Smuggler's Cove - An Attempted Visit

Saturday, February 18, 2017

For my annual trip to visit Warren in California I decided to try and visit a couple of notable San Francisco Tiki Bars. Warren, Scott, and I got into the city around 3:00 p.m. and settled in at Twin Peaks for our first cocktail. At around 5 pm we called for an Uber to take us to Smuggler's Cove and arrived around 5:30 only to find a long line out the door which wasn't moving.  We found out from someone else in line that staff let a group in right when they opened at 5:00. They were filled to capacity and that they'd start letting more folks in at 6 p.m. but it would be one in one out. We decided to head over to Pagan Idol.

Tiki Bar Tour

Sunday, February 5, 2017

In a couple weeks I'll be making a California trip to visit my friend Warren who winters there. I'll be staying with him and his friend Scott who lives in Half Moon Bay. We plan to take a trip into San Francisco to visit a few tiki bars. I texted this graphic I made to Warren a few days ago to let him know which bars are at the top of my list. 

Smuggler's Cove - Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki

I recently finished the book Smuggler's Cove - Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki by Martin with Rebecca Cate. It was a blast and a half. I found it this past August at a bookstore knowing nothing about it and grabbed it up immediately. Once in a while I think you actually can judge a book by it's cover.  The Cates do an excellent job of not only covering tiki drinks but tiki culture/Polynesian Pop in general. The book is not only well written but beautifully photographed. It's all here in 5 main parts: the birth, death, and rebirth of tiki; an overview of Cate's involvement in the tiki revival and his creation of Smuggler's Cove, a modern tiki bar; a rum primer; tiki cocktails; and finally, an introduction to creating your own tiki paradise.

All that said, I'll point out that, personally, I feel the drinks look tricky to make. They require a lot of different ingredients and bar tools. Many of the drinks require more than one type of rum which, if you want to be a purist as Cate is, could end up being quite spendy. For myself, I'm more comfortable starting with one type of decent rum and adding some pineapple juice and a bit of nutmeg (I searched easy rum drinks online). However, I will say that Cate has made me much more curious about rum than I ever was before (my experience is limited to rum and Cokes) and he has planted a seed in my brain to to find out more about different types and maybe at some point try mixing up some of his recipes myself. For now though, I think I'll stick to making easier mixes myself and save the harder stuff for a trip to my local tiki bar and restaurant Psycho Suzi's in Minneapolis.