Tiki Speakeasy

I am not much of a tiki drink connoisseur, but I have the good fortune of having a neighbor who is. Through his interest in tiki drinks and tiki bars, I have enjoyed many delicious rum drinks and learned a little bit about the whole tiki bar culture (for example, there is such a thing as a tiki drink with gin).  One new-ish interesting development (to me at least) is a trend of the tiki speakeasy.

It seems that it is no longer chic to have an out-in-the-open tiki bar, all the cool kids are at the tiki speakeasy.  I’ve had the good fortune to go to a couple and it was a fun time.

The first tiki speakeasy I visited was with my neighbors in Long Beach.  We took a car downtown to this craft brew/burger place (Beer Belly), then went to the back of the restaurant and found the secret entrance to Bar Tiki Tiki (no door, just push on the wall).  It was a good thing that we got there when we did because the whole place has maybe eight seats.

Even though the bartender was not that interested in us when we arrived, after a while he realized that he was in the company of fellow tiki drink aficionados.  He told us about his fancy frozen drink machine and even poured us shots of a very rare and special rum.

Then, when I went to Arizona to visit my dear friend K recently, she had a very hard-to-get RESERVATION at a tiki speakeasy for us.  Yes, a reservation.  And they barely let us in any way!

There is a coffee shop/bar in a converted auto garage in Phoenix called Sip Coffee and Beer Garage.  You go inside, then you go down this teeny staircase to Undertow.  The bar is in what had been the pit, where the mechanics would stand under the cars they were working on.

This place had some serious ambiance going on. You are imaginarily inside of a 19^th century clipper ship called the Undertow. The porthole “windows” give you a view of the tropical paradise just outside. Every so often, there is a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder.  Then you look out the “window” to see the storm squalling.  It is kind-of too fun.

This place has a menu that tells the legend of Captain Mallory in his quest to rescue the crew of the Undertow from a curse.  It made it difficult to decide what to order because I was so busy trying to read the whole story before committing to a course of action.

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We had a couple of rounds of gorgeous cocktails before we were informed that our reservation was expiring.  Apparently, when you have a 34-seat establishment, turnover is important.

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