Updated July 2026
Jump below: Updated Demerara Float review
Ancestor recipes UPDATED
Official recipe | Updated tribute recipes NEW
• Postscript: Demerara Float on YouTube
Related: The delicious Demerara Cocktail just can’t stay retired
Mai-Kai cocktail guide | See all the recipes
PDFs: Mai-Kai cocktail ratings | Cocktail ancestry
A classic retired Mai-Kai cocktail is once again having a moment in the sun in mid-2026, when the Demerara Float returned on a special menu during The Hukilau, the 24th annual Tiki weekender that has been held in conjunction with the historic restaurant since 2003.
RELATED: Special cocktail menu includes four retired classics
• Reviews, ratings of classics served at The Hukilau 2026
This descendant of Don the Beachcomber’s 1930s-era Demerara Dry Float disappeared from the menu in the late 1980s. More than three decades later, it made multiple special appearances starting with The Hukilau 2013. It was last seen on a special menu in 2017, three years before the October 2020 roof collapse that closed the restaurant until 2024.
Fast forward to June 2026, more than 18 months after the grand reopening that capped a $20 million restoration project that also saw the arrival of new beverage director Cory Starr. For The Hukilau, Starr and his bar team rolled out a menu of four classics, including the Demerara Float. In a change from past versions, it featured a float of the new Mai-Kai rum blend released in November 2025.
FAQ: Everything you need to know about Mai-Kai Rum No. 1
This new excitement was also fueled by a popular YouTube show and the unexpected revival of the cocktail’s classic glassware. We’d also like to thank Matt “Spike” Marble for rekindling interest in the Demerara Dry Float (and Demerara Float) by featuring our previous tribute recipe on Tiki Cocktails With Spike just days after The Hukilau. Follow this link or watch below in the postscript.
Marble also revealed a new glass from Stephens Drinkware that replicates the design of the cocktail’s original vessel, used by both Don the Beachcomber and the Mai-Kai. The iconic Streamline Tumbler from the Seneca Glass Co. is nearly impossible to find today. The new versions are handcrafted to order, so be sure to pick one up via Stephensdrinkware.com while they’re available.
Of the 43 cocktails on the Mai-Kai’s inaugural 1956-1957 menu, 41 can be traced back to classics created by Donn Beach at his groundbreaking Polynesian restaurants in the 1930s and ’40s. Many key staff that opened the Mai-Kai with owners Bob and Jack Thornton, including acclaimed mixologist Mariano Licudine, came from the Don the Beachcomber location in Chicago.
Licudine, who had worked for Beach since 1939, had access to the Tiki cocktail pioneer’s secret recipes. Manager Bob Van Dorpe, who was the purchasing agent in Chicago, knew how to procure the proprietary syrups and unique glassware that made these drinks special. The Streamline Tumbler was one of these.
Recipes were changed slightly, and many names changed, but the cocktails and their presentation remained a time capsule to another era. Licudine retired in 1979, but his influence is still being felt. Many of his recipes remain secret with Starr maintaining this integrity when he relaunched the bar program.
Related: Updated cocktail ancestry (PDF)
Past coverage: More retired cocktails | Tropical drink family tree
Of those 41 drinks from 1956, 24 are still on the Mai-Kai’s cocktail menu today. The others, including the Demerara Float, fell off the menu over the years and were once considered “lost cocktails.” But since most of them have been revived for special occasions over the past decade, we now simply call them “retired” in the hopes that they return for another encore.
Our Mai-Kai cocktail guide, which is due for a major update in 2026, features ratings, reviews and recipes for nearly every classic drink that has appeared on a main Mai-Kai menu. There are some official recipes that have been published, but mainly we share our own “tribute recipes” that we hope come close to the look and taste of the versions served at the Mai-Kai.
We also like to connect the dots and feature an extensive collection of “ancestor recipes,” typically those Don the Beachcomber originals that inspired Licudine and the Mai-Kai. Thanks to author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and his six seminal books and app, we’ve been able to post many of these former secret recipes.
Now, we have an additional resource: Searching for Don the Beachcomber, a new book by Tim “Swanky” Glazner, who also wrote Mai-Kai: History and Mystery of the Iconic Tiki Restaurant. The fascinating biography includes recipes for 47 vintage cocktails that first appeared on Don the Beachcomber menus from 1937 through ’42.
The book features 36 cocktails that made their way to the Mai-Kai, including 25 on the current menu and 11 that are retired. Some are the same as recipes we’ve seen before in Berry’s books and elsewhere, but many are different and a few are brand new. Over time, we plan to incorporate all of these updates into the Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide.
In our latest extensive update below, you’ll find an updated review of the Demerara Float served during The Hukilau, plus a new tribute recipe. We’ve also added the new ancestor recipe from Glazner’s book featuring the new replica glassware. Before the general release late this year, Glazner is offering signed copies at a discount through his online store. The book is highly recommended.
Previous coverage: Countdown to Don the Beachcomber biography begins with fundraiser, early special edition
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