There's something about miserably hot weather that prompts a body to crave a tall glass of rum, crushed ice and a good splash of fruit juice and coconut. Tiki cocktails are your answer. They've been your answer all along.
This often misunderstood part of craft-cocktail culture is usually left to scrape out a niche existence, resigned to a once-a-week revival somewhere or another, and those who carry a torch for tiki have typically seen their daiquiri dreams answered in fits and starts (but mostly fits). For them - for us - a major respite is on the horizon, with Dallas Tiki Week about to kick off a five-day celebration of all things tiki. And then some.
The event -- Dallas' first tiki-themed week since 2014 -- launches with Sunday's pig roast luau at Pilikia and includes several tiki cocktail contests, happy hours, tiki bar crawls and workshops on crafting homemade tiki-oriented ingredients like orgeat, falernum and tiki bitters.
The California-born tiki craze flourished in the 1930s and 1940s, led by rattan-filled bars like Trader Vic's, which gave unto the world fruity rum classics like the Mai Tai and Zombie. Tiki is more than cocktails, though; it's an atmosphere, a laid-back world of Polynesian island aesthetic. Though the trend would fizzle within a few decades, the re-emergence of craft-cocktail culture revived interest in tiki's tropical tipples; places like Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco, and PKNY in New York, were among the first to breathe life back into a drink category inspired by rum, brandy, fruit juice and flowery kitsch.
By summer 2012, the crew at The People's Last Stand in Dallas was whipping up flaming punch bowls for Sunday crowds; early the next year, the resuscitated Sunset Lounge on Ross Avenue -- featuring Eddie "Lucky" Campbell, now owner of Parliament -- was for a brief time the first modern Dallas bar to embrace a full-on tiki identity, spitting out classics like the Rum Runner and Bahama Mama along with, incongruously, some amazing guacamole.
In early 2014, Barter bar man Rocco Milano introduced a Sunday tiki brunch, and later that year came Dallas Tiki Week, featuring a tiki bus tour and, at Windmill Lounge, an entrée devised by then co-owner Charlie Papaceno that was described by bartender Trina Nishimura as "a deconstructed, reconstructed Spam ham."
It remains to be seen whether Papaceno, now owner of Industry Alley, will resurrect his meaty handiwork for Dallas Tiki Week 2017. His Cedars neighborhood bar will host a late-night party Wednesday as part of the event (and then its own, separate tiki-style event the following Sunday).
In addition to Pilikia, the sleek, tiki-styled bar on Ross, various Dallas locations will host the afternoon and evening activities, including Rapscallion on Greenville Avenue, Lounge Here in East Dallas and Sisu in Uptown. A pair of tiki bar crawls will roam Uptown one evening, Deep Ellum the next, and a gin-and-tonic happy hour is set for Omar YeeFoon's soon-to-open Shoals in Deep Ellum on Tuesday. There'll even be kickball games and a pool party.
On Monday afternoon, a trio of workshops will feature local liquor luminaries Campbell, Brian McCullough and Chris Furtado directing participants in making homemade orgeat (an almond-based syrup), falernum (a rum-based cordial often flavored with ginger, lime, clove and almond) and tiki-styled bitters. Two of these sessions will conclude on Tuesday.
Late Wednesday night, Industry Alley will host a party featuring tiki-styled frozen El Diablo cocktails.
"It's to show you can think outside the box of tiki cocktails as just rum drinks," says bartender Mike Steele. "You can use agave spirits with tiki ingredients and still have that same spirit and quality as sugar-based ones."
The week concludes with a farewell party at Pilikia.
Events are open to the general public with tickets priced at $10, though RSVP's are required for some sessions. Tickets and RSVP information can be found here or on the event's Facebook page.
