I spent most of my thirties in a personal renaissance. Introspective and wayward. Trying to follow in footsteps long smoothed out by the tides of time. I looked for Bukowski and Poe in bottles, scoured the honky-tonks for Hank, Waylon and Cash, floated on Jazz currents till I smashed into Rock n Roll, haunted a church pew, and plied Caribbean shores behind Hemingway, Buffett, and Thompson. But one must be careful when searching for idols, lest you find one.
Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you find a spot where you can smell the musty sweet scent of history lingering, the energy of space bathed in the patina of time. The exhalations of memories, lingering, ethereal moments like ghosts in time’s fading photograph. You simply feel it. Not on your skin but in your spirit. It’s the experience of feeling excited and content at the same time. It’s a feeling of belonging, belonging to the same or similar experience as someone you want to connect with. I can close my eyes and imagine what it must’ve been like in their time. Then, slowly, history fades to present and I am hit with the astounding revelation that I am indeed there now making my own memory. Leaving my own entry into the records of succession. Perhaps someday someone will come searching for me in my footsteps.
A bit dramatic for a Tiki podcast, huh? But it’s not all about rum and fruit juice. Well, not all the time. At the heart of Tiki is indeed exploration. Whether literally across oceans, escaping to a local temple of tipple, or trying a new drink recipe at home and letting yourself shake off your space-time shackles for a few.
Yeah, sometimes we get lucky, but sometimes we don’t. The greatest tragedy in any historical endeavor is the fact that these people, places, cultural moments in time, are indeed and indelibly gone. We’ll never share a Papa Doble with Hemingway at La Floridita, watch Harry Yee sling Blue Hawaii’s, or experience the heyday bacchanal of the Myrtle Bank Hotel in Jamaica.
Some of these memorable places are kept alive in cheap plastic posterity. Sometimes we can create a special moment, sometimes they happen by providence. Still we must, begrudgingly at times, accept that those snapshots are lost forever; but for us who keep them alive in cheap plastic podcasts.
Welcome to Pod Tiki.
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One such Tiki temple of yesteryear was the Kahiki Supper Club. It was 1957 when owners Bill Sapp and Lee Henry began traversing the South Pacific and scouring the U.S. to inspire their new endeavor. It would be bigger, more dynamic and elaborate than any tiki restaurant in the nation. They succeeded. For when the Kahiki Supper Club opened its doors in 1961 it boasted a sloped canoe roof, two large easter island statues flanking the doorway, mock rainforests, thatch huts, fountains and a massive 3 story tall fireplace. As one of the largest tiki themed palaces in the U.S. Kahiki offered an extensive menu of potions too, rivaling that of the Trader himself.
The likes of Zsa Zsa Gabor, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Andy Williams, and Mia Farrow made their way to Columbus, Ohio to be seen sipping during the height of pop-tiki culture. Kahiki served as one of the basis for what tiki restaurants should and would look like thereafter. The irrevocable Beachcomber, the veritable Godfather of tiki himself, would be proud to see what his vision spawned. This undeniable Mecca went so far as to offer the Mystery Bowl, a libation which would be served by a “mystery girl”, of course, who danced the incorrigible concoction to the tables of willing vict.. I mean, patrons.
Sapp and Henry sold the business in 1988 and in 1997 it was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Unfortunately, for all its glory, due to a significant loss of revenue, in 2000 the building was sold and subsequently demolished to build - a Walgreens. The business is survived by a line of Kahiki frozen foods. Some historic place.
Hope remains in two forms though, one: the Fraternal Order of Moai was founded in 2005 to preserve the history and artifacts of the restaurant, and two: Sandro Conti.
Sandro Conti was the bartender at Kahiki in the 1960’s credited for creating one of the most popular Tiki drinks you didn’t know you know. It resides in the corner of most menus and you would know the specialized mug if you saw it, but may have had reservations regarding the incredulous ingredients. Before you cast aspersions I assure you this drink has withstood the test of time for a reason. So now, finally, after all my ramblings, we get to this episode’s drink: The Port Light.
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Luckily for my liver there are only two versions of the Port Light, thus named for its reddish hue. The mug for this drink is actually part of the overall experience. It’s a red and gold mug shaped like the lantern that would be hung on the port side of ships. A green lantern signified starboard. This would inform other ships, or inebriated sailors of your own, which way the vessel was directed. Next time you see a plane overhead take notice of the red and green lights blinking on each wing. A holdover from their nautical brethren.
The first recipe we’re gonna cover is Sandro Conti’s original which comes to us courtesy of Tiki historian Jeff Berry. We owe Beachbum Berry multitudes of praise for putting in the work, both academically and practically, in resurrecting these recipes and true tiki-pop culture as a whole. Buuuuuut… I take umbrage with a few of his recipes as I believe he fills in the gaps with personal preference. This is only conjecture, but I contend when dealing with bygone tiki drinks it’s better to assume the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law.
Before we get into it though, ahem … let’s make a drink!
What separates this drink from its peers and may look suspect to some is the absence of rum. The port light is one of the few tiki/tropical drinks to utilize bourbon as its spirit. And why not? It’s not like rum is Polynesian either. Hell, it’s not like tiki means polynesian. Tiki is an amalgamation of travels, so maybe Sandro travelled to Kentucky. This time around I used Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage. It has that distinct Evan Williams flavor but not as potent. I like this as a sipping bourbon but that funk helps cut through tiki drinks in the same way Jamaica rum does. I could also recommend Bulleit Bourbon, another with a strong profile to stand against tikidom. But, if you’re not a bourbon drinker, or you simply don’t want to use your good stuff for mixing I cannot extol enough the virtues of good ol’ standard Four Roses. (It’s what I used in the Suffering Bastard episode.)
Moving on, this time we use lemon as our citrus rather than lime. The spice of lime clashes a bit with the passion fruit and lemon adds a brightness to the topography of this drink. Always use fresh squeezed. ‘Cuz who doesn’t like a squeeze, especially when it’s fresh. (Insert eye-brow wag.)
That brings us to Passion Fruit syrup. I use Monin, but there are myriad recipes out there for homemade if that’s your choosing. Also we will need some grenadine. Conversely to last time, when I claimed store bought was fine, I feel like this is a drink that greatly benefits from homemade or high-end grenadine. We want fruit to come out over sweetness, which is added in plenty due to the passion syrup.
Now, I’ve had a bit of a revelation of sorts recently. I try to be as authentic as possible when recreating these drinks. In that same way I try, too hard sometimes, to recreate the past when traveling. No matter how veritable the source, how close the degree of separation, or how clear the rendition, no recipe we ever find is going to taste like the original because any bartender in any tiki establishment worth their weight in rum has a proprietary twist. Maybe it’s a flick of the wrist when dashing bitters, or eyeballing that orgeat a little heavy. Even the originators of all our drinks thus far have had a small trade secret they haven't let out.
To be pedantic one could say only Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic recipes are “authentic”, but what of folks like Sandro Conti who created a time honored classic but was overshadowed by the men to formed the genre? Who does the label of “authentic” go to? And by that rationale I say my opinion is that there is a difference between a new drink coming out during the height of the time and new tiki drinks being created now. I believe the new drinks should have a new classification. They are not Tiki drinks unless they were invented during the heyday of Tiki. Much like a speakeasy drink cannot be called such if it was created modern day by some mustachioed hipster.
Here at Pod Tiki I attempt to make my recipes as classic and authentic as possible. But sometimes the letter of the law gets in the way of the spirit. The following is the most balanced version I can create within the boundaries of the original recipe. Ingredients are the same but I had to lower the syrups and and increase the bourbon to balance it out for a modern nuanced palate.
Here we go:
1 oz Lemon Juice
1 tsp Passion Fruit Syrup
1 tsp Grenadine
2 oz Bourbon
½ cup of crushed ice
Add everything to a blender and pulse it for about five seconds. Pour and top off with more crushed ice. This drink is quite sweet and fruity but with some malty depth. Careful not to add too much bourbon, that seems to just over bourbify it. (Yes, I just made that word up.) Blending with a small amount of crushed ice adds a frothy effervescence to the drink, but I have another trick. Add a small egg white (½ oz) and up the passion fruit syrup to ½ oz. Blending with a small amount of crushed ice is what usually gives Tiki drinks that mystical bubbly look, but I find this to be a welcome alternative that levels out the disparate flavors. Vacillating between sweet and bourbony in a very pleasant exchange of flavors the frothiness of the eggwhite actually tones down the bourbon kick and the sweetness while adding a creamy mouthfeel making this a surprisingly nuanced and well rounded drink. The lemon juice and passion fruit meld well with bourbon giving this a slight spice cutting through rich fruity notes. Not to mention it looks really cool the way crushed ice floats in pink froth, like glaciers on a unicorn sea. If you’re concerned about the raw egg, don’t be. Alright, you can use an egg white substitute if you’re worried, but I think it takes away from the fresh dairy flavor real egg adds.
I find shaking works better with egg white so we can forgo the blender and grab a shaker for this one. Add lemon, passion fruit, grenadine, bourbon, and egg white to the shaker without ice and dry shake till frothy. Then add 1 cup crushed ice and shake again. Pour unstrained into a Port Light mug or clear Collins glass. Top off with ice and garnish with expressed mint.
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The reason I’m so inclined to include this next recipe is because it comes directly from a former Trader Vic Bartender. Martin Cate now heads up the lauded San Fran Tiki Bar Smuggler’s Cove, but before that he earned his legendary status mixing up progentic potions behind the bar of Trader Vic’s. Mr. Cate deserves a podcast of his own someday so I won’t go into his story now, we’ll just say he adapted this recipe by walking the deck. You see, his version borrows from another drink called the Starboard Light. In this the bourbon is swapped for scotch and the grenadine for honey syrup. (A 1:1 honey:water mix). Cate marries the port and starboard lights and uses the egg, which is where I got the idea. Here’s his recipe adjusted slightly:
2 oz Bourbon
¾ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Honey Syrup
1 tsp Passion Fruit Syrup
½ oz Egg White (1 small egg)
Personally I prefer the original. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this version, it’s a well balanced tasty cocktail, it’s just that this is a separate drink in my book.
The Port Light tiki drink is a wonderful addition to anyone’s repertoire. It’s different enough to not get lost among the various similar flavor profiles of punch-based tiki concoctions. While remaining an outlier it deserves a place of independence among Mai Tais, Zombies, and Suffering Bastards. Not to mention it’s a perfect introduction for bourbon drinkers into that Tiki life. Fruity, but rounded out with depth and frothiness. Better suited for a dark jungle theme than a sunny beach the Port Light exemplifies the range of Tiki drink culture.
For my cigar folks out there, I would go with something dark and strong. Something to cut through the fruity sweetness but accent the bourbon. That’s why I am suggesting the Bella Artes by AJ Fernandez. Or, if boutique is more your jam, the Accomplice Maduro by Principle Cigar.
The Kahiki may be gone, but with the recent tiki revival there are plenty of altars to visit. You know, Martin Cate exemplifies the story of this episode. Following in the footsteps of Trader Vic then venturing out on his own.
As a writer I’ve travelled to many personal Meccas and followed in many footsteps. From Nashville to Key West to Havana to Jamaica. But, it’s the detours; The weekends alone on the beach in Cocoa and Destin, visiting my daughter at Amelia Island, the log cabin fire with my wife, sitting on the banks of the Mississippi river in Illinois. Life’s parentheticals took me on side quests, but always returned me to the path of footsteps laid out by those I sought. Not only famous types, either. Also the virtues of my family and friends who hold traits I admire and aspire to fold into my own being. One set of footsteps hold a heralded place in my heart, though. Sebastian “Ben” Annella. My grandpa. This past Christmas my uncle bestowed upon me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received, my grandfather’s flight jacket. I could never describe the smell of that worn leather. It smells like my childhood. It’s good to have a guide. Yet, my wife recently helped me realize that for all my searching for those I wish to emulate, the times I’ve risen above my talent is when I’ve been original. It’s the reason I started Pod Tiki. I often wonder what my grandpa would think of me now, of the things I’ve done and places I’ve been. But the most important part of following in others footsteps is knowing when to jump out and make your own.
So, sail your ship responsibly and most of all, thank you for listening to Pod Tiki.
Credits: Beachbum Berry Remixed by Jeff Berry, Jordan ? cocktailchem.blogspot.com, Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post, dispatch.com, and Wikipedia