Post #765832 by JenTiki on Tue, Jul 5, 2016 7:55 AM

I want to encourage you to take the suggestion to pick up the Smuggler's Cove book from Martin Cate. The rum system in the book makes it easy to get what you need for the drinks you want to make, and makes sense of the different styles of rum, beyond color (white, gold, dark, etc). The colors really mean nothing for the most part. The book lists a ton of bottles that are pretty easy to find (online if not in local retail) and tells you what you can substitute if you can't find the one in your recipe. And because of the way the rums are categorized, you can get by with just 4-8 bottles to make just about all the tiki drinks.

The local liquor store employees rarely know anything about tiki drinks, much less which rums should go in them, so it would be best to go into those places knowing what you're looking for. It also doesn't hurt to call ahead to ask if they have what you want before you waste your time and theirs looking for something they don't carry. It's probably best to call in the middle of a weekday, when they're not likely to be very busy.

You should definitely stop at Hi Time in Costa Mesa. I haven't been there since Forrest left, but they had a pretty great rum selection back then, and probably still do. Be warned though, you'll probably end up buying much more than you intended when you see what they have.