End of Summer Tiki Party!

This week we raise a glass and toast the Summer of 2015 with some Tiki talk (& Tiki Cocktails!)

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We talk with Nicole Weston – coauthor of Tiki Drinks -Tropical Cocktails for the Modern Bar.

It’s Bartender Journey Podcast # 128 - Tiki Edition!

·      Since it’s a Tiki Party , let’s get to our cocktail of the week right away!  Its an authentic Mai Tai.  We will use the recipe from Nicole’s book:

Mai Tai:

o   1 oz Aged Rum

o   1 oz Rhum Agricole (a style of rum originally distilled in the French Caribbean islands from freshly squeezed sugar cane juice rather than molasses.  I didn’t have any on hand, so I substituted Lablon Chasasa, which is the Brazilian spirit distilled from sugar cane juice.  We talked about Cashasa in episode #124.)

o   ½ Orange Curacao

o   ¾ oz Lime Juice

o   ¼ oz Orgeat

o   ½ oz Simple Syrup

o   Shake that all up serve over crushed ice

In the interview we talk about:

·      Different kinds of rum/different regional styles

·      The book’s great photographs and fun garnishes!

·      Syrup recipes used for making Tiki Drinks

·      The “lineage” of Tiki in the US is well laid out in the book:

o   Don’s Beachomber Café in LA 1934 (Later renamed Don the Beachcomber).

§  During Prohibition (1920-1933) Rum was not too hard to get.  After Repeal, Americans went back to gin and whiskey. Rum supplies were high and the price was low.  Don the Beachcomber used that to his advantage.

§  The place was popular with the Hollywood stars.

§  Recipes were secret…even the bartenders didn’t know all the ingredients they were using!

o   Victor Bergeron (Trader Vic).

§  Owned a bar in Oakland CA & in 1937, he transformed it into a Polynesian “Paradise” – he called Trader Vic’s.

§  He franchised and about a dozen of those are still in operation!

o   These places were popular, but the craze really took off after WWII when servicemen returned from the South Pacific & Hawii.

·      Tiki Revival now – why?

§  Inspired by the Fresh Juices of the cocktail movement?

§  Renewed interest in cocktail history?

§  Tiki drinks are not meant to be taken too seriously, (maybe nice contrast to some cocktail bars that do!)

·      Also mentioned on the show this week – Beachcomber Berry’s Drinks of the Caribbean.

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