It’s one thing to borrow the name of a tiki drink to use as your home tiki bar’s name but it’s even better when you were too drunk to remember the drink you wanted to name your bar after! This is the case of The Blue Ka-Tiki. Dwayne and his wife really enjoyed their drink at Trader Sam’s. The drink was so good that they couldn’t remember what it was called! I can tell you this, it wasn’t called a Blue Ka-Tiki…
What’s the tiki scene like where you live?
Dwayne- The tiki scene where we live is pretty obsolete. There are a few bars in the Bay Area that we have visited that are pretty cool but for the most part, we had to create our own “tiki scene” in our backyard!
What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle’ and how long has it been part of your life?
Dwayne– We became interested in the “tiki lifestyle” on our vacations to the Caribbean Islands. In 2012 we spent a week on Grand Cayman. Our first taste of a semi tiki bar was on 7 Mile Beach. The ambiance was more bar and less “tiki” but the tropical drinks were good. At the end of the week we went to another restaurant/bar that had the ambiance but was not what we would call a tiki bar. It was more of a restaurant with outdoor tables, tropical foliage, lighting with fisherman floats and other décor. Shortly after that we decided to add a tiki bar to our backyard remodel.
We took several trips over the next 2 years to Trader Sam’s at Disneyland and Disney World, The Polynesian Resort at Disney World, the Mai Kai in Ft Lauderdale and any other tiki bar we could possibly visit either locally, in Florida or the Caribbean. We drove down to L.A. to Oceanic Arts to gather some ideas, make some purchases and took pictures of everything we could find. We searched to the ends of the Internet for ideas and designs.
What made you decide to build your own Tiki bar? Any story behind the name?
Dwayne- We began our backyard remodel in 2014. It took 3 years of working almost non-stop on our days off (weather and holidays permitting). We did all of the work ourselves beginning with demolition, then we ran water, electricity and gas lines underground, built a patio cover, a sandbox boat to hold the hammock, raised planter beds, large water fountain, gas fire pit, the tiki bar and tons of lighting, landscaping and decor. The only things we hired out for were the pouring of a stamped concrete foundation for our hot tub and grading of the backyard after the underground work was complete.
The name of our bar took awhile to come up with. We didn’t want it to just be our last name or something unoriginal. On our first trip to Trader Sam’s the place was packed! My wife sat down at the only bar stool and we ordered this blue drink on the menu in a hurricane glass. It was pineapple, rum and coconut and really good! I am not much of a drinker so when I finished my glass first and set the empty glass in front of my wife she was shocked (truthfully, she thought she would get to drink both drinks!)! When we left and started walking around Downtown Disney I got sort of tipsy all of a sudden and we sat down near the fountain laughing at how quickly one drink hit us both! We were trying to remember the name of the drink. I thought it was something like The Blue Ka-tini but my wife thought it would be more like The Blue Ka-Tiki since “tini” would indicate a martini and not a tropical drink. We were still laughing at how much we both loved the drink and it just hit us….this is the perfect name for our bar!! The Blue Ka-Tiki! When we got back to the hotel and looked up Trader Sam’s menu online to figure out what was in the drink we discovered that the drink was called “The Ka-Bluey”!! We had it all wrong but that’s how we got our bar name! We eventually figured out the recipe and it’s our signature drink now!
What is your favorite Tiki drink?
Dwayne- We have a drink menu of about 10 drinks that we make in our bar when friends and family come over. Most of the recipes have come from the Internet or drink books. Our favorite we have named “The Black Pearl”. I accidentally created it by mixing up 2 different recipes…eventually figuring out what worked and, because it contains black rum we gave it the name.
What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Dwayne- Our favorite tiki bar is still the Mai Kai in Ft Lauderdale. Between the Polynesian dancing and the drinks and the ambiance it just can’t be beaten!
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Dwayne- We think the most essential elements of the tiki environment, besides the drinks, are lighting and décor and the more you have of both, the better! We have everything from antiques and maps to tiki torches, a pirate skeleton holding a lit up rum bottle, rum barrels and parrots. Words cannot describe it!
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Dwayne- We completed the bar and backyard a little over a year ago. Since that time we’ve had many parties and gatherings and everyone has had a blast! We intend to continue enjoying the fruits of our labor and sharing it until we retire to Florida. We will probably always work on improving or upgrading the bar over the years. It’s truly a lifestyle that we really enjoy!
Best Bar ever! The drinks are amazing and the owners are even better. 🙂 So lucky I get to visit this bar once in a while. 😉