Cocktails at Restaurant Reading

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Hawaiian Cocktails at Restaurant Reading

Origins of Tiki Bars: 1930s
The history of Tiki drinks can be traced back to the 1930s, when a man named Don Beach opened the first Tiki bar in Hollywood, California. Don was inspired by the Polynesian culture that he had experienced while travelling in the South Pacific. To recreate the flavors that he experienced in Hawaii, Don mixed rum with fresh fruits, such as pineapple and guava.

Invention of the Mai Tai: 1940s
While the invention of the Mai Tai is a contested subject, many people attribute the first true Mai Tai to a bartender named Trader Vic. While working at his bar in Los Angeles, Trader Vic was visited by a group of friends from Tahiti. Trader Vic combined pineapple juice, liqueur, and light and dark rum to create the ultimate Tiki cocktail.

The Rise of Tiki Culture: 1950s
By the 1950s, airline travel had made the Hawaiian Islands more accessible to visitors from all over the globe. During the 1950s and 60s, Hawaiian culture became very popular in movies and magazines. Tiki bars started to appear all over the United States, signalizing the rise of this cultural trend.

What is a Tiki Cocktail? Restaurant Reading

There is no real definition of what makes a drink worthy of the ‘tiki’ category. However, there are some characteristics found in almost every tiki cocktail.

Rum, and lots of it. Most tiki cocktails include at least one rum, though many combine up to three different styles of the sweet liquor.

Stock up on tropical fruits. In true tropical style, tiki drinks include fruit juices and many recipes include more than one. When it’s tiki time, be sure to have a good supply of fruits like pineapple, orange, passion fruit, guava, and coconut.

The flavor is often dominated by fruit and that helps hide the heavy taste of alcohol. This is perfect for drinkers who prefer less alcohol flavor, and yet, that also makes them slightly more dangerous. They end up tasting so good that a person can almost forget how potent they really are.

Layers of flavor. Those first two characteristics are an indication that these drinks are anything but boring or simple. The tiki cocktail will often have four or more ingredients that create a great depth to the drink’s flavor. Tiki drinks are among the most interesting and delicious taste experiences you’ll have.

Spices make an appearance. Though not a requirement in a tiki cocktail, you will find that many have an ingredient that adds just a touch of spice. Pimento dram, spiced rum, and spices like nutmeg can be found in a number of tiki recipes. See more menus available at L’Ortolan Reading.

Many ways to make one drink. For one reason or another, tiki cocktails are the most likely drink recipes to have multiple variations. Almost every drink on this list has had ingredients added, subtracted, and substituted multiple times over the years. Some barely resemble what we accept as the original recipe.

Why is that? One theory is that the recipes were often kept secret for so long that bartenders began interpreting what may be in them. There is so much going on in these drinks that it can be difficult to pinpoint each ingredient, so they gave it their best guess.