Neighborhood bar in your own backyard?

My backyard Tiki space is built for my own personal use, but rum is best enjoyed with friends. I'd love to build out a proper bar and turn it into a neighborhood hangout. Sort of a speakeasy situation, where it's not open to the public but friends are welcome to invite themselves over pretty much anytime. Drinks are free but please bring a bottle now and then. That kind of thing.

Has anyone else done this? Does it work or do the barflies wear out their welcome?

Stu I guess it would depend on your friends/neighbors. There was a group that met every Wednesday(?) for years, many of the core SoCal Tiki people from the early days were involved. Bar was the Rumpus Room, home bar of Kirby, Kelly Reilly/Hiphipahula and Tom Morgan/Trader Tom usually played bartender. Kelly and Tom's book "The Home Bar Guide to Tropical Cocktails" arose mostly from those experiences (great book BTW, pick it up on Amazon if you don't already have it). A group of regulars showed up every week, they brought limes, rum, cash, etc. It was too far away for me too attend but I think it was very successful. You might be able to do something similar?

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2024-03-15 14:24:07 ]

Here's the old Rumpus Room thread. We met every Wednesday for many years.

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic_id=33005&start=0

Here's the mytiki.life listing: https://mytiki.life/home-tiki-bars/the-rumpus-room

Hosting a home bar can be a lot of fun!

Wow, the Rumpus Room looks like a hoot!

That might be the right formula, a regular weekly hangout.

East Bay tiki enthusiasts already have a great spot at Forbidden Island, any night of the week (assuming you have reservations, natch). Would be quite a lot cheaper to drink at my bar LOL.

[ Edited by bamboo stu on 2024-03-15 19:16:43 ]

Hoping to do this with my bar currently under construction but geared more towards my circle of longtime friends rather than neighbors.