TikiKon 2014, a celebration of all things Tiki, was held July 11-13 at the Red Lion Hotel in Vancouver WA, across the river from Portland OR where the precursor to TikiKon started over a decade ago. A previous post of mine covered the Iron TikiTender contest, while this post cover the classes and other activities that went on at TikiKon.
Since many people arrived during the day on Friday, the only planned activity was a Kickoff party at Portland’s Star Theater in the evening. The headliner was Satan’s Pilgrims, a Portland surf-music band that’s been around for a number of years. Opening acts included Lushy, a Seattle band, and a PG-rated burlesque show. Deadhead rum was the party sponsor, with drink specials featuring their rum, and super-sized representations of the distinctive Deadhead rum bottle on the bar. The Star Theater is a relatively tiny theater, but there was still plenty of room to move around, chat with other people, and get close to the stage if desired.
The crowd was mostly people in their 40s and 50s, nearly all wearing Tiki shirts, dresses, vintage hats from the 50s, and so forth. While Satan’s Pilgrim’s music got my approval during an investigation of their web site, we didn’t stick around as there was a nearby bar we needed to make a pilgrimage to. More on Portland bars in a subsequent post.
Saturday was the big day. Cocktail classes, pool parties, and the Iron TikiTender contest were the main events. The cocktail classes at TikiKon are purchased separately from the TikiKon passes. There were four classes, each costing $20 and an hour long:
- International Tiki Takeover
- Rum Beyond Tiki
- Home Tiki Bar Basics
- Regarding Rum
All the classes were moderated by Blair Reynolds, owner of Hale Pele in Portland, OR. Blair did a great job of jumping in to add additional context while giving the presenters plenty of time to talk. The classes were very informal – Held in the Red Lion hotel bar overlooking the Columbia River with the presenters speaking from behind the bar typically.
The International Tiki Takeover was primarily the three Iron TikiTender contestants (Felix Fernandez, Marie King and Jason Alexander) talking about how they got into Tiki, while shaking and pouring pre-batched versions of their winning Tiki recipes. Each attendee received a small sample of each drink while the TikiTenders talked. The attendees interacted frequently with questions, keeping the discussion lively throughout the whole hour. Marie King brought swag (coasters, swizzle sticks, etc…) from the Tonga Hut for everybody, a nice touch.
Next up was the Rum Beyond Tiki class with Jim Romdall of Rumba in Seattle, WA, and Michael Shea of Rum Club in Portland, OR. The broad topic was how rum is used in other types of drinks besides Tiki. As with the prior class, both Jim and Michael shook sample of non-Tiki drink from their respective bars while describing them. I’m a regular at Rumba so I was surprised when Jim said that Rumba’s “Sexy Old Fashioned” was their most popular drink. A lot of time was spent talking about the need to introduce and educate customers about the many types and flavors of rum beyond Bacardi Silver that represents most people’s perception of rum. Towards the end of the session the discussion migrated to other underrated spirits that warrant more promotion. I was happy that pisco was one of the spirits mentioned, as I’m planning a future post on this topic.
I missed the Home Tiki Bar basics source because A) I didn’t have a ticket, and B) have been doing Tiki in my home bar for years. Thus, I can’t provide any insight into that particular class.
The final class was Regarding Rum, with Martin Cate of Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, CA, and Esteban Ordonez, Brand Ambassador for Don Q rum. Martin took the lead in using history as a narrative to work their way through a number of styles. They started with Wray and Nephew Overproof, a white rum and a very interesting choice as the starting point. Next up was the Don Q Cristal, Don Q Anejo, which Esteban took the lean in describing. Following that was Clement Select Barrel, used to cover the Agricole style of rums. As each rum was discussed small samples were passed out to the attendees. The final rums discussed were Appleton 12 and a special Smuggler’s Cove exclusive bottling, Plantation Royal Blend. Martin described the Royal Blend as rum from each of the former English colonies in the Caribbean, brought to France for further aging in Cognac and Maury (French dessert wine) barrels. I was highly anticipating this last tasting and it did not disappoint – Rum perfection!
Reading through the course descriptions after the fact, there were some differences from the descriptions and how the discussions actually played out. Nonetheless, all of the topics discussed were relevant and the attendees seemed happy with what they saw.
After the classes I wandered out to the pool party. A B-52s cover band was playing and a mermaid was posing for photos with attendees. Inside, where it was much cooler, the Island Marketplace filled a medium-sized room with vendors selling an assortment of Tiki paraphernalia. I grabbed a ceramic Deadhead Rum Tiki mug for $20.
The big Sunday event was the home bar tour, wherein 150 attendees were shuttled around all day in buses to various home Tiki Bars in the Portland area. I unfortunately didn’t sign up in time to get one of the 150 tickets, but will be doing so next year for sure!
2 thoughts on “TikiKon 2014 Trip Report”