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Tiki Talk with Ben Willis: Pop-ups, Beachbums, and Tikiyaki · Mega Rock On Demand

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's Friday afternoon, and that means it's time to light the torches once again for Tiki Talk on Mega Rock.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ben Willis with you.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: The modern Tiki revival really would not have properly happened in the way it did without going hand in hand with the cocktail renaissance of the early 2000s and 2010s as well.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And with the trend of increased quality, fresh ingredients, and really just having a lot more fun with cocktails in general than what people had in the 70s, 80s, and even through the 1990s, there arose this concept of the Kraft Cocktail Bar pop-up, where you would sometimes have an existing restaurant and you would have a talented bartender come in, maybe for a short stay or even just a single night, and sling a set of specialty drinks for your establishment, or sometimes they'd even rent a space wholesale and set up a temporary establishment dedicated to high-quality drinks and cocktails.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: This, of course, was mirrored in the tiki bar pop-up and tiki night invasions across the country since about the early 2000s.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or before that, you might have had tropical nights at existing establishments, at which you'd probably see a lot of large, brightly colored beach drinks being served.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: But since the Kraft Cocktail Revival and the Tiki Revival, there's also been a resurgence of high-end vintage cocktails and new ones being served at pop-ups, tiki invasions, theme nights, and such.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most noble ones in recent history was back in 2022 when the Trader Vicks Company temporarily set up shop once again in the historic Hilton in Washington, D.C., where they had had an existing location for several decades previously until it closed, very sadly.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of the press surrounding the Trader Vicks pop-up in Washington, D.C.'s Hilton seemed to herald this third wave now of new tiki establishments and high-end cocktail nights.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you to do some exploring.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you know of a cocktail bar near you, see if they might be interested in hosting a tiki night.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: You never know, they might just take you up on the idea.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, one of the biggest proponents of the tiki drink revival was Jeff Beach Bumberry, who is still very active in the community.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And coming out of his Beach Bumber remixed gallery of tiki drinks, among the entries include in the new drinks versus the classic cocktails, he has his own namesake cocktail, The Beach Bum, which, in true form, was created at a Manhattan speakeasy for one of their tropical evenings.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: The Beach Bum is as follows: In your shaker, take 34 ounce fresh lime juice, one ounce freshly squeezed pineapple juice if you have a juicer or a squeezer that you can do so.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: If not, resorting to canned is no sin.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: 1 ⁇ 2 ounce of apricot brandy, 1 ⁇ 2 ounce of orgate almond syrup, 1 ounce of aged dry rum, and 1 ounce of gold Barbados rum.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shake with ice, strain into a glass filled with fresh ice, engage with a cocktail cherry and an orange slice speared onto a paper parasol.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And there you go, it's the beach bum, perfect for wherever your next tiki night might pop up.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So until we meet another island out there somewhere, this is Ben Willis saying Aloha.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna leave you with the track by a modern tiki combo, an offshoot of Jim Bachi's tikiaki orchestra.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's the tikiaki 5-0 in their interpretation of the classic Cuban tune taboo.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: On Tiki Talk on Mega Rock, I think that's what I'm saying.