SF Event: Dr. Tiki at Forbidden Island

Dr. Tiki of Tiki Bar TV will be making an appearance at Forbidden Island in Alameda on April 16th at 8PM.

In other news from the Island, on the first Sunday of the month they're now open at 3PM, so you can start drinking those $15 Scorpion Bowls even earlier.

And each Thursday is now Classic (tiki) Cocktail Thursday, with a different drink priced at six bucks. Aloha!

Uslurper and vinegarwatch sighting

Paul Clarke has a story on pimento/allspice dram in today's SF Chronicle. The title: "Hot Dram!"

Included in the story is a recipe from Martin Cate of Forbidden Island, and included in that recipe is the magic ingredient: vinegar!

Tiki taking over?

Now that they're serving tiki drinks in New York, the rest of the country can read about the trend. At Elettaria they're serving a few tiki cocktails including the Navy Grog and Zombie, the Rusty Knot is some kind of tiki dive, and DISCUS threw a tiki party that was reported on all the blogs.

Out west, the Teardrop Lounge in Portland is doing Tiki Third Tuesday with a whole list of drinks just for the night- dang that's a lot of work! In San Francisco, a busload of bartenders went to Forbidden Island on Monday for a Rhum Clement event, so Tuesday at happy hour your favorite bartender may not look so happy.

The Times story does make a good point, though.

“Certain elements of mixology have gotten too dry,” (Angus Winchester) said, referring to a bar ethos that esteems pre-Prohibition cocktails, sometimes to a point of purism. “Cocktail lists are starting to look like history lessons, with bartenders hiding behind the fact that they’re using the 1812 recipe of a drink rather than the 1814 recipe. Tiki is the antithesis to all that.”

To a degree, anyway. As Mr. Miller said of the Navy Grog: “We’re using the original 1941 recipe.”

I think the tiki trend allows for the same nerd-ness as pre-Prohibition cocktail worship, but with different flavor profiles. Those earlier drinks (and their modern incarnations favored on the East Coast) use citrus zest, twists, flames, foams, and other aromatic tricks to give spark and life to small-volume drinks that largely come out of bottles. Many tiki drinks, it seems, use citrus and other mixers as the lively base canvas of the drink, allowing the spirits some breathing room in which to show off. (Does this make sense? I'm trying to say it's like the difference between drinking straight rum and a Daiquiri.)

In any case, I say more (well-made) tiki drinks is a good thing.

Tiki in the Tarheel State

Last week I went to visit family in Asheville, NC. Coincidentally, the one and only Beachbum Berry moved there recently as well. So that was reason enough to throw a tiki party at my brother's new house.

We planned our drinks in advance and bought all the equipment to make them in bulk, but the guests showed up early and really thirsty. I got them started with the Bum original (and easy to make) Restless Native cocktail until he arrived. When he did, we were squeezing and measuring and sweating to crank out drinks for everybody for the first hour or so before they all realized that the mai tais were pretty darn strong. Phew. Then we had enough of a break to prepare another simple Bum original, the Castaway.

Next time I do a party with drinks unfamiliar to the crowd I'll have to remember to thwart the most common question asked ("What's in this?") by typing up a description of each drink being served. That would make like easier on the amateur bartenders working the party.

My friends Stephen and Abigail brought the most incredible bean dip volcano, which is unfortunately the only picture I took of the party. (So as far as you know, I could be making the whole thing up.) I forgot to get Bum's autograph on my copy of his books, but he's threating to visit the Bay Area to check out Forbidden Island so I'll have a second chance, and a third at Tales of the Cocktail.

Another treat was locally made mead called Jay's Honeywine that my brother's friend brought to the party. I tried one with honey and blueberry juice, and another grainy one- I think barley. I have a lot to learn about mead still, but I think I dig it.

Island Life

On Friday I visited the exotic island of Alameda, CA. I met up with my pal Vanessa and Cameron Bogue, who was in town on his way to who-knows-where, and three of Cameron's friends. We first hit up the Hangar One/St. George Spirits distillery where we did the tasting and hung out with Distiller Dave and the tasting room crew. It was a hoot. I bought a shirt with the original St. George Absinthe Verte monkey on it- the one playing human skull instead of the one playing the cowbell that now dons the bottle label.

Then we all squeezed into a car and drove to Forbidden Island, the tiki bar. Co-owner Martin Cate and his wife met us there and entertained us as we got a little silly rather fast. I had a Nui Nui, followed by a category four Painkiller, and we washed everything down with a giant flaming bowl drink that Martin brought out. Was there another drink in the middle somewhere? Who can say?

I can say this: Forbidden Island is close to a couple AC Transit bus lines that connect to the BART station, so you people coming from anywhere along the BART lines can get safely home afterwards. If my experience is any indication, you may find that the whole trip back to civilization is a pleasant blur.

Tiki bar crawl in San Francisco

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Next Thursday though Sunday is the seventh annual San Francisco Bay Area Tiki Crawl. That the event is spread out over four days and three geographic regions is an indicator that we have a heck of a lot of tiki bars in this part of the world. (Take that, Hawaii!) On South Bay Thursday, the hordes descend upon Smoke Tiki, the Palo Alto Trader Vic's and Martini Monkey in the San Jose airport (pending approval). Friday night, city tiki-hoppers stop by Trad'r Sam, the Tonga Room, Bamboo Hut and the San Francisco Trader Vic's. On Saturday, it's time to hit Trader Vic's in Emeryville, Forbidden Island in Alameda, and the Conga Lounge and Kona Club in Oakland. The tour ends on Sunday with a leisurely revisit of Forbidden Island. There is no bus between venues unlike past years, so drivers are encouraged to find safe carpool situations rather than anger the great gods of common sense. Specific times and addresses, as well as an e-mail information list can be found on TikiCrawl.com.

Journalism Saves Lives (okay not really)

Right after I blog posting how sloppy cocktail journalism throws mixologists into great fits of confusion, I get an email from Martin of Forbidden Island:

I had a health inspection last week, and the inspector tried to stop me from selling Scorpion Bowls, because he said the backwash was a health hazard! I told him that he should check out Trader Vic's, then, since they've been doing it for 70 years. He didn't believe me (!), so I showed him a copy of your "Love Potions for Two" column from the Chron to convince him that it was everywhere and that did the trick. So thanks for that.

It's good to know that all my hard work cocktail reporting has real-world impact. If I can help one person- just one person- enjoy a tasty Scorpion Bowl then it will have been worth it.

Fun Mugs

The Munktiki website is where Forbidden Island gets its Fugu for Two mugs, but they have a whole range of awesomeness. It's like Kid Robot but for booze vessels.

Drinking for Two

(In Today's San Francisco Chronicle)

Love Potions For Two

Dipping straws into a shared cocktail isn't the most romantic way to celebrate Valentine's Day, especially given the kitschy reputation of extra-large drinks. Yet some bartenders are trying to show that extra-big doesn't have to mean extra-bad.

The best known cocktail for two or (for the polyamorous) more is the scorpion bowl. The tropical drink, simply a fruit and rum punch in an oversized bowl with straws, is a popular leftover from the tiki food and drink fad that first swept America beginning in the 1930s. It's sometimes presented in a ceramic scorpion bowl with a volcano in the middle that's filled with a high-proof spirit and ignited -- a volatile combination that no doubt contributes to its enduring appeal.

The story goes on to discuss to origin of the scorpion bowl (Trader Vic's), what different people do with it, and why Forbidden Island does them right. We include the recipe for the popular Fugu for Two, shown in the picture.

Read the rest of the story here.

I wrote the story with Valentines Day in mind, and we made sure to include where else you can get shared cocktails. That way, you can skip the whole dinner aspect of the holiday, get drunk on jumbo cocktails, and go screw.

Double the pleasure

A few bars offering drinks for two or more:

Betelnut. Scorpion bowl. 2030 Union St. (at Buchanan), S.F.; (415) 929-8855.

Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge. Multiple tropical drinks. 1304 Lincoln Ave. (at Sherman), Alameda; (510) 749-0332.

Lingba Lounge. Bowl of Monkeys. 1469 18th St. (at Connecticut), S.F.; (415) 355-0001.

Luna Park, Volcanic scorpion bowl, Make Your Own Passion (Valentine's Day only). 694 Valencia St. (near 18th Street), S.F; (415) 553-8584.

Poleng Lounge. Emperor's Cup. 751 Fulton St. (at Masonic), S.F.; (415) 441-1710.

Ponzu. Godzilla. 401 Taylor St. (at O'Farrell), S.F.; (415) 775-7979.

Tonga Room. Multiple tropical drinks. 950 Mason St. (inside the Fairmont Hotel), S.F. (415) 772-5278.

Trad'r Sam's. Multiple tropical drinks. 6150 Geary Blvd. (at 26th Avenue), S.F.; (415) 221-0773.

Trader Vic's. Multiple tropical drinks. 9 Anchor Drive (at Powell), Emeryville; (510) 653-3400. 555 Golden Gate Ave. (near Van Ness), S.F.; (415) 775- 6300. 4269 El Camino Real (at Dinah's Garden Court), Palo Alto; (650) 849-9800.