Tiki is a theme that can flourish anywhere, while reminding drinkers of tropical getaways thousands of miles away.
The jade bar at the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain in Arizona hopes to transport taste buds to the islands of Hawaii with its 10 Weeks of Tiki program. Now in its third week, 10 Weeks of Tiki features two authentic Tiki cocktails per week, complete with recipes, culture and history. Tiki cocktails are $8 during happy hour and $10 regularly.
Eddie Garcia, jade bar’s lead mixologist, sheds some light on four of his favorite recipes:
- The Singapore Slingwas developed around 1915 by Ngam Tong Boon, a Hainanese bartender working at the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Like many cocktails, the original recipe was lost with the inventor of the drink, but it’s been pieced together by Raffles Hotel bartenders and regular customers.
- The Hurricane is thought to be an invention of tavern owner Pat O’Brien. At the time of its creation (1940’s), bar owners were often forced to buy the less popular spirit, rum, in order to obtain a few cases of the more popular scotch and other whiskeys. The excess of rum gave birth to this New Orleans standard, and the hurricane lamp shaped glass gave it its name.
- It’s safe to say that Mai Taiis are the Godfather of all Tiki Cocktails. Few things represent mid-20th century Americana more than the Mai Tai, and the wooden pagan idols that adorned just about everything in 1930-1960s pop culture. And yet, no drink is more controversial. Which juices, who invented it (it took a court case to prove it), even the origins of this drink can spark a quarrel. Here is jade bar’s “humble” take on the sometimes-controversial classic:
Ingredients:
1 oz. Appleton’s VX
1 oz. Rhum JM (A French Rhum Agricole)
1 oz. Fresh pressed lime juice
1/2 oz. Pierre Ferrand orange Curacao
1/2 oz. Orgeat syrup (a non-alcoholic French Almond Syrup)
1/4 oz. Depaz cane syrup (the original recipe calls for rock candy syrup, this does a fine job)
Pour all ingredients in a Boston Shaker and shake. Pour contents into a double old-fashioned glass (12-14 oz. short glass) with cubed ice. Mint sprig for garnish.
For those still in the tiki mood, check out this other recipe from the same bar:
The Blue Hawaii
3/4 oz Flor De Cana Extra Dry Rum
3/4 oz Titos Vodka
3/4 oz. Senior Blue Curacao
2 oz. Fresh pressed lime juice.
1 oz. Sour mix*
Pour ingredients into cocktail shaker and give a good hard shake. Pour into wine or Hurricane glass filled with crushed ice. Pineapple and Maraschino cherry garnish.
** The jade bar house sour mix is made by adding 1 part of each freshly pressed lemon and lime juice and 2 parts simple syrup.
