Tropical tipples, tasty food draws crowd to 9th annual Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival

KAILUA-KONA — The sun was shining bright over the Royal Kona Resort Saturday as residents and tourists alike moseyed from tent to tent sampling the best some of West Hawaii’s top chefs had to offer.

But the real star of the ninth annual Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival was, of course, that popular tropical tipple that lends the festival its name.

“Mai tai is synonymous with Hawaii,” said Jeff Isbister, director of food and beverage at the Royal Kona Resort. Isbister said in recent years as many as 1,500 to 2,000 people have come out for the annual event.

Donn Beach, who opened the original “Don’s Beachcomber” in the 1930s, is credited with inventing the mai tai, although Victor Jules “Trader Vic” Bergeron Jr also lays claim to crafting the drink.

“Trader Vic had some great drinks,” Isbister said at Saturday’s festival. “But he’s a poser when it comes to claiming he invented the mai tai.”

The Mix-Off brought out 21 bartenders from Hawaii and beyond, all vying for the top prize: a $10,000 cash prize and the title of World’s Best Mai Tai.

Among this year’s competitors was Melani Newman, born and raised in Maui but now living in Virginia, where she works at Dogwood Tavern. She was competing at the festival for the first time.

“I worked at a tiki bar in New York and all that,” she said, “so it’s kind of like right up my alley as far as craft cocktails go. It was just like, yeah, this should be reallly fun, you know?”

Christopher Nevins, who works at the Lobby Lounge of the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, was competing for the fourth time.

He’s previously finished third, fourth and fifth in this contest.

Nevins said the tiki-style is “an old-school style cocktail” that, while a little sweet, should also have a great balance.

“A lot of people think it’s gonna be sweet off the bat,” he said, “And then you tell them, the original mai tai is lime juice and it’s a tart drink. And then they totally just change their mind and want to try it.”

“So I think tiki is making a strong comeback for the right reasons, because it’s a balanced cocktail.”

Both Nevins and Newman stressed the importance of using fresh and high-quality ingredients in their drinks.

Nevins said he uses coconuts from his yard in his mai tai and said using local ingredients like fresh limes are the way to go.

And Newman said that in her mai tais, everything is made fresh. None of her ingredients except the liquor, she said, are store-bought, with her guavas coming from a local farmers market.

“I wanted to use ingredients that were familiar to me growing up,” she said. “Like familiar to me from Hawaii, like hibiscus and guava and macadamia nuts. It reminds me of Hawaii. It reminds me of tiki.”

Judges for the day’s event include local chef and restaurateur Sam Choy and Body Glove owner Billy Meistrell among others.

And while all the judges were evaluating certain elements of each competitor’s entry, it’s tough to pinpoint what exactly is going to win the judges over.

“It’s because everything is subjective,” said Isbister. “Everybody’s taste is going to be different.”

In the end, it was Kevin Beary of Three Dots and a Dash in Chicago that took home the top prize.

But it wasn’t just bartenders working to bring home a prize.

Chefs from a total of 11 local restaurants and eateries spent the afternoon putting out their best efforts on a plate for the day’s Battle of the BBQ.

“I just like coming down here, see everybody,” said Jake Newlon, owner of Big Jake’s Island B-B-Q. “I know they’re just having a blast.”

Newlon, whose business is based in Honaunau, said he’s been coming down to the festival “since day one.”

His first year, he won the People’s Choice.

This year, he prepared kiawe-smoked teriyaki flap meat, plated like a miniature plate lunch with rice and mac salad.

Andrew Fisher, owner of Cool Runnings catering and food truck, meanwhile was back this year vying for a repeat victory at the festival after winning the Judge’s Award last year.

“We came back to see if we can do it again,” he said.

Last year, he said he did a jerk chicken and ribs. This year, they were doing a jerk pulled pork.

But ultimately it was the Kona Butcher Shop that took Judge’s Award and Broke Da Mouth Grindz taking People’s Choice.