TIKI CULTURE

Shanghai Cocktail: Your Weekend Tiki Bar Drink Recipe

Like the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the whisper of the word “Shanghai” conjures images of a distant past, one of dark, narrow streets filled with underworld characters sneaking into opium dens and harlot-filled nightclubs. A six-month trip on a tramp steamer and there you are in “the Paris of the Orient”, where you take your chances and your life in your hands as you embark on a Noir adventure of mystery and lust.

You step up to the hand-carved bar in The Shanghai Club, and order a

Shanghai Cocktail

from a seedy bartender. He narrows his eyes as he considers the strange American before him, and makes his decision whether to poison you or allow you to live. You slap an American sawbuck on the bartop, and he decides to give you another day.

Shanghai Cocktail Recipe:

1 oz dark rum
1 tsp anisette
1/2 tsp grenadine syrup
juice of 1/4 lemon

Shake ingredients together in a shaker with ice until a frost forms on the outside of the canister. Rim a martini glass with lemon, and strain the cocktail into the glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

To make a Shanghai Surprise, set a half ounce of Bacardi 151 aflame and pour into the mixed drink.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, the web’s hottest blounge for Tiki Drink Recipies.

More Rum, More Noir - The Rum Noir, Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail

The Rum Noir, a Tiki Lounge Talk original. Kool Tiki mug by Tiki Diablo.

Since the other day was National Rum Day, I had to experiment with a few goodies to see if I could come up with something new. Well kids, I did. First I tried some of the Appleton Estate and El Dorado rums mixed with coke and lime. Now, I know some of you will say this is a big waste of such great rums. But the flavor was unique, dark and really very enjoyable. Equal parts of each rum in a tall glass with ice, add in coke and stir. Add fresh lime a little squeeze at a time.

But it didn’t stop there. I needed to make something my Tiki friends (that’s you) would consider worthy of the drink log. So, after a few experiments…

The Rum Noir

surfaced as the winner.

1 oz Appleton Estate Rum

1 oz El Dorado Demerara Rum

1/4 oz cinnamon schnapps (the hot stuff)

1 oz orange juice

1/2 oz fresh lime juice (adjust to taste)

2-4 drops bitters

Splash of Coke

Put everything into the shaker (except the soda) with ice and shake it up real nice. Pour into a tall Tiki mug with ice, add a splash of coke. Garnish with a lime wedge and orange slice. This recipe is pretty close to a planter’s punch, with a little kick. It’s called the Rum Noir because of the dark rum, and because I invented it while pulling the trigger on the print version of my latest swingin’ book, A Flash of Noir, which is now available in Print, for Kindle and for Nook. Check it out

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, the web-lounge for swingin’ chicks and kool vintage hipsters.

Dark ’n’ Stormy: Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail, and A Flash of Noir

The Dark 'n' Stormy

This weekend I’m officially announcing the latest tome to my collection of books, A Flash of Noir. To go with it, I needed a noir-style cocktail…and what could be more noir than a classic

Dark and Stormy

Trademarked by Gosling’s in Bermuda, the Dark & Stormy uses Gosling’s Black Seal dark rum and ginger beer. It was invented just after WWI, and was a favorite among American sailors who picked it up in the Caribbean. A strong and simple to make tropical drink, it is certainly at home on any Tiki bar.

•    2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum
•    3 oz ginger beer
•    lime wedge

Pour the dark rum over ice in a highball glass or Tiki mug, then add the ginger beer. Stir lightly with a glass rod and add the lime wedge for garnish. Don’t squeeze the whole lime wedge in…taste it first, and add a little at a time until it’s the way you dig it.

Annnd…fade to black, bring up sepia lights to

A Flash of Noir

Just before you mix your Dark and Stormy, get out your Kindle (or iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC) and go to A Flash of Noir at the Kindle store. There you can download my latest book, A Flash of Noir for only 99¢! By the time you finish mixing the drink, the download will be complete and you can begin to read while you sip.

A Flash of Noir - Kindle version

Yes, only 99¢

…for 30+ short, short stories, flash fiction, beatnik poetry and kool photos, all authored by yours truly, Tiki Chris Pinto (or as I’m known on my author page, Christopher Pinto). It’s jam-packed with kool 60-second reads full of gumshoe detectives, sultry dames, ghosts, murderers, and monsters. There’s even a story made entirely of song titles…see if you can find them all!

From the book’s description: “From smokey bars in New York City to the tropical islands of the Florida keys, A Flash of Noir takes you for a spin through the seediest gin joints and darkest alleys. One minute you’re speeding down I-95 in a hot rod, the next you’re tasting cheap whiskey in a basement tap room where the women are heartless and the men are unforgiving. Gangsters, cops, private eyes, strippers, murderers, phantoms…plus a few comedy pieces to keep you from wanting to slit your wrists.”

A Flash of Noir - Print version coming soon. Cover model is Colleen Pinto.

Why only 99¢? Well, I can tell you it’s worth a lot more, entertainment-wise. But I’m hoping that a lot of you will give it a shot for a buck. If you dig it, I hope you’ll download one of my other books, Murder Behind the Closet Door: The Wildwood Paranormal Mystery or Murder on Tiki Island: A Noir Paranormal Mystery in the Florida Keys…and if you dig those, I hope you’ll tell your friends so they get em too. The idea is to become rich and famous. Ain’t that what most of us want?

I just realized…it’s beginning to thunder and lightning here at the Tiki Bar. Perfect for a Dark & Stormy!

– Tiki Chris reporting from the library at Tiki Lounge Talk, the Blounge for swingin’ retro kats and hip chicks.

Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail: My Blue Heaven

My Blue Heaven

Here’s a easy one to mix up quick at the Tiki bar. It looks pretty and the chicks really dig it.

My Blue Heaven

1 oz Silver Rum
1 oz Blue Curacao
1 oz Coconut Creme
2 oz Pineapple Juice

Easy method:
Put everything in a shaker and shake it up real nice with ice, until the shaker gets frosty. Pour it over the rocks in a Tiki mug and garnish with a piece of pineapple, and if you have it, a blueberry.

Difficult method:
Go to the music shop and buy a book on how to play saxophone. Learn to play the saxophone. Buy sheet music to My Blue Heaven, and record it with a couple of jazzing’ cats to a swing beat. Set up a record deal with a major jazz label and have the recording distributed. When it reaches the top of the charts, have it pressed in vinyl as a collector’s piece.

Buy a high end hi-fi turntable. Set it up at your Tiki Bar and put the record on. Follow directions above.

MMM, good stuff.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the bar at Tiki Lounge Talk

Spicy Piña Colada: Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail, and Cocktail Nation

How about something frozen on this hot, South Florida day?

As the Mai Tai is without question the quintessential Tiki Cocktail, the Piña Colada is without doubt the most famous and best-loved Tropical drink. Welcome anyplace on the globe where palm trees and thatch are present, the Piña Colada is at equally at home at the Tiki bar or on a Mexican playa.

From Shag’s Tiki Drink Deck, here is the

Spicy Piña Colada

1 1/2 oz. spiced rum (I prefer Sailor Jerry’s)
1 1/2 oz. creme de coconut
2 oz. pineapple juice
2 oz. pineapple chunks
splash of cream
151 rum

Blend everything except the 151 in a blender with ice until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass, top with about a tablespoon of 151 and garnish with a cherry, pineapple wedge, orange slice and a little umbrella. It’s nothing without the umbrella. Sit in your favorite deck chair pointed at the ocean and enjoy!

Shag's Tiki Drinks Deck

Cocktail Nation

So, as I riffed about in my last post, Koop Kooper of Cocktail Nation kindly interviewed me for my newest retro-tastic novel, Murder on Tiki Island. The vintage music podcast is now available at CocktailNation.net (click the link to listen now!) The show is, as always, great, kicking off with a Diana Krall tune and filled with great music and retro koolness. You can catch Koop’s podcast every week, with new-old tunes a’plenty.

For info on Murder on Tiki Island by Tiki Chris Pinto, visit the Star Dust Mysteries Publishing website at StardustMysteries.com.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the lanai at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, Florida