The rum-tasting was a success, but now I have a half-dozen bottles of booze and no room in the liquor cabinet. The solution? Tiki cocktail party, of course! In addition to reducing the overabundance of rum, it’s also an opportunity to put J’s new barware to work. Over the past few months, she’s amassed quite the collection of vintage tiki mugs and glasses.

I spent a few days poring over the Smuggler’s Cove tiki book (a gift from R) for guidance, then crafted the cocktail menu: four drinks of different flavors and booziness. The Mai Tai was an obvious choice – Trader Vic’s signature, the cocktail that kicked off the tiki craze. For drink number two, I created the Passion Punch to highlight the flavor of passionfruit, which I love. Both of those drinks featured tart citrus juices, so the third one used creamy coconut milk for contrast. It’s my Polynesian riff on the Brown Cow, which I named accordingly (the Ka Bipi’ōpiopio – thank you, Google Translate). For the fourth cocktail, I selected the non-rum Chartreuse Swizzle – a decidedly modern cocktail that nonetheless pays homage to the tiki concept. We paired the drinks with appropriate snacks – crab Rangoon dip, tropical fruit skewers, barbequed shrimp – and invited the neighbors over. A good time was had by all… and my liquor cabinet is no longer overflowing. Success!

h.

Passion Punch

• 2 oz. column-still aged rum (I used English Harbour 5 Year)
• 1 ½ oz. fino sherry (I used Valdespino Inocente)
• 2 oz. passionfruit nectar
• ¾ oz. orgeat (DIY recipe)
• cocktail cherry, to garnish (DIY recipe)
• cocktail shaker, bar spoon, strainer, ice, tiki mug, cocktail pick

Steps

• add all ingredients except garnish to shaker half-filled with ice
• stir until well chilled, strain into mug, and fill with ice
• skewer cherry on pick and garnish

Ka Bipi’ōpiopio

• 1 ½ oz. blended lightly aged rum (I used Banks 5 Island)
• 2 oz. coconut milk
• ½ oz. coffee liqueur (DIY recipe)
• ¼ oz. allspice dram (I used St. Elizabeth’s)
• stick cinnamon, to garnish
• cocktail shaker, bar spoon, strainer, ice, collins glass, spice grater

Steps

• add all ingredients except garnish to shaker half-filled with ice
• stir until well chilled, strain into glass, and fill with ice
• grate cinnamon on top of drink to garnish