10 Tiki Cocktails To Make At Home
From intense Dark & Stormy to vibrant Piña Colada, here are some great tiki cocktails to try at home.
Put on a Hawaiian shirt, make one of these tiki cocktails, and lay in the sun on your balcony and pretend it’s the deck of a cruise ship called The Helen Mirren.
The Mai Tai
A Mai Tai is an old-school tiki drink that requires neither blender nor coconut, and it’s probably a lot simpler than you think. If you’re looking for something to hold in your right hand all summer, this is it. And all you need is four ingredients. And maybe a Hawaiian shirt.
How It Tastes: Crisp, Fruity, Tropical
Drink If You Like:Painkiller, Mojitos
The Piña Colada
Our piña colada includes one key step you should know about now: you’re going to need to freeze your ingredients ahead of time. But once you’ve done that, in about three hours you’ll have a drink in your hand that will make you feel like you’re laying in the sun on the deck of a cruise ship called The Helen Mirren.
The Mojito
A proper Mojito is a time-consuming drink. But it’s entirely worth it if you’re looking for a cocktail that’s equal parts refreshing, complex, sweet, and fizzy - with just a touch of mint that’ll remind you of the last time you buried your face in a pile of fresh-cut grass. A Mojito is, in short, a perfect tiki cocktail, and you don’t even need a shaker or a mixing glass. You do, however, need a can-do attitude.
How It Tastes: Crisp, Tart, Like A Summer Garden Watered With Rum
Drink If You Like: Daiquiris, Southsides
The Frozen Margarita
If anyone ever tells you that you need to use five cups of ice for a Frozen Margarita, it’s important that you nod politely and disregard this information. What you really want to do is freeze all your ingredients first. That way, you’ll only need a small amount of ice - and your drink will actually taste like a Margarita, rather than 10 ounces of super cold water.
How To Make A Frozen Margarita →
The PainKiller
One of our all-time favorite tiki drinks, a Painkiller is exactly what it sounds like. You’ll want to drink this on a summer day when the sun is trying to nudge you in the direction of a refreshing alcoholic beverage, and it tastes just as good in a dark corner of your apartment.
How It Tastes: Smooth, Tropical, Refreshing
Drink If You Like:Piña Colada , Daiquiri
The Daiquiri
By now, you’ve had ample opportunities to drink daiquiris. We know this, because there’s a handwritten daiquiri recipe that dates to the late-nineteenth century. (The author was a mining engineer in Cuba, and, allegedly, the inventor of this drink.) If, somehow, you’ve fallen behind on your daiquiri consumption, here’s how to make one. Drinks do not get more refreshing.
How It Tastes: Crisp, Clean, Refreshing
Drink If You Like:Gimlet, Mojitos
The Frozen Daiquiri
Frozen Daiquiris don’t get the respect they deserve. Here’s how to make a proper one, and restore your faith in frozen drinks.
How To Make A Frozen Daiquiri →
The Frozen Paloma
Frozen Palomas have the magical ability to make you feel as though you’ve just landed face first in a pile of shaved ice that tastes like tequila and grapefruit. They’re perfect for warm summer days or whenever you have the time to sip a drink slowly enough that it doesn’t hurt your brain.
The Jungle Bird
The Jungle Bird is sort of like Squidward from Spongebob or Marvin Gaye’s 1978 album Here, My Dear - it’s dark and kind of bitter, but also surprisingly sweet. On the one hand, you have the bright, tropical notes of pineapple juice, but then you also have the dark, molasses-y rum and assertive Campari. It’s an interesting drink, and an increasingly popular one.
How It Tastes: Bitter, Juicy, Tropical
Drink If You Like:Negroni, Painkiller
The Dark & Stormy
A Dark & Stormy sounds dramatic and mysterious, but it’s really just a somewhat fancy highball. It requires exactly three ingredients, you don’t have to shake or stir any of them, and if you have decent hand-eye coordination, you can put this cocktail together in about 30 seconds.
How It Tastes: Rich, Spicy, Like It Should Take A Lot Longer To Make
Drink If You Like: Airmails, Moscow Mules
Suggested Reading
Perfect ice is a thing - and it will improve any cocktail you put it in. Now we’re going to show you how to make it.
A Watermelon Margarita is summer in a glass, and if you’ve never made one yourself, your life is about to improve.
A running list of the reopened Nashville restaurants where you can eat and drink outside.