It’s here! International Exotic Cocktail Day 2013!
#IECD is a day to celebrate with our favorite Tiki drinks. It doesn’t matter where you are, whether at home or at a Tiki bar, just mix up some rum and fresh juices and top with a pineapple slice and a paper umbrella! (Where appropriate. Don’t put a paper umbrella on a Jet Pilot, for instance đ
Yours truly, Tiki Chris, started International Exotic Cocktail Day a few years ago as a way to bring my world-wide Tiki friends together, without actually getting together. You don’t have to do anything special…a Rum Swizzle in your living room is fine; or you can go all-out and plan a happy hour with friends at The Mai Kai or Trader Vic’s.
Enjoy the day/night with a Tiki Cocktail!
Here’s a few drink recipes in case you decide to host your own #IECD party at home. For more great recipes visit Tiki Lounge Talk’s Tiki Drinks! page.
Mai Tai, from Don the Beachcomber:
â˘Â   1 oz Rhum ClĂŠment VSOP Martinique rum
â˘Â   1 oz Appleton Estate Extra dark Jamaican rum
â˘Â   1 oz fresh lime juice
â˘Â   1/2 oz Orange Curacao.
â˘Â   1/4 oz Simple Syrup.
â˘Â   1/2 oz Orgeat Syrup
Add to a shaker with crushed ice and shake it up, baby. Pour over rocks in a Tiki mug or Old Fashioned glass and garnish with mint sprig, so that you sense the mint as you take in the drink. An umbrella is mandatory, unless you have a fresh tropical flower to replace.
Navy Grog
oz Light Puerto Rican Rum (Bacardi Silver, Meyers White)
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Myers Dark, Coruba Dark, Appleton Estate)
1 oz Demerara Rum
3/4 oz Fresh Lime Juice
3/4 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
3/4 oz Honey, warmed
Club Soda Shake everything but the soda up in a shaker and strain over rocks in a tall Tiki mug. Top it off with the soda and give it a quick stir with an appropriate swizzle stick (a flamingo, Tiki head, or something vintage. Donât be lazy and use one of those plain plastic ones with the little ball on the end and nothing else). Garnish this masterpiece with a combination of lime, pineapple and cherry on a sword, and if you can, add an orchid. Fantabulous, man!
Tiki Galore (A Tiki Chris original!)
The Tiki Galore
1 oz. Amaretto
1 oz. Dark Rum
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
2 oz. Orange Juice
1/2 tspn powdered sugar
Pour everything into a shaker with shaved ice, shake, and strain over ice cubes in a tiki glass. Garnish with everything tropical-looking you can find. You can make it a little more tart by squeezing in some lemon, a little sweeter with more sugar. Drink up! It ainât bad, and will knock you on your ass! Cheers!
Scorpion Bowl
8 ounces of silver Rum (personally I prefer dark rum, and it gives this concoction a richer taste)
4 ounces Brandy (used something decent, not that $11 a bottle junk!)
8 ounces of orange juice (fresh squeezed is best)
4 ounces of lemon juice (you can add a little more if you want it more tart)
3 ounces orgeat syrup
2 cups of crushed ice (plus extra cubes)
Mix up everything except the ice in a big bowl, bucket, tub, whirlpool, whatever youâve got. Toss the crushed ice in a blender for a few seconds, and add about half to your Scorpion or Volcano Bowl. Fill with the booze, add in a few cubes. Garnish with floating flowers and use those long-assed straws to drink it up. This big bowl-o-rama is best enjoyed with a couple of hip friends, some Martin Denny playing on the hi-fi, and candlelight or Tiki torches.
Youâll have to keep tasting this stuff before you pour it in for you guests, as the balance can be tricky. Too much orgeat syrup and it will be overly sweet. Too much lemon and youâll pucker up like a duck. Fresh juices make a much better, more authentic-tasting drink (always) and will impress your friends. If you have a Volcano Bowl, add an ounce of 151 Rum to the volcano and light it up!
We’ll be heading to The Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale tonight. I’m planning on a few Jet Pilots and Mai Tais, and a stretcher to get me out of there. Cheers!
-Tiki Chris, reporting from behind the bar at Tiki Lounge Talk