Recipes for a traveling desert Tiki?

My partner and i are building a tiki bamboo bar that we're bringing to the middle of the desert (the black rock desert, to be precise) for 4th of July, and i'd love to put good rum drinks into the bamboo culm mugs we're making. I'm nervous, as i know some juices don't fare well out there in the mega-heat, and would love to know how well fresh limes last, and if there's been any drinks that folks have enjoyed making out in the hot flat lands.

thanks much!

-Horgaloha

Never mixed drinks in the desert outisde, but I can tell you the pineapple and guava seem to go bad pretty quickly here in So. Cal. But if you are going to have ice or any type of refrigeration, you should be fine. Also, most fruit juices come vacuum sealed in containers that can take a fair amount of heat (transportation, etc.) Its when they are opened and exposed to air that they start the downward spiral. Not sure about limes though. They seem to be pretty hearty and should lask a couple of days so long as they aren't directly exposed to the sun. Wish I couls be of more help.

Your best bet would be to bring along a few bottles of Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice, which I believe is pretty widely available.

Key Limes are generally better than Persian/Tahiti limes anyway, although for most of the year all I can get are Persians. Fortunately, I'm in Key Lime season.

Limes need to be kept very cool, but not too cold (not below 45º). They also need considerable humidity (best at ± 95%). Let's see... desert... very cool... desert... high humidity.

Nope. Definitely go for the Nellie & Joe's. It's the next best thing to fresh key lime juice and you can store it at room temperature until you open it.

I'd still bring some fresh limes with me, but I wouldn't expect them to stand the test of time in that environment.

Well...it just so happens that I have ventured to the same desert with fresh limes, pineapples, coconuts, etc. and have had no problems. Sometimes, I will load the biggest cooler with 2 blocks of ice (or more depending on space) and top with some dry ice. This will keep your food and drinks cold for several days. The limes fared well placed in a cardboard box. Of course, they didn't have much time to shrivel up! Also, the small pineapple juice cans (6oz?) work well for this type of adventure. I lived off of mai tais for 5 days this way (mint did not last though). Good luck and have fun. BTW, what's going on out there?

Out in blackrock during July 4th, a small group of folks celebrate Noman every year, and this year my wife and i are building a bamboo tiki bar (with home-made bamboo cups) and serving tiki drinks, all with a paleozoic flavor, in honor of the primordial nature of our location (smack dab in the middle of the playa)

Anyways, if you happen to be out there July 5th, we'll be serving some experimental tiki drinks of my own creation, the "Trilobite Tango", the "Burgess Beachcomber" and of course the "Cambrian Explosion"...

-horgaloha!

No Silurian fizzes or Ordovician punches? Sounds like a blast. IMHO, the Mesozoic was a finer era for tiki drinks. Have a great time and make sure you take heaps of photos.

Ohhh,I get it. Noman! As in No...MAN. Well, I hope it stays mellow.

On 2007-06-28 11:48, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:
No Silurian fizzes or Ordovician punches?

Ooo a Silurian Slurry! For that matter, the "mudslide" would be rather appropriate for any burgess shale-themed drinks...

and i almost forgot a rather devonian delight, the barenjager-based "Trapped In Amber"....

Dear God, man! Are you a geologist? I've seen plastic trilobites at one of those nature store-type places awhile back. Might make a great swizzle stick addition. If you bring dry ice for the cooler, you can make one helluva lava bowl...or primordial ooze. I'm jealous. Sounds like a lot of fun.

I've been trying to figure out what kind of tiki drink's to make at burning man so this thread was helpful. I want to do a small traveling tiki bar.

I have a portable tiki bar also, limes have no problem if you expose them to heat before you use them. There was even a thread about heating them makes them juiceier.

Keep the pineapple and other fruit juices in a cooler on ice and you should be fine no matter how hot it gets.

If you want a great drink to mix in the desert I would make this Beachbum Berry's Mai Tai none of the ingrediants need to be refrigerated, and you shake it with ice before you serve it so it is always cold and refreshing when its hot outside.

Here are some pictures of my bar in action last time it was out in the wilderness.

[ Edited by: captnkirk 2007-06-29 09:42 ]

I have been making tiki drinks for about a year and a half in the wilds of Mesopotamia. The limes keep for days and are no problem. I know this is going to provoke cries of sacrilege but you may want to consider "juice box" type juices. While it is not what I would suggest using in the comfort of your own home bar, they are excellent for keeping the juice palatable and for transport. Something you may not have considered is how quickly the ice is going to melt. Even in a cooler the low humidity and high temperatures are going to conspire to reduce the ice available to you at an astronomical rate. The importance of keeping the booze at least shaded, and preferably buried cannot be overstated. Warm spirits will quickly ruin the flavor and consistency of your drinks.

So our Trilobitiki Bamboo Bar was a success!

We camped with 40 friends in the middle of black rock desert, Nevada, and after a day of record-breaking 110-degree heat were rewarded with a night of warm gentle winds under a red moon. My partner, the lovely Loganinsky, designed and built the bar entirely out of bamboo, and i adorned the tall bamboo tiki mugs with trilobites and other fossils, and designed the glowing ammonite lamps (and crafted the drinks!)

by sundown, we were ready for visitors after the camp potluck:

The drinks were well received, despite there not being any ice (but thanks to the cooler, the juice was still below room temperature.) But after a couple of Cambrian Explosions, people ceased to be picky. Please note the preponderance of dinosaur-decorated fezzes:

To top it off, the 'Boo Bar also came with a home-made marimba out of extra bamboo culms, here played on by a happy patron:

And now, on to the drinks:

Burgess Beachcomber:
2 oz lemonade
1/2 oz grenadine
1/4 oz lime juice
1 oz pineapple juice
1 1/4 golden rum

Trilobite Tango:
2 oz mango nectar
1 oz dark rum
1/4 oz lime juice
1 dash bitters

Cambrian Explosion:
2 oz mango nectar
1 oz lime juice
1 oz gold rum
1 oz blue curacao
1/2 barenjager

(shake, and float 1/2 demerara rum on top)

These are my first drink creations, and are still kinda rough. so suggestions welcome! My rules for this excursion was a limited selection of ingredients (it all had to fit into a single cooler) and of course no ice and no blender! I so totally want to try an Ordovician Fizz next...

The Trader Joe's Juices and fresh limes did splendidly, and lasted two whole days, even in the intense heat. And the fresh bamboo culms added a pleasing bouquet to the drink.

thanks for all your suggestions and help!

-horgaloha