Martin CateReseñas

A beautiful production of a book, replete with photos and comprehensive information exploring the tiki aesthetic and cultural history. The range of recipes is breathtaking and seems authoritative. I can't imagine a better tiki textbook.

So you want to make yourself some tropical tiki cocktails?

First question: do you want to purchase many, many bottles of alcohol and make many bottles of flavored syrups? If no, skip over this book and all other tiki books and purchase Let's Get Tropical by Georgi Radev. You do not want to become a tiki mixologist. If you happen to have just 1 favorite tiki drink that you want the recipe for, Google is your friend, or use the Total Tiki app on iOS, and have fun purchasing 8 or more ingredients just for 1 recipe.

Still here? You want to spend many, many bucks on alcohol and syrups? Good! Skip over this book for now and purchase Beachbum Berry Remixed by Jeff Berry and/or Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari also by Jeff Berry. Half of the recipes in Martin Cate's book are stolen with attribution from Jeff Berry. If you own both of these Jeff Berry books, now you can get Smuggler's Cove and see the tiny variations on Jeff's recipes with a handful of recipes that aren't in any of Jeff's books.

Might continue series. Not my first choice but not bad

Nice book by a modern tiki bar. Covers tiki history from the beginning, the fall and the revival. Has a mix of cocktails from classic to reimagined. Also has a good resources section at the end for filling out your tiki bar or throwing a party.

Wow, what a resource of tiki! The history and how-to, along with a deeply researched study of rum. Cate owns a tiki bar called "Smuggler's Cove" and has been involved in the lifestyle for many years, even having worked behind the bar at Trader Vic's. This thick book touches on pretty much everything, including the music, the exotic ingredients used in the cocktails and how to make them yourself, and the start of tiki after WWII. He also gives a listing of the resources for the tiki-phile to find mugs, decor and carvings. And the cover is beautiful, with the pictured tiki mug being textured. This book is fabulous!

While the book contains numerous cocktail recipes, it also covers the history of tiki culture in America, the production of rum, and the elements of tiki decor. In addition to recipes, there is also hard-won insight from learning how to run a tiki bar, which provides valuable knowledge about the principles underlying the cocktails, right down to principles for inventing new cocktails of your own.