Starter menu for first home tiki bar - 6 drinks

So I'm opening my first home tiki bar soon, and plan to have limited get-togethers there, and I'm trying to work out a good, solid drinks menu.

Considerations: Not the richest guy in the world. Have always been more into the culture than the drinking, so I'm just learning tiki drinks.

I'd like a menu of around just six drinks. I'd ideally like a selection that includes strong drinks, fruitier easy drinking drinks, mostly traditional drinks, but not entirely. I'd like at least one non-rum drink.

Also, if anyone has suggestions for a bonus virgin drink, I'm all ears.

Well, ya gotta have a Mai tai on there. It's the quintessential tiki drink and it's not overly complex to make it. I also enjoy the Eastern Sour or the Rangoon Gimlet as a couple non-rum based drinks. A good fruity one is the Lei Lani Volcano. I also like Painkillers and Golden Waves....

But I'm probably one of the least qualified on here to talk tiki drink mixology...

Strong Drinks:
Zombie (Hurricane Hayward's is awesome and easier to pull off than the original '34 version)
Hell in the Pacific (Good drink AND good name)

Fruity, easy drinking drinks:
Blue Hawaiian (Even people who say they don't like rum or drinking in general don't say no to these)
Goombay Smash (All the ingredients are easy to come by and cheap to boot)

Personal Rec:
Mai Tai (you just have to have one)

Non-rum drink:
Port/Starboard light (for those who prefer bourbon/scotch)

If you're tiki-ing on a budget like me, I'd suggest Calidao as your gold jamaican (12.99 for a handle, and it's actually good enough that I'd still drink it at twice that), Coruba as your dark jamaican (15.99/liter), Doorly's white as your light rum (18.99/handle), and Evan Williams as your bourbon (15.99/handle). Personally, I'd take the money you saved on all those other things and invest it in Hamilton 151 for your zombies and HITP's, but you could squeeze by with Goslings 151, particularly if you're not that into the drinking element to begin with, and that's only 18 bucks.

Ditto the Mai Tai, but only if you're going with the traditional Trader Vic's version (no orange or pineapple juices, no grenadine, no dark rum float).

My favorite non-rum drinks are the Saturn (also a very light drink) and Singapore Sling (both gin-based and you can find them in Beachbum Berry books and his ios app.)

For strong drinks, a good Zombie recipe or Navy Grog works. Also the 151 Swizzle (also in BBB books and app).

For a lighter drink, a basic daiquiri is good since it only has 1.5oz rum.

Strong & Fruity: Hurricane, Sidewinders Fang

Spicy: Nui Nui

I can't really help you with a virgin drink ... cuz what's the point? :wink:

Good recipes for some of these can be found here.

As for rums:
My favorite basic white rum is Cana Brava. Don Q Cristal also works well.
Basic Jamaican mixing rum: Appleton Estate Reserve Blend
Basic Virgin Islands mixing rum: Cruzan Aged Dark Rum
Regular Proof Demerara Rum for mixing: El Dorado 5 or 8
Overproof Demerara: Hamilton 151
Overproof Jamaican: Wray & Nephew is great in stronger punches
Premium sipping rum: Ron Zacapa 23 is a good start and not terribly expensive (under $50).

You should be able to get by with 7-10 bottles of rum in your bar.

Neither the Blue Hawaiian or Goombay Smash or tiki drinks, and they aren't very good.

Get a copy of one of Beachbum Berry's books and find what you like from there.

You can also look up menus from classic tiki restaurants online and see what they served.

Along with those mentioned previously, I like the Reverb Crash, the Scorpion Bowl, and the Singapore Sling.

On 2015-11-12 13:41, TikiHardBop wrote:
Get a copy of one of Beachbum Berry's books and find what you like from there.

I second that suggestion, but you might need to go with more than one of the books (unless you go with "Remixed" which is a combination of the previous ones). Also the app allows you to input the ingredients you have and it will tell you which drinks you can make with what's on hand, or which ones require only 1 or 2 more ingredients. If you have an iPhone or iPad, buying the app is cheaper than buying the books. The benefit to buying the books is getting all the great history and stories that come with the recipes.

After glancing through my copy of POTC I'd actually change my recomendation for a fruity easy drinker from goombay smash to a Virgin Islands Kula. It's not my favorite thing on the Tiki Ti's menu (too sweet!), but people who are alcohol adverse will probably rate it higher than I do, and it's still good enough that more alcoholically inclined people won't wretch when you serve it to them. It might also be worth it to have a good old Improved Planter's one the menu, since that's the taproot from which alot of tiki drinks spring.

Fer non-alcoholic drinks, I've had good luck with substituting mineral water like Perrier 1:1 for rum. That way, you can make any of your selections non-alcoholic. If you want to make it special, go with the lemon mint squash from Remixed - such a good non-alcoholic recipe but it has to be made fresh.

As for non-rum based drinks, I'd go for something with a vodka or tequila base because you can always sub bourbon for rum if that is more someone's style. Pinky Gonzales is popular at Adrift in Denver.

Just my opinion, YMMV.
gabbahey

On 2015-11-12 15:35, gabbahey wrote:
Fer non-alcoholic drinks, I've had good luck with substituting mineral water like Perrier 1:1 for rum. That way, you can make any of your selections non-alcoholic. If you want to make it special, go with the lemon mint squash from Remixed - such a good non-alcoholic recipe but it has to be made fresh.

As for non-rum based drinks, I'd go for something with a vodka or tequila base because you can always sub bourbon for rum if that is more someone's style. Pinky Gonzales is popular at Adrift in Denver.

Just my opinion, YMMV.
gabbahey

On the subject of tequila, I've gotten a good response from most of my friends (the ones who actually like cocktails anyway) with the Yellow Boxer. The only thing that'd stop me from recomending it is the fact that it uses Galliano, and that stuff is pretty much out of reach if you're on a strict budget.

Going simple here:

1. Mai Tai
2. Zombie
3. Painkiller
4. Navy Grog
5. Blue Hawaii
6. Chief Lapu Lapu

Polynesian Spell
1 oz grape juice
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¼ oz triple sec
¼ oz peach brandy
½ tsp sugar syrup
1 ½ oz dry gin
Shake well with ice cubes. Strain into a champagne glass.

Orignal drink by Sandro Conti of the Kahiki, Columbus, Ohio, circa 1961. Adapted from Jeff Berry & Annene Kaye, Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log. (San Jose: SLG Publishing, 1998) p. 65. Reproduced under license. From Beachbum Berry's Tiki+ for iPhone.

This is good, Kinda tastes like a sweetart.

On 2015-11-12 16:46, tikiskip wrote:
Polynesian Spell
1 oz grape juice
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¼ oz triple sec
¼ oz peach brandy
½ tsp sugar syrup
1 ½ oz dry gin
Shake well with ice cubes. Strain into a champagne glass.

Orignal drink by Sandro Conti of the Kahiki, Columbus, Ohio, circa 1961. Adapted from Jeff Berry & Annene Kaye, Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log. (San Jose: SLG Publishing, 1998) p. 65. Reproduced under license. From Beachbum Berry's Tiki+ for iPhone.

This is good, Kinda tastes like a sweetart.

Sounds interesting! Is there a particular type of grape juice you'd recommend?

There are so many drinks to choose from, I'd reccommend taking a dufferent approach that identifies signature drinks you can use to showcase different rum styles. e.g., do a Zombie or a 151 Swizzle to showcase 151 Demerara, a Three Dots and a Dash to showcase Martinique rhum agricole, a classic Planters Punch to showcase dark Jamaican rum, a classic Daiquiri to showcase a dry Spanish style light rum, and a Trader Vic style Mai Tai to showcase a pot still aged Jamaican rum. For non-rum options, someone already mentioned the Pinky Gonzalez (sub tequila for rum in your Mai Tai), and a Trader Vic Honi Honi (aka a Bluegrass Mai Tai) is a bourbon-based Mai Tai.

For an approachable starter cocktail that still showcases an excellent rum, I'd go with a Pusser's Painkiller. Tiki Hardbop may give me grief because it isn't Tiki, but neither are a couple of my other suggestions above. . . going Faux Poly/Caribbean rather than strictly Tiki.

all i know is:

chicks dig the blue mai-tai...

On 2015-11-12 23:01, thePorpoise wrote:
all i know is:

chicks dig the blue mai-tai...

Anything with pretty colors is a great way to start getting the sticks-in-the-mud away from bacardi drowned in diet rite and closer to real cocktails.

Welch's 100% frozen Grape Juice concentrate works.
Nice color on this deink.

Here's another.
Cuban Ginger
AUGUST 20, 2010 BY BARGEEK 0 COMMENTS

I’m a big bourbon and ginger ale fan and never really thought rum and ginger ale would go together, boy was I wrong! A simple cocktail to enjoy.
Cocktail Ingredients:
1/2 oz apple liqueur
2 oz Hvana Club 7 yr dark rum
ginger ale
Directions:
In a tall glass (mojito glass) add ice cubes, apple liqueur, rum and top off with ginger all. Stir.

I think you want simple, and that rules out many suggestions, especially the Zombie.

I hate to say it, but if you serve a Painkiller, everyone will love it and probably not care as much for the traditional Tiki drinks. So, you can go for what pleases the crowd, or what is traditional. The crowd will generally be happier with something sickly sweet and having no taste of alcohol whatsoever, i.e. Painkiller.

Sounds like that's what you are really looking for here. If you aren't that into the drinks, you may make some of these and find they suck. A Mai Tai or Navy Grog mixed wrong or using wrong ingredients is a mess. I don't suggest you bother with a lot of what was suggested for that reason.

So, my dead simple suggestions that are crowd pleasers and cheap and easy to make that almost everyone will like including the person making them:

Painkiller
Derby Daiquiri
Jasper's Jamaican (This calls for allspice dram/pimento liquor, but it is worth it to get the bottle. Cut the lime to 1/4 oz.)