Post #485610 by Capt. R.H. Falernum on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 9:36 AM

As the only member of my social group with an active interest in tiki, I've spent the majority of my 'drinking years' dragging friends into tiki bars & introducing them to the (tasty) world of tiki drinks & Polynesian Pop.

Time & again, though, I've witnessed one of the greatest flaws in how tiki bars present their cocktail menus. While the graphically-alluring & exotically-written cocktail menu can immediately enchant a guest into trading in his/her "gin & tonic" for a "Chief Lapu Lapu," "Zombie" or "Missionary's Downfall;" a newcomer to the world of the tiki drink often takes only one chance to 'dip a toe' into the waters of these exotic cocktails.

Knowing the great range of flavors in the countless tiki drinks, it's as-likely-as-not that a newcomer will chance upon a perfect cocktail choice on his/her first go. A good selection means that they'll try another, a poor selection and they're probably back to their "gin & tonics" for the foreseeable future.

Of course, this issue does not only apply to newcomers. The (usually) higher cost of tiki drinks means that there is less chance of a drinker experimenting with a bar's custom tiki drinks or even with some of the more obscure (albeit classic) tiki cocktails.

To solve these issues (and more!), I propose a dead-simple idea: FLIGHTS.

Many of you are probably aware of flights of wine -- where a selection of 3-6 wines are served in smaller portions so that a taster may sample & compare a greater range of flavors & vintages.
This, obviously, allows a drinker to try (and discover) more wines than drinking glass-by-glass. The same would be true for tiki drinks with the added benefit of encouraging drinkers to try an entirely new (to them) class of drinks.

Introducing flights to a tiki bar can be relatively simple:

• Focus on a select number of cocktails each night (3-5 is probably good to offer a range of tastes)
• Pre-batch the cocktails en masse (making cocktails in 'party proportions' saves the time of having to continually mix the complicated recipes)
• Forgo the garnishes & exotic glassware - this is just a tasting platter; not a full presentation
• Supply some 'tasting notes' to inform the drinkers of what they are tasting & why it's a unique cocktail
• Price it competitively to be a value & encourage customers to "drink outside of their comfort zone"

Flights of cocktails will encourage newcomers to try tiki drinks for the first time & experienced tiki drinkers to try some of the of more exotic and/or custom cocktails. More importantly, it will help me when I drag my friends to your bar with promises that they'll discover cocktails that will revolutionize their sense of drink enjoyment. :wink:

Cheers! :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: (artist's representation of a flight of tiki drinks)

**On a completely unrelated note: I'm sure that somewhere in my storied past, I made a promise to myself to never title anything with "An open letter to..." But, I assure you, that I use this device for only two purposes: 1) jest 2) because it actually seems to define the nature of this post.