entire guest experience. Last year ended with a bang, culminating with a memorable anniversary celebration featuring more than 20 past on-stage performers from the Mai-Kai Islanders. This came on the heels of an elaborate themed overlay and creative cocktail menu for the Christmas holidays.
• 2025 Mai-Kai recaps: Exclusive ongoing coverage | Bar and cocktail news
The new year brought a new selection of modern tropical drinks, plus some creative takes on old classics. Also in January, the Mai-Kai launched a weekly schedule of themed specials, including In the Biz Mondays, Tiki Tuesdays, Wahine Wednesdays, and Karaoke Night on Thursdays. Live bands continue to entertain Molokai Bar guests on Fridays, and more activities for kids are part of the early Sunday festivities (along with a monthly meet-up for classic car owners.)
Skinny Jimmy Stingray and his band perform in the Molokai on Feb. 27. They return to rock the bar on March 20. (Photos by Hurricane Hayward)
A new food menu was introduced in February, updated with a half-dozen new dishes from chef Justin Sherrer. The Mai-Kai hosted several high-profile events, starting with a Miami Rum Congress pre-party featuring multiple rum brands and special tastings. During the nationally acclaimed South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Sherrer participated in Miami while general manager and beverage director Cory Starr hosted a sold-out Tiki cocktail master class in the Bora Bora Bar.
Bartender Justin Rivera leads guests in creating cocktails during a master class hosted by the Mai-Kai as part of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival on Feb. 21. Students created their own garnish. (Photos by Hurricane Hayward)
This story will cover all of the above while also offering a preview of upcoming events, plus more. Stay tuned for stories on other major projects around the Mai-Kai property, including the restoration of a 60-year-old tiki icon and construction of a new event center and back-of-house facilities.
More than 600 rum producers, bartenders, brands and enthusiasts are expected for the seventh annual event organized by Federico Hernandez and The Rum Lab, which also produces events in Puerto Rico, Chicago, New York, and elsewhere around the U.S. and Europe. [Past event photos] The Rhum Week schedule includes events from Fort Lauderdale to Key Biscayne, allowing more people to get a taste of great rums and cocktails from some of the industry’s top brands and VIPs.
The centerpiece remains the official Rum Congress seminars on Friday and “Grand Tasting” on Saturday at the convention center in the heart of South Beach. Experts from around the world will participate in eight seminars, while the tasting rooms will feature more than 85 brands offering samples of some 200 distinct rum expressions, available neat and in a “Twisted Daiquiri.”
Rhum Barbancourt (Haiti) and Rhum Clement (Martinique) were two of many brands participating in last year’s Miami Rum Congress. (Photos by Hurricane Hayward / Feb. 1, 2025)
Mai-Kai pre-party to include seminar, rare Tahiti rum release
Rhum Week activities kick off Thursday (Feb. 5) at the historic Mai-Kai in Oakland Park, northwest of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant’s Bora Bora and Molokai bars will host the South Seas Soiree, presented by the Florida Rum Society in association with Planteray Rum. The event will feature a talk by master blender Alexandre Gabriel along with complimentary tastings.
The rum society will also celebrate a special new release, produced by Down Island Spirits and sourced from Tahiti. It’s the perfect location to launch the Maiden Voyage expression, believed to be the first Tahitian single barrel rum ever sold in the United States. The Mai-Kai’s founding Thornton family has deep ties to Tahiti. The 69-year-old Tiki temple features artwork from the Pacific island, plus authentic music and dance as part of the nightly Polynesian Islander Revue, the oldest continually-running authentic South Seas stage show in the United States (including Hawaii).
Gabriel will discuss “the technical secrets behind the blends designed to match the high-octane energy of the Mai-Kai’s iconic cocktail program while meeting the exacting needs of the modern drink-smith,” according to an event invitation. Guests will also get a taste of Planteray’s Mister Fogg Sail No. 2, an inventive new blend that follows the historic methods of Britain’s Royal Navy rum.
It would not be facetious to say that the release of the Mai-Kai’s new signature rum is so close you can taste it. In fact, there will be multiple ways to enjoy the long-awaited Mai-Kai Rum No. 1 in association with the 16th annual Miami Rum Renaissance Festival. See below: Social media recaps
You still must wait a little longer before you can take a bottle home, but you can be among the first to see and sample the new 100-proof blend from Barbados and Jamaica since its recent bottling and initial shipment to the historic Fort Lauderdale restaurant. You’ll have three opportunities this week:
You can taste Mai-Kai Rum No. 1 at several upcoming events as part of the 2025 Miami Rum Renaissance Festival. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, August 2025)
Thursday, Nov. 6: Sneak Preview Party at the Mai-Kai from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Mai-Kai Rum No. 1 will be offered to guests both neat and in cocktails. It won’t be officially available for purchase in the gift shop yet, but beverage director Cory Starr said the Mai-Kai is planning a full-blown launch party in December.
Saturday, Nov. 8: A special presentation on the rum’s development at the Coral Gables Marriott at 2 p.m. as part of the festival’s seminar day. You’ll be able to taste the unique blend and learn about its development in a one-hour session with Adrienne Stoner of Maison Ferrand, which produced the rum sourced from the West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados and Long Pond Distillery in Jamaica. An $89 ticket gets you into all three of that day’s seminars from noon to 5 p.m. [More info below]
Sunday, Nov. 9: The Grand Tasting event from 12:30 to 5 p.m. at the Coral Gables Woman’s Club as part of the annual sampling of hundreds of rums from around the world. The Mai-Kai will host a booth featuring the rum along with merchandise, joining the many distilleries, importers, producers, distributors and boutique brands on display. Tickets range from $89 to $109 and include unlimited samples.
Mai-Kai Rum No. 1 was previewed on Spike’s Breezeway Cocktail Hour in July.
Mai-Kai Old Style Special Rum Number One, as it’s officially known, has been eagerly awaited by rum and Tiki cocktail fans who frequent the 68-year-old Polynesian palace. This week’s tastings are the latest to whet our appetites while we await the official release date. The rum received high marks from the crowd at Tiki Oasis in San Diego during a special preview in August. [Photos, full recap]
The Miami Rum Renaissance Festival is the perfect platform to once again showcase the Mai-Kai’s first branded spirit. Last year’s event included a presentation with Starr and longtime manager Kern Mattei joining the Atomic Grog for a look at the Mai-Kai’s legendary bar program, plus tastings and cocktail samples featuring Rum No. 1. The rum was also featured during a panel discussion at Miami Rum Congress in February. [Photos, more coverage]
Miami Rum Renaissance attracts hundreds of hobbyists and rum experts from around the world to South Florida for a weekend filled with educational and informative explorations of cane spirits. Founded by rum collectors and enthusiasts Robin and Robert A. Burr in 2009, the event was one of the first of its kind in the United States. It remains a cornerstone on the ever-growing spirts calendar.
In addition to the Thursday event at the Mai-Kai, there will be a Rum Renaissance free kickoff event on Friday from 4:30 to 5:30 at Primo Liquors & Fine Wines in Fort Lauderdale. The Sunrise Boulevard store will host a Planteray Rum pop-up happy hour with Adrienne Stoner, the brand’s national ambassador. [Reserve a spot via Eventbrite] Primo, which has six locations in Broward County, is the festival’s new on-site and online rum sales partner.
Updated Jan. 3, 2026 We hope this running story, compiled throughout 2025, helps quench your thirst for detailed information, photos and deep dives into the cocktails served at the Mai-Kai restaurant in South Florida, est. 1956. Below you’ll find reports by journalist Jim “Hurricane” Hayward along with news and official updates passed along by beverage director Cory Starr as he resurrected the storied bar program, originally developed by legendary mixologist Mariano Licudine. This page served as a supplement to our Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide as we enjoyed the the Mai-Kai’s grand reopening. In 2026, get ready for all new reviews and recipes at the link above, or MaiKaiCocktailGuide.com. If you’re looking for more on the restaurant’s restoration and reopening in 2024-2025, along with anything beyond the cocktails and bar program, check out this related story. • Jump straight to the news archive below
Zula #1 (left) and Last Rites, two classic cocktails from the Mai-Kai’s 1956 menu served at the 69th anniversary event on Dec. 28. (Photos by Hurricane Hayward)
Vintage cocktails return for 69th anniversary, more news
Posted Jan. 3
The icing on the cake at the 69th anniversary celebration was a special menu of three historic cocktails, available in both the Bora Bora and Molokai bars. They were priced at $19.56 in honor of the Mai-Kai’s original opening date, but happy hour prices were in effect from 4 to 7 p.m., and we made sure to try all three. Photos, video:Mai-Kai legends return to the stage for 69th anniversary celebration
Two of the drinks date back to the original 1956 menu. One of them, Zula #1, was only recently retired when the Mai-Kai reopened in November 2024. It was one of two classics dropped from the reopening day menu.
Don’s Own Grog, a rare cocktail available at the Mai-Kai’s 69th anniversary event on Dec. 28. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward)
The other was Last Rites, another Mai-Kai classic that can be traced back to one of the groundbreaking tropical drinks created by Don the Beachcomber in the 1930s and ’40s. This is a personal favorite of beverage director Cory Starr, who brought it back at several special events over the past year. We last tried it at The Hukilau finale at the Mai-Kai in June.
Last Rites was our favorite, better than the previous versions made with premium rums. Rum No. 1 seems to bring perfect balance to this classic that agricole rums don’t. Not far behind was Don’s Own Grog, another great spotlight for the rum featuring bold cinnamon (perhaps Angostura bitters), lime and blackberry notes. Zula was very solid, but it veered a bit from the original with an overly boozy profile that obscured the distinctive pineapple and anise flavors. Starr told us later that he and bar manager Michael DeMahy had a challenge getting the rum blend correct, but I’m sure they’ll figure it out in time for its next appearance.
Mai-Kai beverage director Cory Starr (left) and bar manager Michael DeMahy host a special event featuring Spiribam products in the Bora Bora Bar on March 12, 2025. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward)
Starr and DeMahy have lots of plans for the cocktail program in 2026, including a new menu for the Molokai Bar with more of a craft cocktail focus. But unlike the Bora Bora Bar, which has featured more modern-style cocktails, the older bar will take more of a classic Mai-Kai approach in keeping with its vintage theming.
DeMahy said they want to take “the classic Mariano, Trader Vic, Don the Beachcomber style cocktails and re-envision them as if they were alive today.” He said it will be “more of a modern twist, but paying homage to the history and the style.”
“You have to reset your mind and say, ‘I’m paying homage to these classics,’ but how would they think if they lived here today with the products that are now available versus what was available back then,” DeMahy added. “I’m very excited to start working on it.” The menu is still in the very early stages of development, however, with tentative plans for a release no earlier than the third quarter of the year.
There’s nothing more ubiquitous during the Christmas season than a traditional eggnog, whether its a non-alcoholic version for the whole family or a boozy variation featuring whiskey, rum and/or brandy. It’s hard to mess up this holiday standard if you know what you’re doing, so we saw no need to weigh in with a unique recipe of our own. Until now.
Jeff “Beachbum” Berry serves up a tasty nog at Sippin’ Santa. (Official photo)
Over the past decade or so, we’ve tasted some excellent examples of modern nogs at the annual Miracle and Sippin’ Santa pop-up bars. In general, the craft cocktail revival has raised the bar on this formerly cringey classic that was more often served out of a carton.
Esteemed author and barkeep Jeffrey Morgenthaler is widely credited with championing eggnog with a craft cocktail slant, leading to a plethora of modern recipes. The recent explosion of local Christmas pop-ups that followed in Miracle’s wake has made the options even more plentiful.
But even in its most elevated form, eggnog is not typically a showcase for bold and aggressive rums. Kevin Crossman’s Ultimate Egg Nog is solid, but it splits the base with bourbon. Inspired by Derek Cole’s Tiki Eggnog, updated this year on his Make and Drink channel on YouTube, I sought to lean into the Tiki spices but also bring to the table the most flavor-packed (and potent) rum(s) in a classic eggnog format.
Hamilton Beachbum Berry’s Navy Grog Blend (114 proof) and Planteray Mister Fogg Navy Rum (111.4 proof) are robust and flavorful mixing rums. (Official photos)
The result is the Atomic Navy Nog, featuring not one but two Navy-style rums that have been calling my name since their release. Both Beachbum Berry’s Navy Grog Blend from Hamilton Rum and Mister Fogg Navy Rum from Planteray are outstanding mixing rums that deserve a lot more use beyond the namesake Navy Grog.
You could easily use one bottle or the other in this recipe if that’s all you have, but the 50/50 blend is surprisingly not too muddled or muted. In the Don the Beachcomber tradition, two rums are indeed better than one, even if they already are complex three- and four-country blends. To complete the link back to Donn Beach, I tried to employ some of his other favorite ingredients (cinnamon syrup, Gardenia Mix) to give the nog some depth of flavor beyond the rum.
The result, I hope, is a spicy and rummy eggnog that retains its classic form but gives rum and Tiki aficionados an extra special treat.
As November approaches and most of the country starts to buckle down for the winter, South Florida’s thoughts turn to … RUM, of course. More specifically, the Miami Rum Festival in Coral Gables, which celebrates the world’s most diverse spirit with three days of seminars and tasting events that target everyone from newbies to high-end enthusiasts, to industry professionals.
But the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival is the grand daddy of them all in the hottest of the rum hotbeds, launched in 2009 by longtime rum collectors and enthusiasts Robin and Robert Burr, author of Rob’s Rum Guide. This year’s gathering will be fifth at the historic Coral Gables Woman’s Club and the 15th overall.
Rum giant Bacardi, which has its American headquarters in Miami, regularly sends representatives to the Miami Rum Festival. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward / Nov. 12, 2023)
“South Florida is the number one rum market in the world and its only fitting that we present Miami Rum Fest as the best rum tasting program in the United States once a year in this location,” Robert Burr is quoted as saying. “Its also a chance for the international rum community to come together, from the islands of the Caribbean and the Americas to Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and beyond.”
The participating brands are carefully curated by the Burrs, reflecting both their interests in the global variety but also boutique and local producers who may not yet be major players. The website lists 68 different brands, and you can expect most to bring multiple expressions of their rum to the grand tasting, set for 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10. If you buy a VIP ticket, you get early entry at 12:30.
If you want to dive deeper into the history and techniques used to create today’s finest rums, be sure to check out the seminars on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Marriott. One ticket allows you access to all three, including Tiki Evolution: The Historic Rums and Iconic Cocktails of The Mai-Kai, which I’ll have the pleasure of presenting along with Kern Mattei and Cory Starr, the longtime manager and new beverage director at the Fort Lauderdale restaurant (est. 1956).
While I’ve attended and covered the festival for the blog nearly every year (see links below), this will be The Atomic Grog’s first seminar and our first time participating since the memorable Zombie Jamboree cocktail competition hosted by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry in 2011. We hope to see you there!
Robert and Robin Burr (center) with their staff at the 2019 Rum Renaissance Festival. (Photo by Miles Maximillian Vrahimis)
Following is a rundown on what you can expect at the 2024 festival.
Saturday’s seminars
The Miami Rum Festival has always offered a wide array of seminars and expert master classes for its participants. In recent years, these educational opportunities have been held on the event’s first day at the Marriott Courtyard Coral Gables, less than a mile from the tasting venue at the Coral Gables Woman’s Club.
That’s not to say the seminars don’t involve tasting rums. To the contrary, many of the intimate events have featured numerous samples of rare and exclusive spirits. The all-inclusive ticket ($79) also includes food and refreshments served during the breaks between seminars. Seating is limited, so advance reservations are encouraged. Get your seminar ticket now.
