Pre-Tiki?....still a good find?

while i was digging around in my local library's "for sale" pile i found this book.....
Esquire's Handbook For Hosts...
while some of the recipes are a bit dated...or really time consuming...the drinks section has a ton of classics...definately an addition for my bar..




not only does it have food and drink recipes,but it also has a ton of info on the "propper" ways of hosting parties,games, and etiquette of the period as well...

Yes, a good find.
Been keeping my eyes open for that one for a bit. Check out this thread for more, and maybe re-post this there.
Have more than a few pre- and post-tiki/poly-pop on my own bar.
They're always good for shocking the ol' system with a Spencer cocktail or something after a long run of drinks out of the Grog Log et al...

Being that the categories "Pre-Tiki" and "Tiki" were really meant for the art and design of the genre, it would be interesting to try to divide all the Polynesian cocktail recipes into such categories. How does one find out their age? Compile menus by date and watch for earliest appearance? And what about name changes of older originals?

One thing is for certain: Since Don The Beachcomber was the founding father of Polynesian pop mixology, and he came up with many of his classic libations in the 1930s, a good amount of his and many other concoctions ARE actually Pre-Tiki. Once they were served in containers that depicted Tikis, they became, at least visually, Tiki style. It might be easier to refer to cocktails as being part of Polynesian pop, a period which spans (not counting the revival) the 1930s to the 1970s.

In terms of pop culture genres, that bar guide is more "Lounge" than Polynesian pop, nevertheless it is a good find,and will certainly yield some nice potions.

So BigBro, for all of these new drinks that people are inventing, can they really be considered Tiki or Poly-Pop drinks? Does the mere fact that rum mixed with fruit juice put them in this category? Maybe there should be another drink category called "Tiki Revival". Me, I like to do it old school and only order drinks that are on the original 1961 Tiki-Ti menu (while I'm wearing my abstract-design Aloha shirt). :)

Oh wait, I see that you did qualify the "Revival" part. I guess the real question is can a new drink be considered "Tiki Revival" if it was created in a non-Tiki enviroment? (like at someone's home). What about any new drinks that Martin might create at Smuggler's Cove? Which genre would get credit for that? I see the need for more categories. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-10-12 12:07 ]

Very nice find there.

So if I follow this line of thought and make a new cocktail in my Tiki Revival basement bar and serve it in a Tiki mug its a Tiki coctail?
But if I make it in my kitchen and taste test it in a highball glass its not?
:P
Or does it have to be invented in a place like the Mai-Kai to count as a Tiki cocktail?

[ Edited by: Beach Bum Scott 2009-10-12 12:42 ]

Those are some good points BBS. I'm thinking now it might be a mistake to place too much categorization on "Tiki Revival", it's too much of a free-for-all. Obviously it's easier with classic Tiki Style since there's a historical precedence - i.e. it was an original drink that was introduced in a mid-century Tiki bar or it comes from the TV or DTBC lineage.

Maybe for Tiki Revival we can come up with concept along the lines of legal reasoning. I'll call it "Tiki Intent". Because you invented a new drink with Tiki aspirations in mind, that in itself makes it a Tiki drink. Also in terms of art, if you create a new painting that has no explicit Tiki iconography but you were inspired by classic Tiki, that would make it Tiki Art (from a revival aspect, not the classic definition).

Also that raises another issue I just thought of. Would the new Trader Vic's in downtown LA be considered classic Tiki since it comes from an official TV lineage or would it be considered Tiki Revival since it was built post 1960's and is merely copying original Tiki Style. How about the Bahooka?, that was built in 1976, clearly after the mid-century period but prior to the current Tiki revival. What kind of grey area does that exist in? These are questions that keep me up at night.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-10-12 13:31 ]

Or, as with all that stuff, does it artfully and ingeniously purport the SPIRIT of original Tiki culture. NOT copy, mind you, but embody and further the tradition in an authentic and inspired manner. Trader Vic's is such an example: It is Tiki Revival in the classic Tiki period style. Bahooka's is "Late Beachcomber", not so much Tiki,- not date-wise, but decor-wise.

I have to admit, I never liked the term "Tiki Drinks", since it did not exist in Don, Vic's and Steve's day. It is a Tiki revival term, and it sounds so generic. But, no point in fretting, it is here to stay. All the ancestor worship we engage in today, since the mid-90s, be it carving, painting or drinking, is Tiki revival. We are actively reviving the icons and spirit(s) of our forefathers.

Just as a side note, "Esquire's Handbook for Hosts" was reprinted in the UK as a hardback in 1999, so it might be fairly easy to pick up a copy. It keeps all the old illustrations and seems a decent enough copy of the original. It's classification however is humour/gift....

Trader Woody

I am selling an Esquire's Handbook for Hosts on ebay right now, all proceeds go to the dog rescue I adopted my dog from. The listing is posted in the tiki marketplace forum. Thanks!