actual Polynesian liquor?

So many drinks created to evoke the South Pacific are based on that Caribbean potent potable, rum. Which I love, but was wondering - what do/did they actually drink in Polynesia? Do they have native booze, and/or home-grown cocktail recipes, or is it all imported?

[ Edited by: MrFab 2019-05-27 18:24 ]

Certainly the Hawaiians have had Okolehao and its pre-distillation versions for centuries.

Primo Beer? LOL

Per Jeff Berry, palm wine, from the self-fermenting sap of unopened coconut blossoms, and its distilled form, arrack/lambanog, cassava-spit beer, and ti plant beer were all on the menu of one island or another.

Kava.

Kava or kava kava or Piper methysticum (Latin "pepper" and Latinized Greek "intoxicating") is a crop of the Pacific Islands.[1] The name kava(-kava) is from Tongan and Marquesan, meaning "bitter";[1] other names for kava include ʻawa (Hawaiʻi),[2] ʻava (Samoa),[3] yaqona (Fiji),[4] sakau (Pohnpei),[5] and malok or malogu (parts of Vanuatu).[6] Kava is consumed throughout the Pacific Ocean cultures of Polynesia, including Hawaii and Vanuatu, and Melanesia and some parts of Micronesia for its sedating effects.

It is odd that no tiki bar ever came up with a Kava drink like the Kava Kooler.

Shows how unrealistic the whole tiki thing is in America.
Have never even heard much about Kava here on TC.

Reading this reminded me of the band “Kava Kon.”

On 2019-05-29 06:14, AceExplorer wrote:
Reading this reminded me of the band “Kava Kon.”

...and that is ALWAYS a good thing.