Whaler's Vanille Rum & Tiki Mugs

I was at Rite-Aid Friday night to get a few things. On the end of the isle where the alcohol is, they had some gift boxed alcohol sets. They had a box with a bottle of Whaler's Vanille Rum and it has 2 small tiki mugs with it. It was a pretty good price at $12.99 for it all. I couldn't resist, so I got it.

mahalo for the info!

in trying to find an image i came up with this whaler's website.

it even has tiki in it :)

http://www.whalersrum.com/tikilounge.html

I tried to find a picture of it, too, but couldn't find one. There is a yellow moai and then a blueish-purpleish tiki. They're about 4-5 inches tall and say Whaler's on the back.

Keep the mugs and give the Whaler's Vanilla Rum as a Christmas present to a "friend".

AHA! Is this one of the mugs?

I was going nuts trying to figure out where this mug came from. I'm not at all familiar with Whalers Rum so I thought "Whalers" was some restaurant. I'm fairly certain this is made by Tiki Farm because I have a full size Tiki Farm mug that's identical. Anyone know for sure?

no, that looks bigger than the ones i got with it.

no, that looks bigger than the ones i got with it

This one is just over 3" tall, 1.5" wide. That is the Whaler's logo isn't it?

On 2004-11-08 10:59, Unga Bunga wrote:
Keep the mugs and give the Whaler's Vanilla Rum as a Christmas present to a "friend".

Is the Rum no bueno? I've never heard of it, though the mugs look pretty cool.

i've never had the whalers either. the bright colored bottle kinda turned me off. but one day at trader joes i compared the label to the trader vic's dark rum. the whalers dark comes from the same distillery as the vics. so it may be close to the same.

This sounds like a perfect excuse for buying both to do a taste test, and get the tiki mugs!

eh...the rum's pretty good. But if it comes with those two tiki mugs...for 13 bucks...it's worth it. But then again, I'm the type of guy that will drink almost anything. end result...end result...

"Hey, at least I'm housebroken...most of the time...end result...end result"

[ Edited by: Polynesiac on 2004-11-08 20:56 ]

I'd put the Whaler's rum on about the same level as Cruzan. Not that I'm any educated rum taster, but I do have about 14 different kinds in the bar right now (Everything from some Ron Rico up to Lemon Hart).

Our local store was selling 1 liter bottles of Whaler's for $5.99 to close them out. The 750's were still $10.99. I bought 30 liters while I had the chance.

[ Edited by: Tiki Flange on 2004-11-08 21:25 ]

Went to Rite-Aid today and not only did they have the set but best of all is on sale right now for 7.99!

okay, so can ANYONE post pics of these mugs? it's been drivin me nuts to see what these mugs look like. Anyone want to pick me up a set? :wink:
Aloha!

On 2004-11-09 15:40, Hale Tiki wrote:
okay, so can ANYONE post pics of these mugs? it's been drivin me nuts to see what these mugs look like. Anyone want to pick me up a set? :wink:
Aloha!

Here ya go....

Yet another item not available at a liquor store near me. DOH!

Yet another reason to go on a road trip. YEAH!!

On 2004-11-09 17:50, Tikiwahine wrote:
Yet another item not available at a liquor store near me. DOH!

we have 'em in seattle ~ friends bought the set for us.. of course, you have to buy from the state liquor stores (M-Sa, 11am-7pm) but its a great reason to come visit!

elicia

Alooooooha!

Actually, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[ Edited by: SugarCaddyDaddy 2005-11-29 00:33 ]

See there is the best reason not to buy that crap!!!
Im backin the farm. Odelay! Homies.

[ Edited by: net-tiki on 2004-11-09 18:59 ]

[ Edited by: net-tiki on 2004-11-09 18:59 ]

Well I'll be damned. Although, can you blame Whaler's Rum? I mean, who wouldn't want to BE tiki farm? I mean, come on, they're a company to be envied. Thanks for your continuing great work guys. Sucks about the repros. Aloha!

[ Edited by: Hale Tiki on 2004-11-09 20:25 ]

these are exact unauthorized reproductions of our mugs!

I was afraid of that! I found mine in a Goodwill store for 59 cents.

SugarCaddyDaddy: What sort of recourse are you looking for? Rather than not buy Whaler's rum, why don't you contact them and let them know that the mugs in their gift sets are repros of your items.

Chances are Whaler's just farmed out (pun intended) the design work to someone else, who copied your stuff for an easy buck.

I'm willing to contact Whaler's about this. I am obviously a heavy end user of their rum.

I also talk with the head buyer for a large chain of liquor stores in the Chicago area on a fairly regular basis. I could pass this along to him as well.

Say the word, and I'll get to work, because stealing just ain't right.

On 2004-11-09 18:53, SugarCaddyDaddy wrote:

Because these are exact unauthorized reproductions of our mugs!

---

Click here for the SoCal Hoity Toity Schedule!

Yeah, I may be VP of Tiki Farm, but I'm still SugarCaddyDaddy!

[ Edited by: SugarCaddyDaddy on 2004-11-09 18:54 ]

SCD, I tried to bring this other example to your attention in this previous post here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11520&forum=5&10

Tiki Flange wrote:
...Rather than not buy Whaler's rum, why don't you contact them and let them know that the mugs in their gift sets are repros of your items...

badmojo wrote:
SCD, I tried to bring this other example to your attention in this previous post here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11520&forum=5&10

TikiFlange & BadMojo~
Yes, we actually heard about this before these threads came up, and knew of course that it would show up here on TC at some point since we are all a very aware and interactive community. As for the manufacturer and/or salesgroup(person?) that worked on this Whalers account, they most likely thought they would be able to "fly under the TC radar" and get away with some quick sales (which they have) without XXXXXXX finding out. We have not had 100% cooperation in getting the low-down on the manufacturer/maker/salesgroup(person) that spearheaded this promotion, so whether or not Whalers was directly involved in the duplication of the mugs is yet to be seen....although I have my own personal opinion about that; which that in itself is hard for me to explain and for others to understand since XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX but am also a fellow TC'er like all of you.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thanks to all of you that have (and will) provide info that you come across.

[ Edited by: SugarCaddyDaddy 2005-11-29 00:32 ]

SCD- Rite Aid on Beach and Atlanta in H.B.

Sick em boy!

SugarCaddyDaddy - Rite Aid in La Mirada. I was there yesterday and they had one left. I asked the Manager if they had any in the back and he told me that they were expecting some more in on Saturday. Of coarse this was before I saw the posts about the mugs being a Tiki Farm Rip Off! It seems that it must be a hot seller (especially for the $7.99 purchase price). I searched around the net for contact info and only came with - Whaler’s Rum. Bottled for Whaler’s Distilling Company, LTD, Mira Loma, CA, Bardstown, KY - Which was on the bottom of the Whaler's Website.

FYI...I asked a liquor distributor in
Wisconsin about the Tiki mug package....
he was not aware of it....he said it was
probably a regional thing...ie...just the
west coast. Like LakeSurfer and others
have sadly attested....tiki is not big
in the badger state.

Hey! Apparently they made a shot glass version as well. Someone has it among a lot of glasses on ebay, and i got them to send me a good picture of it. I think it's the same one as earlier in the post, though I think they mentioned it was a mug, and not a shot glass. Anyway, here's a picture Holden, hope this helps.

A friend gave me a bottle of this (no mugs) for my birthday, and I loved it. I really enjoyed the flavor and it is a higher proof than the other wimpy flavored rums. I have not been able to find any since - and I tried. Now, to find out I can't buy it because of the Farm issue bums me out.

The design pictured above is not the design of the mini mugs offered in the Whaler's set, so you're not missing much.

I can't describe their design accurately, but the color is a very, very bright pastel yellow for the one that looks like a short, plain moai-sort, and a washed-out lavendar on the other, and it's design is more tiki (I told you I couldn't describe them well!) both have a grainy finish to the ceramic, so it was easy for me to pass them up. The set's colors are very "Easter", and not as in 'island'. I'm saving my money for real Tiki Farm merchandise!

I bought the light blue shot glass version last week at Rip's (gotta love the name!) Liquor Store in Bowie Maryland (I bought the only one they had). I went looking for one after seeing the first couple of posts and the first picture. Now that I know the truth of the theft of design, I will simply report without buying.

just thinking out loud here,but aren't all modern day TIKI image's somewhat of a rip off of long dead artist's?

Well, so much for my enthusiasm about finding Tiki at my local Rite-Aid this morning...guess I'll be going back shortly.

And a side note to SCD and the fine folks at Tiki Farm...The main thing that made me all giddy about these mugs was their size, because I've been looking for a short mug (i.e. around 3 - 3 1/2 inches) that is still kinda wide (not coffee cup wide, and without a coffee cup handle on it) to use for holding pens and stuff on my desk. So how about a Tiki Farm "Office-Tiki" pen holder? I just know you guys could come up with something great.

Just a thought...

Just dipping my toes in the clear blue water...

[ Edited by: HelzTiki on 2004-12-09 12:51 ]

SCD,
Whalers gift sets are here in Jacksonville FL at ABC Fine Wines & Liquor. ABC is the biggest chain in the state (I'm pretty sure).

JTD

looks like they shipped all their unsold stock to new zealand...

http://www.heavenhill.co.nz/prod01_copy(4)21111111.htm

so yeah, if you're still after contact details for this company it's all on here, both usa and nz offices. i remember i had heaven hill bourbon once and once only and after that bad experience never again!

A thread resurgence which I did not catch the first time around...but some words on the Whaler's/Tiki Farm subject.

I worked for several years on the corporate side of a large retailer (Nature Company which was bought out by Discovery Communications dba Discovery Channel Stores). The ultimate decline of the Nature Company resulted from continuous importing of so-called "proprietary" merchandise from China, Mexico, India, Sri Lanka, etc, that was the same stuff you could find at any swap meet for 1/2 price, causing DCS to take a long hard look at the way they were doing business. In the world trade market, a product that is manufactured in the US, would be closely monitored and held accountable if unauthorized reproductions were made. Overseas manufacturers are not always subject to the same regulations.

This is yet another reason why I fully support products made in the USA. While it is cheaper to mass produce in other countries, you open the doors wide open to theft and infringement and there's nothing you can do about it except not do business with those particular factories that are stealing from you.

As for Whaler's, do not assume that Tiki Farm is on everyone's radar. Launching a full assault boycott of a product, without getting all the details or finding out how they got their hands on these obviously cheap reproductions of TF mugs (the answer may surprise you) is not really fair.

Besides, Whaler's Banana Rum is yummy. @;-)

Here's what I can relay...
Prior to the Whaler's launch of these mugs, we provided their p.r. group with Whaler's logo'd 4-pack mugs. The project was small but successful. Later on, we were contacted again by Keller Crescent on Whaler's behalf to conceive and develop shot mugs for a gift set project. I worked with our artists on designs, submitted the new designs and pricing and did the required follow-up work and price negotiations.

It all looked like a go and when it was coming down to the timeline wire, I contacted Keller Crescent and they let me know that they had found an alternative source for a lower price. About 6 months or so later, what came to be were unauthorized reproductions of our original designs supplied to Keller Crescent of our original mugs delivered.

I put an easy 10 hours into this project as there was a fair amount of layers/negotiations/design time involved. It was a pretty sad ending for the Farm when the ultimate end-product made it to market.
Mahaloz,
Holden

Thanks for the follow up Smogbreather. I always like the updates on these kind of things.