Tiki statues from the South Seas add to the ambience of a Tiki bar's decor.
The South Seas, a fashionable tourist destination and design style in the 1930s, inspired native New Orleanian Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gnatt to change his name to Donn Beach and open the world's first Tiki bar in Los Angeles named "Don the Beachcomber." At the time of his death in 1989, the 81 year old had been christened the Thomas Edison of Cocktails, having invented 84 bar drinks over the course of his life. Creating a Donn Beach-inspired Tiki bar requires the right liquor to whip up tropical drink recipes, kitschy, themed barware, and a decor inspired by the tropics.
Liquor, Mixers and Garnishes
Rum is the liquor of choice for many tropical drinks; however, not all rums are created equal. The best Tiki bars are stocked with a variety of dark, white and spiced rums, plus an assortment of flavored rums, like citrus and coconut. As rum is distilled from sugar cane or molasses, colorful rimming sugars enhance the flavor of rum-based tropical drinks. Curacao is another common, colorless tropical drink liqueur that is typically tinted either blue or orange to give drinks like the Blue Hawaiian its vivid color. Grand Marnier, peach schnapps, Triple Sec and amaretto are other liqueurs essential to making a wide variety of tropical drink recipes. Some tropical drinks, like the piña colada and the daiquiri, come with prepared mixes. Nothing makes a drink tropical like fresh fruit garnishes and juices for mixers, so a small refrigerator stocked with pineapple, mango, orange, lime, lemon, papaya and passion fruit, in both juice and sliced form, is a must.
Swizzle, Stir and Clink
Nothing denotes a drink as tropical in flavor like the quintessential paper drink umbrella, but there is a wide variety of Tiki-themed barware and accoutrements available beyond the feminine cocktail parasol. To skewer the fresh fruit garnishes, use bamboo skewers or plastic drink swords that recall pirate rumrunners of yore. In the 1960s, kitschy Tiki barware was all the rage, so flea markets and vintage stores abound in tropical glasses and drink shakers decorated and shaped like Tiki statues, monkeys, coconuts, surfers and pineapples. Add the final Tiki touch to a tropical drink by pouring it over ice frozen into the shape of a palm tree or a Tiki god, then adding a colorful flamingo or monkey swizzle stick.
Exotic Ambience
A quintessential part of the Tiki Bar experience is the tropical decor. A faux thatched roof suspended above a wooden bar lined with grass skirting is a simple way to capture the look. Pillows in bright, tropical colors and upholstery with a palm leaf or Hawaiian print add to the South Sea ambience. Tiki torches work well as a lighting solution for outdoor tropical bars, though they should be kept well away from the highly flammable grass skirting on the Tiki bar itself. Other campy South Sea decor options to complete the Tiki bar look include dancing hula girl statues, oversized, wooden surfboards, palm fronds, leis and bright neon signs shaped like parrots and palm trees.
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