Jan 10

Jan 10 The Cactiki

This week on The Lushus Life podcast we talk all things tiki. What better way to chase away the winter blues than with a tiki cocktail. Nothing evokes islands vacations and relaxing quite like a tropical drink. Depending on when you came of age in the drinking scene you may have tasted beautiful simple fruit forward drinks or terrible cloyingly sweet drinks with silly colors and artificial syrups. As with most things, first impressions shape our feelings about things. If you were in the second group it's time to give tiki another try. The tiki of today has all of the sophistication of any craft cocktail with complex flavors and interesting spirit forward blends.

You all know by now how much I love Amari. The bitter sweetness appeals to me on so many levels. Adding an amaro to a tiki cocktail lends complexity and also balances sweetness. The amari made by Don Ciccio & Figli (DC&F) in Washington, DC are some of my favorites. They are made in the traditional Amalfi coast style by hand in small batches. The depth of flavors you find in these bottles is so far beyond your standard amari that once I tasted them I never went back. I use them all the time now.

Iconic Cocktail Co is a Phoenix based cocktail syrup company that use local ingredients and seasonal flavors to create artisan syrups for cocktails. Warning: the Prickly Pear Sour only comes out once a year so you have to snag it when it comes!

Tiki Diablo is a Los Angeles based tiki artist who creates magical escapism in ceramic, wood & glass. The mug in this photo is a limited edition called "Cactus Bob". Living in Phoenix, it was impossible for me resist that whimsical little face carved into a saguaro cactus. Of course it also inspired the name of the cocktail as well.