Remembering The First Time

... drinking a polynesian cocktail (correct term?), you preverts :P

Question is, does one consider the actual drink, whether it fits the lexicon of BB Grog Log etc., or whether it was in an actual Tiki establishment?

I'm pretty sure my first-ever-in-the-whole-world polynesian cocktail was in a chinese restaurant called Magic Wok in Central West End, st. louis, during college. The drink was a Scorpion, coz it matches my zodiac sign :sheckymug: It was fine for a n00b, and the jones for the fruit/rum drink was well established.

I'm pretty sure my first "in situ" drink was a Tiki Tumbler at the Honolulu. Nuff said, it rocked and it was the first time I got a tiki mug froma drink I actually bought.

take it away - although let's give condiments a rest - ? :P :tiki: :P

j$

Yeah, I was going to say " I remember my first time, it was cold, dark, and I was alone".

I remember drinking from my Dad's home made Mai Tai in a Tiki mug. I thought those mugs were so freakin' cool. Actually I still think they're pretty cool, only now they're in my house, which really is even cooler actually. I was maybe 4 or 5 and living in Guam. No wonder I ended up like this.
A

On 2003-12-05 10:42, Andrew wrote:
I remember drinking from my Dad's home made Mai Tai in a Tiki mug. I thought those mugs were so freakin' cool. Actually I still think they're pretty cool, only now they're in my house, which really is even cooler actually. I was maybe 4 or 5 and living in Guam. No wonder I ended up like this.
A

wish mah pop was as cool as yours Andrew!
i had a guamanian room mate who made adobo every now and then, you hip to that? he also fried SPAM every now and then...
mahalo, johnny $

I don't think this was my first tiki drink, but it was my first well prepared one. It was a Trader Vic's Rum Barrel in a quiet corner booth of the Washington DC Vic's in 1994. sigh...good times.

Let me see...........

My first time was at a bar in Ala Moana (I think it was called Mai Tai's) on the island of Oahu. My friends called the drink a bomb-bu-cha-hana-hou-tikiblast. It was served in a mini kava bowls. I think I had about 7 bowls. Those were the good old days.....

On 2003-12-05 14:12, Johnny Dollar wrote:

wish mah pop was as cool as yours Andrew!
i had a guamanian room mate who made adobo every now and then, you hip to that? he also fried SPAM every now and then...
mahalo, johnny $

I haven't had adobo in ages. Last time was at Yakitori II ( http://www.yakitori2.com )in San Diego. It's not on their menu any more. I first had it at Yakitori, which was one of the few restaurants on Guam way back then. (In case anyone is wondering, the others were McDonald's, Shakey's Pizza, and some German place that I can't remember the name of.) I think adobo is a Philipino dish originally. SPAM was common and I know I've had it, but not in 20+ years.

As for Dads, well the Mai Tai thing was cool. Being gone for 9 months at a time on a sub, not so cool.
A

Gun Club Punch at Trader Vic's, Emeryville 1996 :)

Trader Vics, Washington, Scorpion

I don't remember the year because that's the year I started drinking to forget how many years had gone by.

I just made a batch of Scorps at the Lagoon Lounge™ (Alnshelly Limited) last night. Along with that fantastic raw fish salad, from the New Zealander's recipe found in the archives here.

Probably a mai tai somewhere, but my first real polynesian/ tiki drink was a Zombie at the Tonga Room about four years ago.

I don't remember the year because that's the year I started drinking to forget how many years had gone by.

ESP???

Li's Chineeze (when I was 17. 6'tall with a goatee). Zombie. Zombies!!! We used to go there cause they served under age'ers. Back in the good "Poly Pop Bartending" daze! Zombie contests. 6 was my max. Went there once with Overton Lloyd(p-funk).We got blasted! Way before the mini bus tiki crawl. Way, before. God I hate old age!!

[ Edited by: revbambooben on 2003-12-06 22:05 ]

I remember my parents drinking them at restaurants, but they weren't sharing tastes because I was too young. I didn't see a tiki mug in a restaurant until about 25 years later when TGI Fridays had a tiki drink promo. I ordered a Mai Tai. Don't know what happened to the mug though.

bumpity bump for the new gals'n'guys

It would have to be the Tiki Love Bowl at a place called At Random in Milwaukee. It was shared with a beautiful brunette that came with me. Not much longer after that we got married.

I'm gonna assume that Blue Hawaiis & Ti-D-Bols don't count, so I'll have to say a standard Hawaiian Hotel MaiTai in Waikiki in 2001.

Cold Beer on the balcony at Trader Jacks, Avarua, Rarotonga straight after coming in from a surf the first day I got there.
From then on I knew the 'Polynesian' thing had worked its way under my skin and I still hadn't dicovered Tiki culture itself.

Since I was first exposed to Tiki drinks only about a year ago, I find it easy to remember:

Kat and I stopped in at a new bar in town called Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge. I was instantly impressed with the Tiki statues and fake palm trees because I had never seen anything like it before.

On the tables were a list of drink specials, the first being something called a Drunken Sailor, made with rum, rum, and more rum. It sounded really cool, so I ordered one. With my first sip, I was hooked! Darn Psycho Suzi! Now my living room is filling up with Tiki mugs and statues and I need a larger liquor cabinet!

The cool part is I finally have a place to go where I don't stick out like a sore thumb for wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Scott McGerik
http://scott.mcgerik.com/

[ Edited by: ScottMcGerik on 2005-03-03 08:50 ]

I guess this could qualify as my first time...my parents used to take my sister and I to a Chinese restaurant located behind the Tollgate Plaza shopping center - The place was called the "For Happiness Inn" and I remember being a little kid and staring at the drink menu with amazement! All the cool sounding drinks and the even cooler looking glasses they came in got me longing for my 21st birthday! I really think my desire to drink out of a tiki mug was what got me into the whole tiki thing!

My parents weren't much into strong rum drinks, especially on a Thursday night (that's when we often went out to eat) but I begged them to get one of the cool drinks! They finally relented and when the blue concotion was served to the table in a tiki mug I had the first sip.

My first time was at The Lanai in San Mateo, CA. It was about two weeks before it closed down. I assume I had a Sidewinders Fang (their signature drink) but I may have had a Zombie (like the name). I thought the place was incredible-I was floored! Unfortunately, I was barely 21 and a very cheap SOB and thought spending so much at bars just to drink was a waist of money, when one could spend less at their own home. I didn;t look at the big picture. In this case, the Ambience! I never went back. About a month or so later, I read they were having an auction, but I had to work that day and didn't have the two weeks notice that my company demanded. My , how my life may have changed if I started my Tiki collection (with the exception of the cheap one I got in Tahiti in 1973) back then!!! No warehouse could hold me!!!! :)

mine was so good I can't remember it!

it most likely occurred up in salem oregon at the now defunct Tahiti, where I met some boys from grad school every weds night for poker, martinis and cigars. undoubtedly at some point I tried an actual tiki cocktail since they had an extensive tiki cocktail menu.

it's likely it could have been the Big Bear, a modern concoction named after the one law student who showed up there the most often - a large redheaded guy from Montana, who used to brew his own beer and throw awesome parties. I don't know what was in it, but it came in a large bowl, was light green, and I think it glowed in the dark. What counts is that it was made by a polynesian bartender (RIP) and served in the tikiest of tiki bars I've been in, and knocked you out on your ass after just one drink.

oops, wait, maybe it was a Fogcutter at Spats in Berkeley when I was underage - does that count? and/or pisco sour or scorpion, same place.

I was at spats last week and the antique comfy chairs are getting a little bit worn, dirty and stinky...

[ Edited by: dangergirl299 on 2005-03-03 10:14 ]

Mine was a Fogcutter at Spats in Berkeley when I was still very underage (they never carded people there). They serve it in a glass that sits in a ceramic volcano filled with dry ice. Whooooo!

MY first drink was also the Tiki Tumbler at the Honolulu!

Followed by a mai tai, followed by the one that came in the mermaid glass, followed by Shani being really drunk, babbling in the car all the way home!

But my brother and Dad had a really great time too. And they loved watching me get all silly and excited. That Aloha feeling is contagious. yay!

On 2003-12-05 08:53, Johnny Dollar wrote:
I'm pretty sure my first "in situ" drink was a Tiki Tumbler at the Honolulu. Nuff said, it rocked and it was the first time I got a tiki mug froma drink I actually bought.

I can't even remember last night! Guess that means I drink too much.....

A Virgin Mai Tai at the bar at Bali Hai in 1961, I was 6, my folks wanted to be sure alcoholism ran in the family. I still have the paper umbrella which is probably the first item in my TiKi collection.

On 2005-03-03 10:25, Tikiwahine wrote:
MY first drink was also the Tiki Tumbler at the Honolulu!

tiki-tumbler twin powers... activate!

After a Grateful Dead show (gasp) at the fabulous Greek Theatre in Berkeley in the mid-1980s, my friends took me to Spat's on Shattuck, where I was introduced to tropical drinks. I remember drinking a Fog Cutter, sipping from a scorpion bowl, and puking my guts out the next day.

Do you remember the first time you had a tropical drink? Your first mai tai, scorpion, or lapu lapu?

I recall my very first mai tai. I was on a trip to Hawaii, and went to a small bar at the end of Lewers Street, in Waikiki. We went there when the bar was having $1.75 mai tais. I cannot remember how good the drinks were (probably not very), but do distinctly remember the taste. I also distinctly remember having to walk down a couple of steps to enter the bar, as it was slightly below street level.

I guess the old saying is true... you never forget your first time!!!

I sure do. I was eighteen (legal drinking age back in the day) and a Vietnamese restaurant opened in town. Went in and ordered a Head Hunter, which came in a tiki mug, I don't remember which one but it was brown like a Leilani. Thereafter, it was my favorite restaurant and I took my dates there and I of course recommended Voodoos and Head Hunters. Great food, better drinks and tropical decor. This was in the late seventies and most people around these parts were pretty simple folk. The rumor got started that they served cat meat and they went out of business. It was a shame. I remember it, and that first Head Hunter fondly.

[ Edited by: foamy 2005-12-18 11:45 ]

On 2005-12-18 10:56, tikipedia wrote:
I recall my very first mai tai. I was on a trip to Hawaii, and went to a small bar at the end of Lewers Street, in Waikiki. We went there when the bar was having $1.75 mai tais. I cannot remember how good the drinks were (probably not very), but do distinctly remember the taste. I also distinctly remember having to walk down a couple of steps to enter the bar, as it was slightly below street level.

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-15 15:27 ]

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6584&forum=1
little mo topic here :)

I remember- it was a Sidewinders Fang at The Lanai in San Mateo a few months before it closed. Too bad I was such a young, broke cheap SOB because I never went back even though I thought the place was fantastic!