Cocktails are a quintessential part of a vacation in a tropics, wouldn't you agree? It's something that convinces vacationers that vacation has finally arrived. We embraced the idea and cheated on our beloved Wine when we went bar hopping in Wailea, Maui. Hey, what happens on Maui, stays on Maui, except for Hawaiian shirts!

The first time we cheated on wine was kind of accidental when we went to Wailea boutique mall to grab a few things. On the way out, we thought, why not have a drink at Lineage - the local favorite. At first, we focused solely on wine, but it's hard to concentrate on vacation. There's so much distraction like the beach, blue ocean, and people in bathing suits that vacationers bound to daydream what if. That's how we chose cocktails instead of wine. It's hard to say whether it was catchy names or intriguing ingredients. In any case, we couldn't resist the temptation.

At Lineage, we had a threesome of cocktails: Mai'a Tai, Utu Bamboo, and Oh Yeah!

Utu Bamboo

We had to try Utu Bamboo because it's the Amontillado Sherri based drink, and that's rare. The sweetness of Amontillado Sherri is balanced by the acidity of lime juice and astringency of Hebstura bitters. The nuttiness and caramel of Sherri are complemented by toasted coconut and sweetness of Banana liqueur and Sake.

Oh Yeah!

Oh Yeah! was well balanced with just a touch of sweetness and dominated by smokey, ginger, almond, and cherry pit notes. It's an excellent choice for those who like refreshing and clean tasting cocktails.

Mai'a Tai

Mai'a Tai cocktail showed off an innovative approach in creating a Lineage version of Mai Tai. Instead of common ingredients like Curacao and orgeat (sugar+water+nuts), they used Apricot liqueur, Banana Milk Punch (fermented homebrew), pecans, and walnuts and added freshness with lime juice. It's been a few years since we had Mai Tai, and it turned into temptation and mistery that followed us throughout the trip.

We hope Wine can forgive us, but we cheated on it two more times because the first one felt so good.

Next time it was during dinner at Spago, Wolfgang Puck Restaurant at Four Seasons. Hey, they had a Mai Tai, and we had to try it for comparison purposes, of course. Spago's Mai Tai was completely different from the first one we had. It was stronger, orangy, and a bit sweeter. We liked it, but nothing beats the first kiss.

Fate would have it that someone told us that they make really good cocktails at Andaz resort. Property is gorgeous, and when you couple it with cocktails, it hard to say no to a lazy afternoon with a drink in a lounge on a shore overlooking the four-level pool and sky blue ocean.

While the resort is work of art and the views from the bar are spectacular, the cocktails were mediocre. We ordered a Southern Fizz, some plum flavored cocktail special, and of course, Mai Tai. This threesome was utterly unsatisfying. All drinks came across as sweet and weak on alcohol, although the waitress said that there are two ounces of liquor in each. We suspect too much simple syrup in all of them killed the flavor and the buzz. Even Southern Fizz left a coy feeling, although it's a gin and lime driven drink. We could taste lime and cucumber in it, but that pine gin flavor was masked by sugar. The waitress did offer us to remake the cocktails, but we didn't like them so much ($60 down the drain) that we decided to go to Lineage for seconds.

Oops. We were wrong. We did it three more times. Shh... Don't tell Wine.

The Lineage threesome was awesome: Lineage Paloma, Pink Palaka, and Makule Kiawe.

Lineage Paloma

Lineage Paloma was the most unusual tequila forward cocktail with a balanced sweet and sour taste. We thought it would pair well with vegetarian dishes.

Pink Palaka

Pink Palaka had the most tropical flavor with Brazilian sugarcane spirit, Jamaican rum, Coconut Cream, and tropical fruits. It's pinkish color, thanks to dragon fruit made it quintessential girly drink.

Makule Kiawe is a spectacular drink. Literally! The bartender makes the cocktail and covers it with another glass filled with smoke from the Kiawe tree for a few minutes to infuse the with mesquite flavor. The resulting drink is a smoking great Old Fashioned with an excellent balance of flavors and sweetness derived from Kiawe bean.

Cudos to Lineage

In short, Lineage may not have the views and luxurious atmosphere of Andaz or Spago at Four Seasons, but they have excellent bar pros who make fantastic drinks. Lineage has the best mixologist because there was a lot of thought put into flavors and visual design. Interestingly, none of their mixed drinks had a simple syrup (water+sugar), and the sweetness comes either from fruit or liqueur or other sweet alcoholic beverage. For stronger drinks, they use one large ice cube to avoid diluting the flavors.

Bar hopping in Wailea, Maui was awesome experinece!

In conclusion, it's great to walk around Andaz and Four Seasons and enjoy the scenery. They may have the awards for their bar and restaurants and charge you 25-30% premium, but if you are a cocktail connoisseur, Lineage may satisfy you better.

Now to mistery, we hope you can help us solve it. We liked Lineage Mai'a Tai the best, but both Andaz and Spago made it differently. What do you think classic Mai Tai suppose to taste like? What flavors are we suppose to look for? What's your favorite cocktail on a tropical vacation?