A real beaut evening coming up at the “Tiki Lounge and Bar”!
Saturday 12th July
Escape to Surf Guitar heaven with…..
“Instrumental Asylum”
9.00pm
$8 cover charge.
Drop in to the Tiki Bar to enjoy the “groovy surf/lounge/guitar noir/jazzy sounds” of the infinitely cool and talented Instrumental Asylum lead by master guitarist Ben Rogers.
Featuring special guests Jasmine Mahon on vocals and New Yorker Al Kash on drums & percussion.
The New York Times recently published an article about the reemergence of blenders in the modern Cocktail bar. The blender is something that still has a degree of stigma attached to it for many modern cocktail bartenders thanks to the frozen drink invasion of the 70s and 80s. The New York Times quotes two “friends-of-the-bar” in their article; Beachbum Berry, author of the wildly popular Sippin’ Safari, and Martin Cate, owner of the world leading Tiki bar Forbidden Island in lovely Alameda across the bay from San Francisco.
In an effort to find a fitting image for this post, I found this video by the unexpectedly entertaining Blendtec corporation - be sure to have a look at all their videos - they blend some crazy stuff.
Tiki has long been associated with the fine art of pinstriping. You need only walk into a gallery like Kustom Lane in Hawthorn to see the worlds of Tiki and pinstriping walking hand-in-hand. Poking around the internets recently I came across a most excellent flickr album with a wonderful example of Tiki artwork adorning some form of 4 wheeled transport at a car show. The detail is just amazing:
Join us at the Tiki Bar this Saturday from 8pm onwards to celebrate the release of the new Get Smart movie! Take in a cabaret show whilst enjoying our new “Cone of Silence” cocktail - made with the most exotic and excellent 42 Below Feijoa Vodka, lime juice and Chartreuse. Dress in “secret agent” costume or bring your Get Smart ticket stub for special offers throughout the night! Email info@tikiloungeandbar.com for more info! Steve Carrell or someone who may or may not look a little bit like him in certain light may be in attendance*! We may or may not be playing old school Get Smart episodes which may or may not include favourite characters such as Hymie, Larabee, and Siegfried!
Be sure that you don’t “miss it by that much”.
Kev
*Tiki Lounge and Bar does not guarantee that someone who may or may not look a little bit like Steve Carrell in certain light will be attending the event.
Tiki Lounge and Bar now has a Facebook group - yet another iron in the online fire where you can go to share your Tiki Bar experience on the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY!
The Facebook group will be yet another place where you can access information about our exciting upcoming events like our Get Smart-apalooza this month, or the wonderful surf guitar band Instrumental Asylum on the 12th of July.
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our Google Calendar if you are so inclined, or befriend the Tiki Bar at our Myspace page
The Melbourne Zombie Shuffle was an absolute lark! We went down to the event to hand out some flyers for our “Melbourne Zombie Shuffle Reviver”. Many thanks to the undead who made it in to the bar to kick back with a few zombie cocktails and watch zombie movies after a long afternoon of shuffling through the post-apocalyptic Melbourne landscape.
Be sure to check the gallery for more photos of the event.
This Saturday marks the 2nd 3rd annual Melbourne Zombie Shuffle - an event where local zombies are free to roam from the Carlton Gardens to Crown Casino through the wonderful city of Melbourne. For those Zombies needing refreshment after participating in the Zombie Shuffle, Tiki Lounge and Bar is offering a place to put up your tired and rotting feet. The Zombie Shuffle Reviver will be offering door prizes and “stuff” to people who turn up in costume and will be selling our most popular drink which, coincidently, happens to also be the Zombie.
Ok, now that we’ve got that out of our system, lets talk about ice (ice, baby - alright I’m done now).
Tiki Lounge and Bar has recently been experimenting with mankind’s greatest creation (after fire, wind and rain), ICE! We were of course inspired by the tireless research of the man without whom I believe this world would never have rediscovered the joy of a well crafted Tiki Cocktail - Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. Beachbum Berry wrote The Book on Tiki Cocktails (and then for good measure wrote another two, his latest masterwork being the thoroughly entertaining and informative Sippin’ Safari).
In Berry’s books he delves into old cocktail books and the hand-written records of past Tiki mixologists and emerges with wonderfully complex recipes containing secret ingredients and techniques that have been lost in the mists of time. One skill that has been forgotten since the fall of the great Tiki Temples is the manipulation of ice in creating impressive new ways to present drinks. Beachbum Berry’s work has encouraged us to work on recreating some of these effects - one of which is seen in our new Get Smart inspired Cocktail the “Cone of Silence” (pictured). Beachbum Berry has written some kind words about our humble ice sculpting effort over at his “Grog Blog” .
We salute you, Mr Berry! Your work has reinvigorated an entire genre of drinks and is continuing to show us that fun drinks can still be serious (or is it that serious drinks can still be fun?).
Our menu gnomes have been hard at work putting together our exciting new Cocktail Menu concept.
The new menu will be a beautifully illustrated A3 menu in the style of menu common in the middle of last century. Below is a sneak peek at one of the hand illustrated colour effigies of our wonderful tropical drinks. The drink in question is a Zombie :
Don the Beachcomber’s classic Zombie represents all that is great about Tiki Drinks – heaps of great Rum, fresh fruit juices, bold flavours and a bit of showmanship, our Zombie is good old-fashioned fun. Full of four premium Rums, lime, lemon, passionfruit and pineapple, our Zombie is brought to life with a bit of fire and some Voodoo magic… Don’t singe your eyebrows!
The superb illustration was done by friend-of-the-bar Fiona Palmer a gifted Melbourne illustrator and designer. The colouring was done by her partner Mike who is also an illustrator working in graphic design and is responsible for our great tribal tiki logo. The two of them have been dragged kicking and screaming into producing Tiki themed work for us against their will and have embraced the aesthetic with gusto.
Here is a great example of a vintage illustrated Tiki bar menu that I found on display in a Hawaiiana exhibit in Waikiki Beach. Our menu will be like that but better!
As Tiki Lounge and Bar’s Chief Bartender, I was recently invited to be interviewed by Koop Kooper, the “Lounge Lothario” on his excellent Cocktail Nation podcast. If you haven’t already checked out this great Australian podcast focussed on all things lounge, then get along to the website at cocktailnation.podomatic.com. We chatted about the ins and outs of Tiki cocktail making, Beachbum Berry’s wonderful book on Tiki drink history Sippin’ Safari, and our recent Cinema Exotica event.
A few weeks back Co-owner of Tiki Lounge and Bar, David Backler, appeared on Cocktail Nation. Be sure to check that one out too!
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