Post #769728 by AceExplorer on Thu, Oct 27, 2016 11:59 AM

Swanky, good points and observations. From the standpoint of cocktails only, I have been observing what I suspect could become another fracture or schism among tiki cocktail revivalists -- the "purists" and the "modernists." The purists will tend to know and appreciate and prefer the old drinks and their subtle flavors and balances. The modernists will tend to embrace and encourage and prefer the newer drinks which rely heavily on innovative new syrups wild tinctures and sometimes esoteric and strange bitters, which are often things you cannot or do not want to make at your home bar. This makes the latter category of folks, the modernists, very 'professional bar-dependent' because they tend to get their tiki only where the bar owners don't mind taking whole 750ml bottles of 'expensive liquor X' and making 'old gym sock, shoe leather, and ginger tincture.'

To be clear, purists and modernists are both extremes on the scale. I fall somewhere in between, but will always profess a profound love and understanding and appreciation for the classics. And like you, I enjoy a well-made Old Fashioned too, among many other things outside of tiki.

I think what we're seeing is just plain old human nature. A lot of the new tiki folks come into it through their local "tiki" bars, and only a few come to endeavor to build a home bar. They will tend to most often be served by bartenders, and will rarely come to use recipe books and re-create drinks at home, with the possible exception of some shots, and maybe margaritas with Cuervo.

But there is a golden opportunity for us tiki folk, and others out there, to help bring about a home bar revival. Let the word get out that people can have pure awesomeness behind the stick in their own homes, combined with great social fun, and we can help folks discover more of the historical cocktail aspect of vintage tiki. I tell people often that our grandparents really knew how to drink!

So I recognize that this post is cocktail-centric. I think similar things can be said for décor, carvings, exotica music, food, etc. which are also being discovered by new folks to tiki.