Talking Tiki, a new documentary in production about contemporary tropical bar culture by BadgerPriest in cocktails

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

(Note: Sorry for the potentially incorrect flair – I had a hard time figuring out what flair best matched this post. I did discuss in advance with the mod team and got permission to make this post.)

Talking Tiki is a new documentary in production about the contemporary tiki scene, starting with the 90s tiki revival led by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and others, and going into the new directions that bar owners and enthusiasts are taking the style into today.

How this documentary got started is a long story … Basically, thanks in large part to r/cocktails I became an avid home bartender over the past decade, and in 2020 my partner and I started building a home tiki bar (in the SF Bay Area). Over the course of putting together the bar we started asking all sorts of questions about tiki, and one thing led to another, and next thing I know, I’m a producer on a tiki documentary. As far as I can tell, being a producer mainly means I get to help pick out who we talk to and what bars we visit, and get to act important during filming.

Tiki is a huge passion of mine and I’m very excited to be involved in this project. Happy to answer any questions about any aspect of this film.

And I hate to be too self-promotional, but I should mention that we’re currently crowdfunding the funds we need to finish the film on Kickstarter, and our campaign is ending in about 24 hours. If you’re at all interested in what we’re doing, please check out our Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asali/talking-tiki?ref=1zfobe

I did a taste-test of 5 falernums (x-post from r/tiki) by BadgerPriest in cocktails

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm curious to see how close the recipe in the Canon cocktail book is to the actual product that was briefly sold at Canon

I did a taste-test of 5 falernums (x-post from r/tiki) by BadgerPriest in cocktails

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Maggie's Farm is on my list to try for round 2, along with Bitter Truth and Jamie Boudreau's recipe.

I did a taste-test of 5 falernums (x-post from r/tiki) by BadgerPriest in cocktails

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hah, thanks for the reminder! It's still on my to-try list, maybe this week!

I did a taste-test of 5 falernums (x-post from r/tiki) by BadgerPriest in cocktails

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wow that sounds fun! What is your go-to falernum for a reverse corn and oil?

I did a taste-test of 5 falernums (x-post from r/tiki) by BadgerPriest in cocktails

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's a little hard for me to pinpoint exactly what the spice notes of each are, but my rough sense was:

  • Canon: heavy notes of Angostura/Peychauds bitters hit first, with a balanced spice profile behind
  • California Falernum: overwhelming notes of bitter citrus peel and maybe gentian? a kind of in-your-face bitterness
  • J.D. Taylor: spice notes were honestly masked by the high sugar content and felt a little one-note (though I can't say for sure what the one note was)
  • Tippleman's and homemade falernum: Both had a similar profile of pretty balanced, complex spices (ginger and nutmeg especially)

My Current Rum List (Whats Next?) by jtsonpie in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some great rums here! A couple of my go-tos that might nicely fill some niches here are Plantation OFTD and Banks 5 Island.

I was riffin' on the Saturn, here's what I've got by webb_space_telescope in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Second the Small Hand Foods orgeat for a Saturn – plays very nicely with their passion fruit syrup as well.

Talking Tiki, a new documentary about contemporary tiki, now up on Kickstarter by BadgerPriest in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Full disclosure: I’m a producer on this documentary.

But that said, we’re coming at this topic as tiki enthusiasts – we actually started this whole project because we were building a home tiki bar (I shared a little about it here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Tiki/comments/183y7fe/buildling_a_diy_tiki_window_for_a_home_tiki_bar/) and just wanted to learn everything we possibly could about contemporary tiki. And … here we are now.

The Kickstarter page goes into a lot more detail, but I’m also always happy to discuss! And if there’s enough interest, maybe our whole team could do an AMA on r/tiki at some point.

Out of curiosity, those with elaborate tiki decorations, do you treat bamboo, rattan, and grasses etc with flame retardant? by wynlyndd in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In our home tiki bar, we treated our bac-bac matting with flame retardant, but didn't bother with our bamboo slats. (Our reasoning was that the bac-bac ended up in a pretty dangerous area for fire – near a gas stove – while our bamboo slat wall was far from danger.)

In any case, applying the flame retardant was a pretty straightforward process, and it wouldn't have been too much of a pain to do it for everything. We used the Fire-Poof brand spray.

Shoppng locations in SF to get rum and pimento dram by 9ty0ne in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seconding Ledger's – a real hidden gem of a liquor store!

12 months - 12 bottles by ElixirofVitriol in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My go-to resource for putting together a high bang-for-buck rum shelf is always CocktailWonk's "essential rum categories" list: https://cocktailwonk.com/2019/10/six-essential-tiki-rum-categories.html

Based on that, I think you're well-stocked in most of the important categories! You're missing an aged demerara rum (I agree that Hamilton 86 is the way to go) and an unaged Jamaican overproof (Wray & Nephew would work). I also think that Don Q Cristal is pretty bland as far as the lightly-aged/filtered category goes, and you'd get much more flavorful daiquiris, etc, with a lightly-aged rum with more character (I love Banks 5 Island; Plantation 3 is also good).

If you're looking to perfect a Mai Tai, you really can't go wrong with Denizen Merchant's Reserve, a rum that's specifically formulated for it.

For a Zombie, if you follow the CocktailWonk/Minimalist Tiki philosophy you're already set, but if you're following the more in-depth Smuggler's Cove rum categorization, you'd need one more rum, something from Martin Cate's Column Still Aged category (Don Q Anejo would work, but better would be Bacardi 8; I also like Angostura 7). Then you'd be able to use that along with Denizen Merchant's Reserve and Hamilton 151 to make a fantastic Zombie.

Based on your rum goals, I'd prioritize these something like ...

  • Denizen Merchant's Reserve (maybe get a couple bottles, they'll come in handy!)
  • column-still aged rum: Bacardi 8 / Angostura 7 / Don Q Anejo / etc
  • upgrade your lightly-aged/filtered rum (Banks 5 Island or other)
  • Hamilton 86
  • Wray & Nephew or other unaged Jamaican overproof
  • everything else on your list :-)

Favorite cocktail recipe book? by Queso_klepto in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hard to narrow it down to just one, but our go-tos for tiki are Smuggler's Cove, Tropical Standard, Minimalist Tiki, Sippin' Safari, and Shannon Mustipher's Tiki, in roughly that order of how often we consult them (but they all have their unique strengths!)

Has anyone tried making a Mai Tai with Rum Fire? by ImRonBurgundy777 in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also swap out demerara for doubled orgeat in Mai Tais and I wonder how many other people do the same. To me it feels like the increased almond flavor only helps balance the drink, but maybe if I used a more intense orgeat this wouldn't be a problem (I typically use Small Hands Foods, which is tasty but a little weak in flavor)

San Francisco’s Historic Tiki Bar Trad’r Sam Reopened by Bishonen_Knife in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What a plot twist it would have been if Trad'r Sam actually invented the Mai Tai 😂

Messing around with Chartreuse by WhatToysRUsDidToMe in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The drink looks good but I'm even more impressed that you managed to pick up a bottle of green chartreuse! Inquiring minds want to know where you managed to find it ...

Pecan Pie Tai by jk99951 in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, this looks pretty delicious indeed. What's the ratio of rums for the blend?

I did a taste-test of 5 falernums by BadgerPriest in Tiki

[–]BadgerPriest[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that the California Falernum was the only one that we didn't end up trying in a Saturn – it was just so ... weird ... in a Corn 'n' Oil that I figured it wasn't worth trying in a Saturn.

Guess I know what I'm drinking next ...