End of Summer Tiki Party! - a podcast by Brian Weber is a Professional Bartender and Cocktail & Spirit Enthusiast.

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

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

Listen with the player below or subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

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

·     
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:

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

During 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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