WASHINGTON 鈥� What鈥檚 old is new again, and the retro craze du jour is tiki 鈥� at least when it comes to cocktails.
Bars and restaurants across the country are trading in their etched glass coupes for carved ceramic mugs 鈥� and it鈥檚 no different in the District. Dupont Circle鈥檚 Bar Charley keeps tiki drinks on tap, and Jack Rose celebrates Thursdays with tiki on the roof. In March a dedicated tiki bar, , opened its doors on U Street.
What is tiki? Archipelago co-owner Ben Wiley explains it鈥檚 a made-up culture that pulls from Hawaiian, Caribbean and South Pacific influences. And like any good fictional script, tiki鈥檚 story was crafted in Hollywood when Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, a native Texan, opened a bar called Don’s Beachcomber Cafe in the 1930s. (Gantt later changed his name to Donn Beach.) 听
The bar, which served elaborate rum drinks in a tacky and tropical space, quickly rose to popularity, especially among celebrities. Wiley credits tiki鈥檚 success to the vacation sensation it invoked.
鈥淎fter the craft cocktails, the pre-prohibition-style cocktails, tiki was kind of 鈥� an escapism lifestyle,鈥� Wiley said.
鈥淲e went through a [time] with very austere, speakeasy-style drinks with two or three ingredients, tiny little coupe glasses 鈥� and this is sort of the opposite of that,鈥� says Owen Thomson, who owns and operates Archipelago with Wiley.
In fact, most tiki drinks come with a long list of ingredients, including sweet syrups like Orgeat and Falernum. Many are topped with piles of fresh fruit.
鈥淲e鈥檝e processed like thousands of pineapples at this point, in just the three months that we鈥檝e been open,鈥� Thomson said.
And while rum is the most popular tiki spirit, it isn鈥檛 the only one. On Archipelago鈥檚 menu of 15 cocktails, several incorporate mezcal, bourbon, tequila and gin. However, the most important component of any tiki cocktail is the vessel from which it鈥檚 consumed.
There are painted bowls shaped like volcanoes, mugs that resemble Hawaiian gods and colorful ceramic sippers. Some drinks are served in copper pineapples and hollowed-out coconuts. Basically, the key is kitsch, so check your ego at the [beaded bamboo] door and just embrace it.
鈥淥nce you come in here, you鈥檝e sort of already resigned yourself to drinking out of a flamingo straw or holding a big pink goblet,鈥� Thomson said.
鈥淲orking at many bars, I鈥檝e had a lot of guys who were seemingly uncomfortable holding a glass with a stem for whatever reason. Nobody seems to have that many problems here. It鈥檚 like when you鈥檙e on vacation: You don鈥檛 think about it. Nobody鈥檚 here to judge you.鈥�
While one Donn gets credit for founding tiki, many credit another Don 鈥� Don Draper of 鈥淢ad Men鈥� 鈥� with its revival. However, Thomson says tiki鈥檚 resurgence is likely due to what made it popular the first go-round.
鈥淧eople already come to bars to actually have some sort of human interaction. The tiki bar is even more than that. Not only are you stepping in to socialize and interact with people, but you鈥檙e stepping entirely off the street and into a different place and a different time,鈥� he said.
鈥淭here are no TVs, you don鈥檛 need to know what鈥檚 going on in the world, kind of take a moment, step outside of the ambulances, the cars, the Metro, everything you鈥檙e hearing and just have a drink.鈥� 听
鈥� With a pink umbrella.
