The father and son team of Munktiki. No Tiki mug collection is complete without an uber-cool modern jug from MunkTiki. My collection is not yet complete. Which should I go for first?

This one is an absolute classic Tiki drink. It has an awesome name, which was stolen by Trader Vic for a variant on his Mai Tai. It has all sorts of varients, such as the Dying Bastard and the Dead Bastard. It is not in fact a rum drink, which makes it stand out. It has a very distinctive, unusual, and exotic taste. And it is one of those drinks that is once again accessible to normal drink mixers because of the sudden plethora of good ginger beers that you see in mainstream grocery markets these days.

Plenty of folks in the non-Tiki Cocktailosphere have covered this one before me. Matt Hamlin notes its similarity to but greater complexity than the more widely known counterpart, The Dark ‘n Stormy. Interestingly, while the Dark ‘n Stormy is in fact made with rum, it’s not generally thought of as a Tiki drink! Both, of course, are Bucks….

The Dead and Dying variations are billed as hangover cures, and SeanMike, back in his LiveJournal days, offered his own caffine-laden version, the Wake Up and Suffer, You Bastard.

Among the awesomeness that surrounds this drink is the array of Suffering Bastard-themed Tiki mugs out there. The iconic one is Trader Vic’s, even though these would not have been served containing a real Suffering Bastard. These are quite collectible, selling for over $100 on eBay in the last few months.

My favorite of the bunch is MunkTiki’s Wannabe Bastard offering. This little guy almost makes a hangover sound fun. Almost.
It, like most of the really cook Bastard mugs out there, is also expensive, which is why you see a snifter used in my own photograph above.

For a completely sober and serious take on the nature and construction of the Suffering Bastard, I leave you with the classic first episode (that’s worth a damn) of TikiBarTV:

If you are going to get into Tiki to any extent at all, you ought to know about Ooga-Mooga. Presided over by The Keepress of the Tiki Flame, Humuhumu, Ooga-Mooga is the online resource for Tiki mugs, bowls, and other drinkware. It is not really a place to buy Tiki mugs, though there are currently over 500 mugs available to buy, and over 1,100 available for trade on the site. It is instead at its heart a place for Tiki-philes to record and showcase their collections of Tiki drinkware, etc.

He’s for sale, if you want him….

But Ooga-Mooga is more valuable than just that. (And once you buy your first Tiki mug, your collection will grow. Mine sure has, though I just don’t know how… I think the little bastards are simply fertile.) There are a number of tools and doodads on the site that let it do a number of things for you. Among the best features is the way Ooga-Mooga can help you identify a mug you’ve seen, and if one isn’t available for sale or trade on the site itself, you can at least learn enough to go looking for it elsewhere, since Googling “That mug I saw at Steve’s friend’s apartment last month with the volcano” seldom yields much success….

I found the mug above by searching Oooga-Mooga’s search engine for items that were gray, and had volcano imagery. (Unfortunately there is no field to say that you saw it at Steve’s friend’s apartment) It is a Frankie’s Tiki Room Bombora’s Blast Mug, and you can learn all about it on its main Ooga-Mooga page which tells you it can be found in 44 different collections on the site. You will also find that none of them are currently offered for sale or trade by collectors on the site, which is understandable because this mug is awesome. But the page will also tell you that mugs of this design are seen regularly on eBay, and lists the latest auctions for it. This part of each page will also list any other places people have seen the design for sale.
Many current, mass-produced mugs will have neither any for sale or trade on Ooga-Mooga, nor any eBay auctions listed. But in these cases, there is enough good info to Google with to find them in regular retail outlets.

I never knew there was a Tiki mug based on my father….

There is also a web app for when you hit the flea markets, trolling for mugs. And if you let mug collecting get under your skin, you will hit the flea markets….

Of, course, they may hit you back….

You can get a full statistical run-down of the mugs on Ooga-Mooga here, but I’ll highlight some stats to give you an idea of the size of the database. There are 760 collections online, and if you were having a party and wanted to fill each mug listed at the same time, you would need 1,778.9 gallons of Zombies to do it. I think we should try, since it would probably require buying enough Lemon Hart 151 to buy Ed Hamilton a new boat.

Bigger than this one.

If all the Tiki Month pictures around here have you hankering to learn more about Tiki Mugs of all sorts, check out Ooga-Mooga.

Warning!
The Surgeon General has determined that Tiki mugs are addicting!

This almost makes me want to drink red wine…. The Trevi Aerating Wine Glass. (H/T: Likecool)

Among the cooler things I got for Christmas this year was a Tiki vessel set, part of which you can see above. It’s a pitcher, a mug, and (under the blue umbrella and hidden by the magic Tiki volcano eruption) a shot glass. They were made and given to me by my niece Beth, who among other things is a very creative ceramic artist. She’s also a Tiki Month fan and indulges her interest by making custom, one of a kind Tiki mugs.

I like mine. They look cool. And while they don’t have smooth texture and more graphic geometry of most Tiki mugs, they definitely have the right vibe.

If you are interested in one of Beth’s creations, she has an Etsy.com shop called ElizabethJeanCreations. She seldom takes too long to sell her stuff, so there are only a few items there as I write this. If you don’t see something you like, drop her a line through the shop, or through her FaceBook page, Capricious Creations in Clay. Custom orders are no problem.

In case you think you’ve seen something like this before, I used the other mug in my set for the Nui Nui post and this one.

I was reminded by some comments today of something I’d planned to do at the start of Tiki Month, but forgot about. It’s about drinking vessels of all types, not just Tiki mugs. I try (sometimes not very hard) to produce cool illustrations to go with many of my posts (sometimes not very successfully). Other bloggers do a hugely better job than I.
Further, as I surf other bloggers’ sites and look at their drink photos, I often find myself as much interested in the container as I am in the drink. And there are few things more frustrating than looking at a gorgeous cocktail glass and having no idea of what it is, who makes it, and where I could get for my own.

You get this sensation too, don’t you? See, I feel your pain.

So I am going to start including a brief description of glasses or Tiki mugs that I photograph. It’ll include a link to wherever I can find that carries it, so you can get your own if you like.
In the event I can find it on Amazon, I’ll always link there. This is because if you follow my link to Amazon and then buy, I get a small commission at no expense to you. Consider it hitting my tip jar. If I can’t find it on Amazon, I’ll give whatever advice I can.

Here’s what it’ll look like:

Booga Booga!
(Hot Lava Java Tiki Mug: available from Amazon.com )

As I get a chance, I’ll go back through old posts and add this info as I can, starting with the post people were asking about.

Swizzles are a classic style of cocktail that well predate Tiki, but seem to have been adopted more or less whole cloth by the movement for a variety of reasons. Swizzles can be made with virtually any liquor, but the most popular is rum, a trend I suspect was cemented by the Tiki movement. Like grogs, swizzles use a variety of juices that further help it fit in with the Tiki movement.
Of course, the real defining feature of the drink is that it is swizzled, i.e. stirred, in the glass with the eponymous Swizzle Stick. These can be anything from little coffee stirrers, to little plastic sculptures. Materials can get quite exotic too, like Sun-Dried Aardvark-Tongue Swizzle-Sticks. The infinite variety of design you can put into swizzle sticks is what makes the style so readily adoptable by the Tiki masters, and there is a huge array of Tiki-style swizzles to be had. Another Tiki drink I’ve already profiled this month is the Pogo Stick, which uses rock candy swizzles to more than just mix the drink.
I’m pretty sure that there are more Rum Swizzle recipes out there than Carter has pills, with a variety of readings on the Tiki scale. I’m going to go with a simple one that just showed up in my email box, in a promotional email from KegWorks of all places. It is simple and straightforward to make, yet complex, refreshing, and exotic to drink. I tried it with a couple of pretty good rums. All were tasty, but Goslings Black Seal stood way out in front as the best in this formulation.

So, Dude.
Why is there no swizzle stick in the picture?

Well, first of all, I had just crafted this little floating garnish and wanted to show it off. Second, I was using a different swizzle than any I mentioned above. Remember that when you are alone in the bar, no one sees you. The handiest swizzle of all is a clean digitus secundus….

UPDATE: Welcome Phoenix New Times readers! Please wander about while you are here. There’s lots of other great libations to try.

Recently, I heard that OXO, the makers of many nifty kitchen gadgets, had discontinued their gadget most near and dear to the hearts of many cocktailians, the OXO 2oz. Angled Measuring Cup.
I was miffed, as were a bunch of others. I asked everyone who read my piece to spread the word and to contact OXO, asking them to please not discontinue this essential product. Apparently, our efforts got their attention, because this comment appeared yesterday:

Stop the presses!!!! This is OXO. Seriously…OXO. I want to clarify that the Mini Measuring Cups are NOT discontinued! They are currently only available at retail (and I saw them on Amazon – just type in “OXO Mini Measuring Cups”), however we are working on a configuration to make both the stainless steel and plastic versions available on our website, http://www.oxo.com, very (very) shortly. Stay tuned!

I immediately communicated with the commenter, Bena, who is a Senior Brand Communication Manager for OXO. Apparently, the problem was that OXO had discontinued selling the cups on their own website, rather than discontinued making them. Apparently, they had a minor internal miscommunication which resulted in inquiring minds being told that the cups were no longer being made. The issue is that heretofore, OXO has sold the cups only in packs of 24. This does seem a pretty large number to buy at once, I will admit. When you buy a single cup from Amazon, or at a retailer like Bed, Bath, & Beyond, for four bucks, the retailer has broken up one of these 24 packs for resale. Why they don’t just sell them in smaller quantities (I’d suggest three packs), I don’t know, but Bena assures me it isn’t quite that simple. (Last sentence edited after clarification)
Still, the status of discontinued on the OXO website will apparently be short-lived. Plastic mini measures will soon be available there again, with the stainless steel to follow at some point. Bena has not gotten me actual numbers on the calls and emails they’ve received, but she was sure it was a pretty good number. It got her attention at any rate! So I call this one a victory for the cocktailosphere (whether our squawking actually had anything to do with the decision or not).
Regardless, we can all rest easy, our cocktail jiggers will not pass into that good night. Also, another OXO manager I corresponded with, Michelle, did reassure me that, while the cups were designed primarily for cooking, OXO has for quite some time realized how popular the product is with bartenders, professional and enthusiast.

Oh, and I did not call a Tiki Timeout from the February festivities here for this post because I think the mini measures are especially valuable for Tiki drinks. More than any other kind of drink, Tiki drinks call for large numbers of ingredients in small quantities. You can make these drinks with jiggers and spoons, but the process gets even more laborious. And all the Hawaiian shirts and Tiki music in the world won’t keep your mood happy if it takes you longer to make your drink than it does to drink it!
So, to celebrate the resurrection of the Mini Measure, demonstrate it’s Pegu Blog Certified Tiki Effectiveness™, and make a Rule 2 tie-in back to where I first heard of the whole kerfuffle (as well as throwing in a shoutout to two products brought by the Liquor Fairy), I present to you the following treat from Tiare, at a Mountain of Crushed Ice.

CATDADDY MOONSHINE ZOMBIE PUNCH

• ¾ oz fresh lime juice
• ½ oz Donn`s mix (now available from Trader Tiki!)
• ½ oz Falernum
• 1.0 oz dark Jamaican rum
• 1.0 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
• 1 oz 151 demerara rum
• 1 oz Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine
• Dash Angostura bitters
• 6 drops Herbasint or Pernod
• 1 tsp Grenadine
• 6 oz crushed ice

Put everything into a blender, saving ice for last and blend at high speed for 5 sek. Pour into a chimney glass. Garnish 2 pineapple leaves and a lime slice.

Now, if I could only get them to make a metal, 2 cup, dry measuring cup, I’d be my wife’s hero….

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?

I have a cocktail call to arms! It is time for all good culinary and cocktail enthusiasts to flex their consumer muscle to try to bring back a truly essential product.
Via the comments in a thread at A Mountain of Crushed Ice, I learned that OXO has decided to discontinue what is perhaps the most essential bar accessory out there, the OXO 2 oz. mini measuring cup!

This little measuring cup is simply the best jigger out there. If you are making cocktails that require precision, or you are cooking and use small amounts of ingredients, these little cups, with markings as low as 1/4 oz. or 10 ml, are a very valuable tool. Tiara asks in her post what everyone’s favorite jigger is, and the hands down winner is the OXO. But Jim of Vessel alerts us in the comments that OXO has discontinued them!
I immediately called OXO to confirm this. The lady I spoke to had no explanation but did confirm that OXO no longer makes the mini measure. She also said that they had received a surprisingly large number of complaints, especially from bartenders and other cocktailians, about the move.
I think we need to encourage everyone we know to contact OXO and ask that they return the cups to production. They are tracking the response they get.
To contact OXO, you can email them at info@oxo.com, call them at (800) 545-4411, or use their web contact page.
There are still some of the cups out there in the supply chain. Amazon has two links to the plastic version (here and here) and one for the stainless steel. As of this writing, there was still stock left at each. But it would be a shame if this product stays out of production. Contact OXO and save the world’s best jigger!

Welcome Bostonist readers! While you are here, please look around. It is Tiki Month here at the Pegu Blog (thus the weird theme), and I have some more thoughts here about the Cocktail Apocalypse as well.

More: Down in the comments, I am reminded that these mini measures really are useful for cooking, too. And for those with dexterity issues, they may be easier to manipulate than standard measuring spoons. Why then are they being discontinued? One, I think OXO missed the boat on marketing the cocktail angle, and two, I think they are just too darn cute to be taken seriously by a lot of cooks.