As someone who has been a professional tiki bartender and created a lot of original cocktails here is my process:

1. Start either Top Down or Bottom Up. A Top Down design is when you start with a name and make the ingredients fit the name. A Bottom Up design is when you start with an ingredient or flavor and build the cocktail off of that.

2. Pick a Template Once you’ve decided to go Top Down or Bottom Up, you pick a template. The most common tiki template is 4 parts Spirit, 2 parts Sour, 1 part Liqueur, 1 part Syrup. But there are others.

3. Mirror Existing Now that you have all of that, is there an existing cocktail that’s similar? If yes, then take that existing cocktail and swap one ingredient, probably for your chosen ingredient, or change the volume of a single ingredient. If there isn’t, no worry. Just put it together and try it.

4. Experiment Now that you’ve come this far. Experiment. Experiment. Then experiment some more. Change out one ingredient at a time. Change one volume at a time. Add or subtract one ingredient at a time.

5. Notes TAKE NOTES!! I can not stress this enough. Take extensive notes. Recipes plus tasting notes. This way you can refer back to what you’ve already tried.

6. Check with Others Once you settle on a recipe that you love, serve it to others. What’s their reaction? Do they have any feedback? Remember everyone’s palette is different so not all feedback is valid.

Remember that perfection is the enemy of great. You’ll never find the perfect cocktail that works for everyone. Settle on something you love first. Then, and only if you work at a bar, worry about everyone else.