Tiki culture is American art, music, and entertainment inspired by Oceanian art, Caribbean art, and art of the east Pacific. Influential cultures include Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, the Caribbean Islands, and Hawaii. Despite spanning over 10,000 miles and including many different unrelated cultures, religions, and languages, Tiki aesthetic is amalgamated into one "fantasia of trans-Pacific cultures."
The Mai Tai is a cocktail made of rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat syrup, and lime juice. It is one of the characteristic cocktails in tiki culture.
The Zombie is a Tiki cocktail made of fruit juices, liqueurs, and various rums. It first appeared in late 1934, invented by Donn Beach at his Hollywood Don the Beachcomber restaurant. It was popularized on the East coast soon afterwards at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. founded a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants that bore his nickname, "Trader Vic". He was one of two people who claimed to have invented the Mai Tai. The other was his amicable competitor for many years, Donn Beach of the "Don the Beachcomber" restaurants.
Tiki mugs are large ceramic cocktail drinking vessels that originated in tiki bars and tropical-themed restaurants. The term "tiki mug" is a blanket term for the sculptural drinkware even though they vary in size and most do not contain handles. They typically depict Polynesian, mock-Polynesian, tropical, nautical, or retro themes, and as the term is used generically do not always emulate a tiki. When used to serve drinks they are frequently garnished with fruit or decorative drink umbrellas and swizzle sticks.
A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian. Some bars also incorporate general nautical themes or retro elements from the early atomic age.
A Scorpion Bowl is a communally shared alcoholic tiki drink served in a large ceramic bowl traditionally decorated with wahine or hula-girl island scenes and meant to be drunk through long straws. Bowl shapes and decorations can vary considerably. Starting off as a single-serve drink known as the Scorpion cocktail, its immense popularity as a bowl drink in tiki culture is attributed to Trader Vic.
Flaming volcano is a large tropical group cocktail typically made with rum, brandy, pineapple juice, orange juice, and orgeat syrup. Many variations exist, and the cocktail in the 21st century is more about the presentation than an adherence to a set list of ingredients. It is usually a multi-user drink, served to a group in a special ritual vessel known as a volcano bowl, which is a decorative ceramic bowl designed with a rising central hub feature resembling a volcanic cone. The cone includes a "crater" reservoir which can be partially filled with rum or another flammable liquor. The crater liquor is carefully ignited when serving, creating a mild volcanic ambiance with its central blue flame.
The Navy Grog was a popular rum-based drink served for many years at the Polynesian-themed Don the Beachcomber restaurants; it is still served in many so-called tiki restaurants and bars. First created by Donn Beach, who almost single-handedly originated the tiki cultural fad of the 1940s and 1950s, it was one of dozens of rum concoctions that he, and later Trader Vic and numerous other imitators, sold in exotic tropical settings. Not quite as potent as the Beachcomber's more famous Zombie, it was, nevertheless, shown on the menu as being limited to two, or sometimes three, to a customer. Reportedly, Phil Spector consumed at least two Trader Vic’s Navy Grogs at the Beverly Hilton restaurant, without eating any food, the night he later killed actress Lana Clarkson.
Hot buttered rum is a mixed drink containing rum, butter, hot water or cider, a sweetener, and various spices. It is especially popular in the fall and winter and is traditionally associated with the holiday season. In the United States, the drink has a lengthy history that dates back to colonial days. During that time many families had their own individual recipes, and early Americans believed rum to be nutritious and a strengthener of the body.
The Diki-Diki is a cocktail made with calvados, Swedish Punsch, and grapefruit juice, dating back to the 1920s where it was popular in London's higher-end American Bar scene but is now more commonly served as a Tiki drink. The original recipe calls for shaking the ingredients with ice in 2:1:1 proportions, although many later variations have modified the ratio to greater emphasize the calvados as the base ingredient (4:1:1).
The Doctor cocktail is a pre-prohibition era cocktail that traces in drink guides to as far back as 1917, when it appeared in Hugo R. Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks. As originally described the cocktail called simply for Swedish Punsch mixed with lime juice.
A Boomerang cocktail is a specific cocktail dating back to the early 1900s. In the 21st century it may also be a reference to cocktails that bartenders illegally shuttle back and forth between bars as a way of sharing experimentation or building comradery.
The Atomic cocktail is a champagne cocktail that was popularized by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and casinos such as the Flamingo in the 1950s during a period of time when Vegas was known as the "Atomic City" and as a reaction to the popular culture of the atomic age. The name may also be used generically to refer to one of many similarly themed cocktails dealing with atoms, nuclear fission, or rocket flights that were created around this same period. Such cocktails were perhaps most famously served in the panoramic Sky Room of the Desert Inn, which had the highest view in the city at the time and where people "drank like fish" and sang songs as they watched the bombs detonate.
The Q.B. Cooler is a vintage tiki cocktail invented by Donn Beach that calls for a mixture of several rums, two syrups, fruit juices, and honey, mixed with club soda and dashes of Pernod, bitters, and grenadine. Another version purported to be from 1937 is slightly different and calls for varying rum proportions and ginger syrup in place of the fassionola and Pernod.
The Test Pilot cocktail is a vintage tiki drink invented by Donn Beach. Beach was known for changing his recipes over time, and multiple versions of the Test Pilot attributed to both him and others make the cocktail one of his more frequently imitated and varied tiki drinks. Test Pilot recipes call for multiple rums and typically include the use of falernum syrup and lime juice. The more popular also include Pernod (pastis/absinthe) and bitters.
Mr. Bali Hai is a tiki drink served in a special mug at the Bali Hai restaurant on Shelter Island in San Diego, California. The drink has had different recipes over the years, but a prominent version from the 1970s calls for 1 1/2 oz of dark Jamaican rum, 1 oz light Puerto Rican rum, 3/4 oz coffee flavored brandy, 1 1/2 oz unsweetened pineapple juice, 1 oz lemon juice, and 1/2 oz of sugar syrup. The mug has the same name as the drink, Mr. Bali Hai, and comes in the shape of a headhunter's head with a removable lid.
The Fog Cutter is a vintage tiki cocktail frequently attributed to being invented by Victor Bergeron that calls for a mixture of several liquors, the juice of lemon and oranges, orgeat syrup, and cream sherry. It is high in alcoholic content and has been called the "Long Island Iced Tea of exotic drinks." It has historically been served in special Fog Cutter ceramic mugs.
Jeff "Beachbum" Berry is an American restaurant owner, author, and historian of tiki culture, particularly the drinks associated with the tiki theme. In addition to researching and reconstructing lost recipes, he has invented and published his own cocktail recipes.
The PB2Y, or PB2Y Gremlin, is a tiki drink created by Victor Bergeron as part of a series of "gremlin" drinks for his Trader Vic's restaurants during World War II.
