The beginning of tiki culture is credited to Ernest Gantt, an adventurer and small-time bootlegger who opened a Hollywood Boulevard bar in the 1930s and covered the place in palms and Polynesian tchotchkes. It was called Don the Beachcomber, and Gantt was so into the idea that he changed his name legally to Donn Beach.
According to a 1989 obituary, Gantt created 81 drinks, many of which are included in Shelly Slipsmith’s “Tiki Cocktails: 180+ Dreamy Drinks and Luau-Inspired Libations” (Smith Street Books, $24.95), due out July 9.
Mixologist Slipsmith shares recipes for bartenders, amateurs and luau enthusiasts, with retro illustrations by an artist known as 50s Vintage Dame accompanying each recipe. The pages are framed in palm leaves and thatch, an homage to Polynesian-inspired establishments like Gantt’s bar and Trader Vic’s, which was founded by Victor Bergeron.
Both Gantt and Bergeron attempted to conjure an idealized South Pacific, with flotsam, bamboo and island totems. It might have been faux Polynesian, but the drinks were complex, multilayered concoctions made with care from fresh ingredients and built around fresh juices and premium spirits.
Slipsmith starts the book off with a glassware primer. This includes the pearl diver glass, designed to hold the punch of the same name created by Gantt. Inside the glass with a ribbed body and coupe-like top is a tasty creation that includes three types of rum, plus spices and butter.
Over-the-top garnishes are essential in the tiki world, as Slipsmith shows, and her book also has a section on batters, syrups and bitters.
The majority of the book is dedicated to rum-based cocktails, kicking off with the crown jewel of tiki — the mai tai. There would be no tiki without rum, even though there is no tradition of that spirit in the South Pacific or even a cocktail culture there.
Two of the drinks are perfect for a Fourth of July extended weekend. The tiki boom boom is a red, white and blue layered drink, served in a poco grande or hurricane glass. The firecracker is a sweet, spicy, chile-infused drink that combines rum, watermelon, muddled lime and orange curaçao.
Tiki culture encourages shared consumption of beverages, and Slipsmith devotes a chapter to the communal bowls, ranging from a flaming volcano to a fizzy peachy batch. With her help, you will be lighting flaming lime halves for a garnish in no time.
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