The popular perception of Tiki drinks is that they are all rum all the time. While rum is certainly the central spirit to the movement, the Ancient Tiki Masters did not hew to it exclusively. Today’s Tiki drink is a gin-based concoction originated by Trader Vic.

More sour than your average Tiki drink, the Pogo Stick is nonetheless delicious. And it is the first gin drink of any genre I’ve encountered that uses a blender.
The name comes from the alternate garnish option that the Trader came up with. As I said, this drink is brighter in flavor than most Tiki concoctions, but rather than just hit it with some simple syrup, he would set a rock candy swizzle stick next to it when serving. It you want it sweeter, just stir the drink with the stick. The longer you stir, the sweeter it gets. It’s a cool idea, and I hope to find time to experiment more with it later this month. For my taste, this drink is delicious as is, without the stick, but for many, I can definitely see the appeal.

From: Trader Vic’s Tiki Party!

So I was watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel last night. The Modern Marvel being profiled was Whiskey
Overall, it was a cool episode, but there was a two minute segment that had me wanting to nuke the entire network. Forgive me while I step away from Tiki stuff to prosecute one of the worst heresies I’ve ever witnessed against the Gospel of Whiskey.
There was only one drink recipe presented in the entire episode (at least that I saw), and it was of course for the Manhattan. So far, so good. If you are to present only one recipe, that would be it. But they let the rep from Canadian Club do the presenting….
Here’s the recipe this chuckle-head gave:

I’ll pause so you can leap from your seat, just like I did.
How awful is this recipe? Let’s review:

Canadian Club? Are you kidding me? I might be able to forgive this. After all, he’s a CC representative, what the hell is he supposed to do, suggest Knob Creek? And I actually made a Manhattan with CC myself over Christmas. My Mother-In-Law made me, so sue me. But it just gets worse from here.

Harvey’s Freaking Bristol Cream?!? Sherry? Cardinal? Pile some wood around a stake, please.

The producers damn well ought to expect this, in this case!

Where the hell are the bitters? I know there is a shortage on, but if you don’t have a couple of dashes on hand, may I suggest a Daiquiri? Make sure there’s a lot of oil on that wood, please, guys….

On the rocks? No. Just… no.

{This TIki TImeout presented in the spirit of Rule 4, and with a nod to the God of Cocktail Rule 4.}

As I write this post, I’m wearing one of my new Hawaiian shirts I bought myself for Tiki Month. I slip one on before I go down to the Basement Bar to help get in the Tiki mood.

Really?
You have to change clothes just to mix up a drink?
It sounds a bit excessive to me.

Of course I don’t have to. I want to. For Tiki to work, you need to commit to it. Not for a month, like I’m doing, but for however long you are at it—even if only for an hour at a time. The more you do to put yourself in the mood, the more fun Tiki becomes.
One of the easiest ways to change your mood, even your personality, is to change your skin. Don’t just wear the Hawaiian shirt, rock the Hawaiian shirt. As the (sorta) great Larry Dierker said, Have you ever seen anyone with a Hawaiian shirt on who wasn’t having a good time?

At the start of the month, I went looking for some cool new shirts. And I also went looking for some answers. I found them both (via the magic of Google) at GoodHawaiianShirts.com. This website had a huge selection, and I was surprised at the prices, so I ordered three, instead of the two I intended. Then I dropped a line to the contact email and started a fun conversation with Bill Newton, the sales manager and co-owner. He taught me a lot about the shirts, and pointed me to some good web resources as well.

First off, the industry name for the Hawaiian shirt is Aloha shirt, a term trademarked by the Father of the Hawaiian Shirt, Ellery Chun of Waikiki. I suppose Tiki aficionados should briefly remove their hats at mention of his name. In about 1935, Chun made his first shirts out of old kimono fabric which wasn’t selling. This was concurrent, but not connected, with the start of the Tiki movement.
In Hawaii, the Aloha shirt is worn as business, even occasionally as formal wear. This reflects both the climate and the culture of the islands, and you can see a similar process in Bermuda and other tropical British colonies with the adoption of the Bermuda short.

Choosing one of these shirts can be hard, as selections can be as wild the individual prints. I counted over 350 styles just of men’s shirts on Bill’s site, so it helps to try to narrow your search. Bill told me there are two general categories of Aloha shirts, Traditional (or Hawaiian) and Contemporary (or Californian). Roughly speaking, Traditional Aloha shirts will have a floral or native tapa pattern, whereas Californian Aloha shirts have louder colors and will probably have things other than flowers on them.

Traditional designs generally cover the whole shirt evenly, and the colors are usually relatively muted. A common design choice is called Reverse Printing, where the shirt is made with the printed side of the fabric on the inside, muting the pattern even more. This kind of Aloha shirt is particularly popular for Hawaiian business wear, and is often worn tucked inside the waistband. I had thought that reverse print had died out, but Bill told me that style of Traditional Aloha just doesn’t sell well on the mainland anymore. He also was clear that while he sells a lot of Traditional-styled shirts, the ones that sell over here are still quite different than the ones “real” Hawaiians wear.

Contemporary Aloha shirts are the much better selling, but less authentic, Aloha style. These shirts have designs with all sorts of things, such as pictures of “woodies”, or pictures of WWII aircraft (or cocktails). Another type of California Aloha shirt has scenic depictions of palm trees, beaches, etc. A final type of contemporary shirt is the one with the horizontal floral band, usually with a smaller band around the sleeves.

In either case, the vast majority of Hawaiian shirts actually manufactured in Hawaii are made of cotton, with some rayon, and very little silk. Interestingly, the most expensive shirts on Bill’s site are the Rayon ones, not the cotton. All sell right now in the $30 to $50 range. When Bill and his partner started Good Hawaiian Shirts, they wanted to support and nurture actual Hawaiian made garments, so all their main inventory is Hawaiian made. But their industry is under heavy price pressure from Southeast Asian makers, and business is business. If you want to compare, they have a page of Low-Cost Imported Hawaiian Shirts as well.
I asked Bill what his favorite Aloha shirt was that hung in his own closet. His two favorites are a solid blue bowling shirt with a vertical stripe of flowers on the left side, and a reverse print floral for business meetings. Neither are available from his website, since they wouldn’t sell well enough on the mainland. Here is his runaway best-selling shirt:

Please understand, advises Bill, no local would ever wear this shirt, unless he’s making a joke. If you want to wear an Aloha shirt on your trip to the islands so you’ll fit in, choose carefully. On the other hand, if you are hipping out at a Tiki bar in LA, or warming up in your basement in Ohio with a Zombie, this is a great shirt! Remember, for the glorious gonzo that is Tiki, design authenticity is not a requirement. Bill would just want you to remember that unless your shirt was made on the islands, don’t call it a “Hawaiian shirt”!
Lots of people besides Tiki lovers buy Aloha shirts, of course. Bill told me his favorite “person” in the world is “Hawaiian Shirt Guy”, the guy with twenty shirts in his closet, who wears them whenever he is happy, and makes everyone he meets think that Aloha shirt = Happy.

Possibly NOT Bill’s idea of Hawaiian Shirt Guy

Another set in interesting customers he has are an ice fishing club who buy their shirts two sizes too big, so they can wear them over the top of their parkas. Those guys may not know it, but they understand Tiki….

No matter what style you prefer, whether you have only one shirt or thirty, if you are going out or staying in, or if you are throwing a party or just going away for an evening with your significant other, The Shirt is essential equipment. Just ask the experts.

This nonsense is why February has to be Tiki Month.

For tonight’s new Tiki drink, I offer you the Molokai Mule. This was a creation of the Kon-Tiki restaurant in Waikiki, one of a chain of Tiki palaces owned by Steve Crane.
The Molokai Mule is a product of the 1960s and thus an example of the sunset years of Tiki’s greatness. And in it I think that you can see the beginnings of the slow decline. There is everything you would expect to find in a Tiki drink here: Multiple rums, multiple juices, and one of the grand Tiki ingredients — orgeat. But it packs less of an alcoholic punch than earlier examples, both in proportion and in taste. And you can see here in reasonably full flower what some people like to harp on about with Tiki drinks, muddled flavor profiles.

I think the main culprit is the orange juice. It kind of overpowers the drink and drowns out the spirits. The cognac in particular might as well not be in there. I don’t bother with freshly squeezing my own OJ, but I think that the Molokai Mule is a case where you might see the difference.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a pleasant tasting drink. I wouldn’t have bothered posting it otherwise. But make it small, or you will likely be bored with it before you finish.
I found this drink via the iPhone app Tiki+. If you want to read more about it in a hold in your hands book (and have a spare 75 bucks) you can find it in Beachbum Berry’s Taboo Table.

Over at Bostonist, they notice something scary: One Horseman has become three!

First, the world nearly lost Angostura Bitters. Here and there, shortages still rend lamentations from the throats of woeful cocktailians. If AB can be threatened, then no ingredient can be truly safe, can it? I dubbed this the Bitterlypse, but Bostonist points out that it was merely one horseman of a wider cocktail apocalypse.

Second (third in Bostonist’s reckoning) came the Egg Nazis, descending on that Citadel of Good, Pegu Club in Manhattan. Really guys? I’ve eaten in New York City. The Gotham health inspectors have more important concerns than the threat of a little raw egg white being served in glasses full of disinfectant.

And it still gets worse.

Third comes a fell horseman, sweeping away all the OXO two ounce mini measures from stores, and none appear on the horizon to replace them! These truly are dire times.

But here’s the really creepy part. There are four horsemen. What pestilence will this guy bring?

Here’s another chance for me to give Rule 2 a workout by pointing you toward someone else getting his Tiki on this February.

The Liquor Fairy visited Jay, writer of the essential Oh Gosh! (and possessor of the cocktailosphere’s best URL), with a bottle of Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum. He writes:

Not exactly a pleasant sipper, it is nonetheless packed with incredible flavours that excite the tongue. Clearly such an intense rum isn’t really meant to be consumed on its own – this is a spirit made for mixing drinks.

This rum is designed to taste like rum did in the early portion of the Twentieth Century, so Jay chose (with advice from Camper) to feature it in a Don the Beachcomber Tiki drink, the Montego Bay. I’m going to try not to steal too many drink photos from this series of posts, so you’ll need to go read Jay’s post to see the gorgeous picture he has of his Montego Bay. His perfectly crushed ice and amazing garnish are 100% Tiki Month Certified.
Sadly, Smith & Cross is not available in Ohio, and I have no out of state murders to attend to this month. But I still need to think hard on finding some rums with more antique flavor profiles to lend authenticity to Tiki Month. Actually, the Liquor Fairy hasn’t brought me any new rum in… I’m not sure how long. I guess it is all going somewhere else.

Whilst Tiki Month is on, I’m going to take opportunity to give Rule 2 a workout. This little series of posts will give a heads up on who else out there in the blogosphere (besides real Tikibloggers) who is getting the Tiki on during February. So if you are a cocktail blogger, or food blogger—heck, if you are a knit blogger, cat blogger, or political blogger….

Hey!
How about if I’m a conspiracy blogger?

Uh…

No link for you.
Just a punch in the face.

Thanks Buzz. Where was I?
Oh yeah. If you get your Tiki on sometime this month, even just for a single post, shoot me an email (at doug -at- cocktailcapers -dot- com) and I’ll include you in the festivities!
My first “Rule 2 Work” feature is from Chez Grub, a brand new blog which is just getting up and running, and I think deserves some blog love and some traffic. (Hint, that means I want you to be sure to follow the link) Grub features what he calls Paradise in a Glass, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club cocktail. It is a well-written post, and anyone who makes their own falernum has a future blogging about food or drinks.
And anyone who partners with this good a photographer has a leg up, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Stolen from Chez Grub. High-res version and other shots to be seen there.

Don’t forget to give him a visit, and I now return you to your regularly scheduled drums and flickering volcano light.

Well now!
Isn’t it about time you actually do a drink post for Tiki Month? My lady is thirsty!

Quite right, my good sir!
Let’s start off Tiki month with a 1950s classic from Don the Beachcomber.

Don served this at his Colonel’s Plantation Beefsteak and Coffee House, in Hawaii. I think it is a pretty nifty Tiki punch, and apparently Don did too, since he named it after himself, in his World War Two incarnation.
I first found this one on Tiki+, and you can also read more about it in Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log.

I haven’t done an iPhone app review in a while, but this one is just made for Tiki Month. Tiki+: Exotic Drinks & Tiki Cocktails is a drink reference app that provides a collection of the best classic Tiki drinks from the Trader, the Beachcomber, and others. A product of teamwork between Beachbum Berry and Scorpiostech, Tiki+ is based on the same engine as Cocktails+, with a few modifications.
First, where Cocktails+ is a general reference, Tiki+ is not only genre-specific, but it is also curated more rigorously in the quality of the recipes therein. Cocktails+ avoids the real clunkers you find cluttering the 6,000 recipe apps, but it is still more variable in how good the drinks it offers are. TIki+ has only 150 recipes, with some notably bad drinks like the Pina Colada (tropical, but not TIki) conspicuous in their absence.

Tiki+ offers most of the features that have become de riguer in cocktail apps, and does them well. The browse drink screen has lots of useful information, with the drink name, most ingredients, and an icon which tells you in what manner it is served (frapped, shaken, rocks, hot etc.)

The individual recipe pages are well designed as well, with all basic info on a single, scrollable page. The tiki-themed backgrounds are fun and somehow manage to not make the pages unreadable. Each ingredient is hyper-linked to an informative page describing it. The source is given for each drink, as well as any relevant historical or conversational information. Finally, there is a small but lovely picture of the drink itself at the bottom of the page. The controls at the bottom are very limited, just the essential Favorites button, and a sharing button by which you can Tweet, Facebook, or email your find to the world.

There is also a host of good, concise information on the app, from Tiki history, to technique, to links to some good web locations to further your Tiki journey.

There are a few nigglling faults I find with in TIki+. You cannot page through the recipes without returning to the browse page. I’d like full-screen versions of the drink pictures. While browsing by base ingredient is nice, rum is so pervasive a spirit in Tiki drinks that 120 out of 150 drinks show on that page. To be more helpful, it should be broken down further by type of rum. Finally, while the apps page on iTunes shows a recipe with metric and one with imperial measures, the app itself has only imperial. (The Zombie recipe shown above is in ounces on my phone) I’m guessing this is localized by the country of your app store. If there is a preferences panel in the app that lets you change measures, I haven’t found it. And it should be there. (In the very first comment, Subfuture schools me. The preferences panel is in the global setting app, rather than inside Tiki+ itself. You can set your phone to give you recipes in ounces, cl, ml, or gills) The biggest problem with the app is that the developer, Ian Baird, has gotten a job with some rinky-dink outfit called Pear, or Mango, or Apple or something…. Any further updates or development (as with Cocktails+) will thus have to wait for a new developer. Fortunately, from my experience, the app is rock-solid as is, so don’t worry much about buying orphan-ware. Finally, $3.99 is on the high-end of cocktail apps pricing (equaling the superlative Flip ‘n Drink). But when people are shelling out two bucks for 50 Ultimate Lesbian Cocktails, it doesn’t really sound that bad.
I rate Tiki+ a solid buy, especially during Tiki Month, so pick it up and let it help you follow me through the tropical warmth of February!