Straight Edge Tiki #3 Tacoma Cabana 3/11/2017

Ellie with a Brainless Zombie

“I figured it out!”

That’s a text that Tacoma Cabana’s Jason Alexander sent me. He’d been tinkering with some non-alcoholic drink recipes and got down the finishing touches. The challenge was to have the drink be not too sweet and have a bite. Jason teased me with a picture of five of his creations…

Straight Edge Tiki drinks at Tacoma Cabana
Straight Edge Tiki drinks at Tacoma Cabana

I was excited to try these drinks out, so I put together a Straight Edge Tiki Event and invited some friends down to Tacoma Cabana.

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Tiki VIP #17 Jason Alexander (Tacoma Cabana)

Jason Alexander

I’ll never the forget the first time I set foot in Tacoma Cabana.

Standing behind the bar was this dude wearing an Aloha shirt and fez on his head. I didn’t know anything about this guy, but he had a presence to him that made him really stand out. Without saying a word, the message was clear: I’m here to make Tiki cocktails and trust me, they will blow you away. This man was and is Jason Alexander. He is the owner of Tacoma Cabana. Let’s get to know Jason a little bit more…

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Star Wars Mugs Call For Star Wars Tiki Drinks At Tacoma Cabana

Star Wars Tiki Mugs
Star Wars Tiki Mugs

Thinkgeek.com may have come with one of the coolest ideas ever. They combined two of my favorite things: Star Wars and Tiki! There are six different mugs. There is a mug for Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and a Stormtropper.

Jason Alexander of Tacoma Cabana ordered a collection of Star Wars mugs of his own. Once Jason had the mugs in hand, he started to think about what to do with them and came up with a great idea: create Star Wars-themed Tiki drinks!

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Tiki Field Report #5 Tacoma Cabana 5/6/16

Robyn and Hanjing at Tacoma Cabana
Robyn and Hanjing at Tacoma Cabana

“No, I have never been to (insert Tiki bar here)” may be one of my favorite things to hear. It’s always fun to take friends out for a good time at a Tiki bar, especially if they’ve never been to one. Friends will order drinks that are stronger than what they’re used to. People let their hair down and things are more fun because everyone is just a little bit more tipsy than usual. At the end of the night, if I can turn someone new onto Tiki bars, I’ve done my job.

I hadn’t seen my friends Hanjing and Chris for a long time. We all used to go rock climbing together a few years back. I was totally into climbing until I realized that I have a fear of heights and it never went away. I moved on to other interests, but Hanjing and Chris never stopped. Good for them!

I told Hanjing and Chris about Tacoma Cabana down in Tacoma. They were interested in going, but there was one condition: we were going to go climbing the next day. Fair enough. It would be cool to throw my climbing shoes on and hit the rocks again.

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Tiki Field Report #2 Tacoma Cabana, Tacoma, WA 2/19/16

Jason Alexander and Ray at Tacoma Cabana
Jason Alexander and Ray at Tacoma Cabana

When you have a friend come into Seattle from the East Coast and he likes Tiki bars, there is one place you have to take him. Sadly, that place is not in Seattle but in Tacoma! It’s the Tacoma Cabana, to be exact. Tacoma is about 45 minutes south of Seattle (with no traffic). For a bar to worth such a drive, it must be good!

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Tiki Bar Review #2 Tacoma Cabana, Tacoma, WA

Front room at Tacoma Cabana
Front room at Tacoma Cabana

I live in Seattle. I love my city. There are tons of things to do. There are more than enough restaurants, bars, coffee shops, places to buy cupcakes (I love cupcakes!), etc. But sadly, Seattle is lacking one important thing: a really great Tiki bar!

Sure, there is The Lava Lounge in Belltown, but it’s not really a Tiki bar in a traditional sense. I’d go there to hear some punk rock and drink a couple PBRs! I wouldn’t go to hear exotica or to order a Mai Tai, though.

There is Hula Hula, which actually is the first Tiki bar I ever visited. It started my love affair with Tiki! (I will be doing a review of Hula Hula really soon.) At first, Hula Hula had it all going on. It had a very large menu of drinks, plenty of surf music, and awesome decor. But over time, Hula Hula started putting up large screen TVs and eventually it became more of a karaoke bar. Don’t get me wrong, I have spent some time on Hula Hula’s stage singing my favorite tunes from the ’80s while I had a few cocktails in me. But I digress…

So I started searching online for Tiki bars outside Seattle. I found one here and there, but the “Tiki bars” I discovered were pretty lame. Throw the word Tiki in front of a guy’s name. Put up a Tiki head somewhere. Throw up some bamboo, offer some “blue” cocktails, and there you go: a “Tiki” bar!

Then I came across Tacoma Cabana.

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