We had an awesome time this past Friday on the Big Bear Tiki Boat!

We signed up for the sunset tour and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I thought maybe it'd just be a boat with some tropical accessories and canned mai tais or something. But it was a pretty legit full tiki bar, on a boat!

The couple who run it are awesome, very friendly and make great drinks. The bar itself is covered with mementos from their own travels. The bar stools are boat seats, at bar stool height!

It was a little chilly/windy, especially when we were first heading out to the middle of the lake, but they offer blankets to everyone if they want one. They also have a surprisingly nice restroom on board - probably the nicest I've ever used on a vehicle smaller than a cruise ship.

Anyway, we had a blast and I can't recommend it enough. They're about to shut down for the season at the end of October, but if you're heading to Big Bear next year, definitely keep it in mind! Between this & Tropicali, Big Bear Lake has a couple of great tiki experiences.

Lived up to every expectation. Amazing drinks (cap’n cam gets my biggest shout out), amazing bartenders, amazing crowd, and vibe is unbelievable.

now — back to Kowloon

Edit: one awesome thing I’ve noticed as the night has gone on - this is a neighborhood bar for so many people. The bartenders and so many patrons know each other, which gets to best part about this community! And also, shoutout to bartender - Brian - for being so friendly and informative!

1 oz light rum (Planteray 3 star)

1 oz Appleton Estate

1 oz Smith & Cross

1 oz Plantation OFTD

1.5 Creme de Banane/Banana liqueur

1.5 oz Cinnamon Syrup

1.5 oz Lime juice

1.5 oz Orange juice

Dash of angostora to top

One per customer 🦍💤

The title says it all, really. I’m looking for good sources of rum in the Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA area.

Pretty solid Mai tai rum blend. 1/2 ounce of each.
Bit of an adjustment to the ultimate Mai tai.
I’ll probably never buy OFTD again… not my thing. And I currently don’t have smith and cross or Appleton 12.

My wife is suddenly laying off alcohol for the next (hopefully) several months but we leave for Vegas in the morning. She's still game to check out a few tiki bars, does anybody have any insight on where to find the best/most tolerable mocktails? Or are we better off scrapping the bar crawl altogether?

She's made me promise to describe the potent stuff in agonizing detail so she can live a little vicariously.

Just picked this up, any suggestions for its use? Doesn’t appear in any recipes that I’ve come across.

Was lucky enough to visit SF and SD this past week amd had a great time checking out all the tiki bars.

We visited: Last Rites, Tonga Room, Zombie Village, Pagan Idol, Smuggler's Cove, Trader Vic's, Bali Hai, MOTHERSHIP, and False Idol.

We tried visiting Forbidden Island in Alameda and Grass Skirt in San Diego but it wasn't in the cards, will just have to come back

ENJOY JOY.

Hi everyone!
I am on a mission to find Donn’s Treehouse Tiki Mug (the one made by Eekum Bookum for Don the Beachcomber). It’s completely sold out online, and there is absolutely zero chance of finding one here in Italy.
My husband is a huge Tiki enthusiast and this mug would be the ultimate, perfect birthday gift for him ❤️
If anyone is willing to part with theirs, or if you have any leads on where I might track one down, please let me know!
Regarding shipping: don't worry if you don't want to ship internationally. I have a US-based proxy shipping service (forwarder) with a US address, so domestic shipping within the United States works perfectly fine for me.
Thank you so much for your help! Aloha! 🍹🌴

Recipe in comments

LIFE is for LIVING.

Hello, this is sort of an odd and maybe dumb question, but are there any Tiki themed places for minors?

I have kind of a weird fixation on specifically Exotica/lounge music, but overall I love 1950s/60s Tiki culture/craze. I (16) am a minor, and most Tiki bars/lounges I have been researching are, obviously, no minors allowed.

So, are there any places like what I am imagining that allow minors? I am located in Washington, and I am looking for somewhere similar to the Old Hangout by McMenamins or The inside passage.

Edit: Sorry, yes I mean Washington state. 😅

Thank you! ❤️🌴🌊🐚

Maybe the best Rum Old Fashioned I've had yet. Holmes Cay Fiji, grog concentrate (Tropical Standard), Bittercube Trinity bitters. A truly tropical Old Fashioned. Excuse me; I have to go make another one.

The recent Portland posts reminded me that I had some old pics from a 2002 visit that might be of historical interest.

The first three photos are of the Jasmine Tree, which was one of those interesting Chinese/Tiki hybrid restaurants that used to be a thing for awhile. It was near PSU at the corner of SW Harrison and 4th. It closed a few years after this pic, and the site was razed to make way for the Vanport building.

If those carvings in the third picture look familiar, they were rescued and are now at the Hale Pele!

The last two pics are from the Tiki Lodge Motel, which used to be right off the interstate in Salem. I took one for the team and actually stayed a night there. As you can see, the room was not particularly tiki-themed, but it did at least have an authentic "magic fingers" vibrating bed (note the coin box next to the phone).

Halloween-ish color ways of some of my mug designs. There was no time to make a new sculpt for Halloween this year so I opted to cast and glaze some older designs and paint them the way I’ve been wanting to. Blood curdling right?

I'll be in Portland, OR in late January, and I want to take a road trip to visit Dead Man's Isle in Astoria, OR and Dark Harbour in Long Beach, WA. For those of you who are familiar with that part of the country, do you recommend staying overnight somewhere up there or just taking a day trip from Portland? And if overnight, is there a particular place you recommend staying?

Yesterday, as part of SacOhana's weekend of incredible events, I went to Shipwrecked in Sacramento, California. I ordered their Infinity Daiquiri and was asked, "British, Spanish, or French rum?" which is a way of describing it that I've never heard before. But thanks largely to this subreddit, I presumed correctly that I wanted an agricole at the time and that would be French style. It was a small thing but it feels cool to have some expertise.

Bonus Review: Shipwrecked is a great example of not judging a place by its soft open. I have avoided this bar for a couple years because the drinks and the atmosphere were kind of lacking when they opened. Now, it's legit. Great decor, great drinks, great snacks. Just watch out for the booth benches, which seem to be engineered to injure your backside (pillows are provided). Cheers to the staff too, they got a capacity crowd on a Sunday afternoon and rolled with the punches.

Feel like I’ve been seeing a lot of PNW Tiki posts so sorry to post another but just got back from a birthday week trip up to Oregon and had 6 stops marked on my tiki list. Quick run down in order of our stops. Had a really great time in this region and all the tiki spots they have to offer. Had such friendly conversations with all the bartenders as well.

1) Hale Pele - Portland, OR. The most well known in the area and it was excellent. Their Jet Pilot might be my new favorite overall tiki drink and the fire display was pretty gold. Bonus point for some delicious pulled pork.

2) The Alibi - Portland, OR. Such a classic looking tiki lounge and I loved that. The zombie and mai tai were ok but it’s more about the history of this place that made it a must stop.

3) Coral Club - Vancouver, WA. Not the best themed spot but honestly maybe my favorite Mai Tai of the trip and it was only $9 for Mai Tai Monday! The happy hour grilled shrimp skewer here was fantastic too.

4) Wahi Hana - Vancouver, WA. We were only ones in here the whole time so would have enjoyed to see it more lively cause the theming was cool and I could tell they had inspiration from Trader Sam’s. Zombie and Mai Tai both solid.

5) Dark Harbour - Long Beach, WA. Wow, almost didn’t go out of the way for this one and I would have regretted that. Loved the interior of this space. The fireplace and skull in the woodwork is really cool. I really liked the Mai tai here too.

6) Dead Man’s Isle - Astoria, OR. Probably the most disappointing drinks at this stop sadly. Mai Tai was too strong on lime and the zombie was off a bit too. Maybe it was just a bad night. The little Japanese whiskey bar upstairs was really cool though.

I’ve swapped out the Halloween mugs at the home bar and loving the look. One or two that I may swap around

Unfortunately rhw Halloween decorations were up, so it killed the immersion a hit, but, Im still happy I went. Plus! I got this sweet Happi to wear to the tiki bars in the states!

Visiting for a few days, and have had this place on the map for a bit. Awesome stop with a tiki-robot theme and tons of classic and original (and themed-for-Halloween) drinks. Plus, excellent selection of rums and a “high roller” cocktail menu.

Highly recommend. Great place, worth a visit if you’re nearby!