6 Fascinating Things You Didn't Know About Tiki Cocktails
Tiki often provokes visions of sandy beaches, cocktail umbrellas and dreams of never-ending vacations. Until recently, many of the tropical drinks available around the UK over the past few decades have been anything but enticing. Often sickly sweet, neon-hued and blended into oblivion, tiki is, within the last years, finally starting to pull itself out of that cloying rut. For those who are only familiar with the sugary drinks of sandy-floored huts, it may be difficult to draw the connection between tiki and craft cocktails. Turns out, these beachy drinks have quite the history. 1. Tiki was inspired by Polynesia. Beach of St. Thomas bar When you picture yourself on the beach of St. Thomas, what do you have in your hand? A Piña Colada or a Mai Tai —perhaps even a Painkiller ? Though rum is a popular export throughout the Caribbean, tiki cocktails weren’t originally inspired by the beaches of St. Thomas or Jamaica. Instead, Polynesia, a g...