Tiki Central Canada

Hey guys,Sorry for the delay as COVID is still playing havoc with running a bar but that's another story!!This episode we will be talking about Disney land and park but more specifically Trader Sam's bars that are featured in those areas. The Enchanted Tiki room gets some coverage as well in this show and so we have all the bases covered for your trip to Disney.We do two of the Trader Sam's cocktails: The Castaway Crush and the Rosita's Margarita. The Castaway cocktail was a three thumbs up by all of us and a definite addition to any tiki party or for yourself to enjoy on that nice summer night (OK, it's fall soon but you know what I mean)!! In the Castaway cocktail we are using a spirit called Cachaça or as Paola also says it can be called Pinga. You know me and my pronunciation so I went with Pinga. They both feature some layers of tropical spices and sweetness that you just got to try. The other cocktail (Margarita) uses George Clooney's Casamigos Tequila which I highly recommend as your premium if not onl

Hi guys,So this show is close to my heart in many ways! Yes, it's tiki and I'm the tiki guy but also we are going to talk about International Rum Day (August 16th) and Black Tot (July 30th 1970) which just pasted. We will also have drinks of course...what is a show without drinks...hmmm..Cosmos maybe (yeah I like the show too Ok). No, we will also be talking about Sea Shanties which for me brings me back to family home turf of Nova Scotia. Why and what is a Sea Shanty? Well, you have to listen now won't ya!!!So, drinks for this show is a classic Grog and Bahama Mama! But, Craig, we know these drinks and you have done them before....well with a new twist from our good folks at Pusser's British Navy rum and their website we given them a new look!!!So what is Black Tot day and what does it mean?? Well, you have to go back to 1655 (yeah that far back when the British Navy took over Jamaica and realized that they had this amazing supply of rum and so it became a staple and essential item on their ships which event

Hey Folks,Sorry again for the delay...opening my bar after the lockdown as you can imagine has been more work than I thought. I do apologize for the delay.So this show is not our usual format as we are talking about build a tiki bar and how to decorate it. It's summertime and we all have been coupe up way too long. So, now we can have friends and family over for some BBQ and of course, cocktails!!! We will give you guidelines (yes that is what they are) on how to build and decorate your own oasis!Now wait Craig...we want drinks! OK OK..yes, we are Tiki Central and what is a show without drinks. But since you are building a bar and having family over (including the kids), we thought why not do a show about mocktails (cocktails with no alcohol). Paola of course was tickled pink that she can finally talk about drinks with no booze in them. We did throw in a banana to throw her off though. Don't tell her that!!!So Mocktails today is the BCC (banana, coconut, cream and cinnamon as well) and the Nojitio ( a Mojito

Hey folks,Sorry for the delay on the show as the show’s file got corrupted and the whole editing process had to be started all over again!!! Computers …right!!!This show is all about bitters! Now, you are asking yourself or me in this case…what is bitters and how does it affect a drink’s taste? Well, we will dive into the answer which really goes back to the old times of pre-historic medicine. Yeah, bitters were a medical ingredient that you would add to your food or drink and resolve medical issues such as upset stomach or arthritis. Why don’t we use it now for medical treatment…well it was mostly the reason you see in old western where the man in the wagon has this magical liqueur to fix it all and through time, we found other ways to resolve these issues. Also, most of the time it did not really work!So, we are doing two cocktails for you today using bitters: East India Cocktail and Triggerfish Cocktail (yes, that is the state fish of Hawaii). It goes by another name, but you know me I cannot pronounce it.

Hey guys,So here is part two of the tiki jukebox show for this year. We only did 10 songs like last year as there was so many we could have gone on for hours. Craig's playlist is the calypso music and let's get the party started near the pool!! (Paola calls it Cancun party music....Mark's playlist is the traditional tiki exotica music we come to hear when you hit those tiki bars and escape from reality...ahh the bars!!!So if you are having people over (yes, we finally get to do that now) then check out our tiki jukebox page and we have all the links to our Spotify playlists for you (even Paola contributed this year).So my playlist has some of the following artist: Daddy Yankee, Ricky Martin, Camila Cabello and many others.Mark's playlist has some of the following artist: Gold Dust Lounge, The Flaps, The Hula Girls and many others.So here are the links to the playlist website:https://tikicentralcanada.ca/tiki-jukebox/So get your cold tiki beverage ready and enjoy some amazing music!!To subscribe to our show or

Hey guys,Sorry for the delay as with COVID our post production team shut down and so this put a delay on this episode. We will be giving you guys our top 10 playlist for this year for your tiki parties or just to sit back in your backyard and enjoy a cocktail while listening to it. Paola, this year has contributed as well to our list and with baby in mind she brought some soothing melodies to it. I, on the other hand, brought the party, the fast paced and Caribbean sounds to the list. Mark went his usual tiki exotica ways and its a great list to listen to when you are home and just want to unwind.We have added Spotify playlist on our tiki page which is the following link: https://tikicentralcanada.ca/tiki-jukebox/So sit back and get ready to listen to some great music and invite your friends over as well. What is a party with friends and great cocktails?

Hey guys,It's that time of year that we do our Cinco De Mayo show and some great tequila drinks. Today, we will be doing 2 tiki cocktails for you (well, one maybe considered not a tiki cocktail but it brings the sunshine into your glass).Tiki Rita Cocktail (I got from a Patron website) brings in tequila but some tiki ingredients we all know. The combination of lime juice, grapefruit juice, vanilla and all spice dram (pimento dram). The other cocktail is a traditional drink from the 80's, Tequila sunrise cocktail. We do explain a proper method to make this simple drink. On "Craig's Creation" segment: we are making a drink with tequila that apparently I can't pronounce but we have Paola for that. I make the drinks and Norma names them so it's not my fault. Blancafuoco cocktail is a combination of tequila, vanilla, maraschino liqueur, lime juice and club soda (not pop). It's a great combination of Italian and Mexican products that makes a nice summer refreshing cocktail.On "Did you Know?" segment today, we talk

Hey guys,We are still in lockdown so this show is recorded via internet but you know us...we never stop for anything! We want to bring the show to you when you are sitting at home wondering what to do this summer!This show is all about Hawaiian cocktails and the Luau. It's international Luau month this month!! We also very excited to introduce some cocktails from a new pioneer in the tiki world. Lynn Calvo has been working hard in New York district to open her bar called Lynn's Hula Hut. She has written a book called "Tiki with a Twist" which is not in my library but it soon will be (back ordered...boo). She has travelled the world and brought her own version of oasis to her state. She has written a book, opened a bar and even started branding her own infused spirits...more on her later!!The two cocktails we are doing today are complete different ends of tiki. The first one is the "Lono Tiki Cocktail" which has a great combination of rums, mango, coconut and even banana (not Paola's favorite LOL).The next one

Hey guys,Well we are doing a show on Prohibition as we usually do every year. This show is usually in January but with Covid and us coming out of lockdown, we thought it's like Prohibition for us. Even breaking the law (Judas Priest for you metal fans out there)!This episode we talk about the Sidecar cocktail was created actually in France by Harry McElhone at the Ritz Hotel back in 1922. The sidecar was the way the American Captain's would get to the bar for the early drinks. Harry McElhone was a Scottish born who then immigrated to USA and then when Prohibition started he headed to France. With this move to Europe, it gave him the opportunity to work with new spirits and ingredients that he would have not be available to him in USA. This cocktail contains Cognac (French brandy …distilled wine) and Cointreau (French orange liqueur). To get this recipe go to: https://tikicentralcanada.ca/recipes/On "Mark's Adventures" segment: we talk about the Kowloon which is close to Boston. Yeah Boston!!! It is a Chines

Hey guys,Hi Guys,As you can see from our media posts we are back in our new studio and happy to be recording finally together. Paola was definitely happy as she finally was able to enjoy one of my drinks since the baby has been born. She gives her review of the Craig's Creation Jamaican Breeze we did last show.This show we discuss the Saturn cocktail (originally named the X-15 which was the experimental rocket program that helped develop the Apollo and NASA program). It was created by a gentleman named J. Popo Galsini (in 1967) who was good friends of the engineers that visited the bar. He placed his creation into the International Bartender's Association World Championships and won. WOW first time!!!This tiki drink is unique in one big way...no RUM!!! I know …what Craig are you doing to us...trust me when I say it's worth it!!To get the recipe to this and all of our other cocktails go to : https://tikicentralcanada.ca/recipes/On Craig's Creation we try out a Chambord liqueur which is great for tropical dri

Hey guys, Sorry for the delay of the show as we tried a new platform to record and end up with missing files and so we had to re-record this show. Opps!!!So on this show we will be covering a Banana Daquiri. No, it's not just a Daquiri with a banana. Come on this is tiki….we are making a tiki cocktail created by our good friend of Harry Yee (yes, he is still alive, not one of the dead guys as Paola claims). So as other tiki drinks in the past, we discover that many people or places that have claimed to have created this drink. We are sticking with Harry Yee for now!!This drink will use rum but also a great liqueur I like to use called Galliano Vanilla Liqueur. Oh did I mention on this show there will be a new segment with a surprise for all of you. "Craig's Creation is born and I am giving up for the first time my secret tiki recipes that never have be seen by human eyes...well mine and Norma's!!!I am giving you two recipes a segment so you can add to that recipe book of yours and entertain your guests with

Hey guys,We are back with a new episode from you guys via internet due to lockdown. We will be discussing the Hawaiian Eye Cocktail on this show. This is adrink not created by Don the Beachcomber or Trader Vic but instead by Harry Yee. He is still alive (yes, he is) at the age of 101 years old this year...WOW!!! This man is famous for creating in Hawaii some famous tiki cokctails such as Blue Hawaii cocktail which is one of Poala's favorite drink. This drink was created for the TV show "Hawaiian Eye" back in the late 50s at the Hawaiian Village Hotel.This hotel was home to the tv crew and other tv shows such as Hawaii-50 and Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii".This cocktail has three different rums in it: white rum, Jamacian dark rum, and Bermuda rum. This drink also has grapefruit juice and a erotic guava juice. This juice more than likely will be commercial when you go look for it. What is guava fruit? Listen to find out!!!To get the recipe for this drink and all of our drinks click the following link:https://ti

Hey guys,Welcome and we are so glad to give you another tiki adventure for this winter season. This episode is recorded via internet since we have gone into another lockdown but still want to entertain you with cool facts, stories and of course cocktails.On this episode we talk about the Myrtle Bank Cocktail which is a created at Myrtle Bank Hotel in Jamaica. This location is near the old Port Royal area of the island which is where Captain Morgan was staying. He was made governor of the island and later died as well at age of 53 years old. Only after a few months of his death, there was a huge earth quake and Port Royal broke off and went into the sea never to seen again. Jamaica is looking into building underwater tunnels to have tourist check out the lost city and Captain Morgan's final resting place.This recipe was inspired by Don and Trader Vic's visit to the hotel and both went back to their bars and reversed engineered their own cocktail which ended up on the menus in the 40s. We do have both Trader's

Hey guys,Welcome to our 4th season and we are very excited to be back. This episode is recorded via internet since we have gone into another lockdown but still want to entertain you with cool facts, stories and of course cocktails.On this episode we talk about the Last Rites cocktail which was created by Mariano Licudine at the Mai Kai. Now, we have to go back to Don's the Beachcomber's location where Mariano worked for him for over 15 years. These recipes are secretive and so we are not sure if he started making this back in Don's days or the Mai Kai's. To check out the recipe on our "Recipe" page : https://tikicentralcanada.ca/recipes/We go into detail about his life and how he started such as being a private chauffeur and bartender for Laurel and Hardy.This recipe is very basic in some ways compared to most tiki cocktails that we have discussed on this show but don't be fooled by that as its an amazing drink with lots of Martinique rum, passion fruit syrup, lime juice and Falernum.On "Mark's adventures" se

Hey guys,We normally publish on Monday's but we thought we can't have you go through Christmas and the holidays without us...so here we are!!!We will be covering a classic cocktail that has a new age spin on it. Mele Kalikimaka Mai Tai cocktail!! We took Don's...no wait Trader Vic's...well one of their recipes and added a new twist. Should I say Candy cane twist!! Tis the season!!We'll give you a great complex tiki cocktails with three different types of rum. Now, this is the time to break open that liquor cabinet as you can use any of your favorites for this one.We will shake and build this drink and it makes 2 drinks with this recipe (or in Mark's case, just one)!! Yes, tis the season for giving and sharing!!And we didn't stop there, we added everything but the kitchen sink for garnish but most important of them all is the candy cane!!By the way, do you know what " Mele Kalikimaka!" means? Ask someone from Hawaii, they will tell you. How did Hawaii celebrate Christmas and was there something before it?? You

Hi Guys, NOTE: This is not our regular show format as we don't feature a drink or its history at all. We been asked by many listeners, what rums I should have on my bar to make these tiki drinks? Do I need all these rums to make drinks? This is a tasting show that Cam, Mark and I did where we describe some basic rums from different parts of the world to give you an idea of what you need for our drinks. We will cover the following rums: Saint James: RHUM AGRICOLE (Martinique rum), Bumbu Craft Rum (Barbados), Plantation Grande Reserve (Barbados rum), Diplomatico rum (Venezuelan rum), The Real McCoy 12-year-old rum (Barbados), Captain Morgan Private Stock (Puerto Rico), Havana Club 7-year-old rum (Cuba), Kraken black spiced rum (blend), Mount Gay (Barbados), and Cruzan Citrus Rum (St. Croix USA Virgin Islands).We will go over the locations of these rums; the distillation of the rums (pot/column) with video attached on what these means (on the website page); history of the rums; tastes; and smells plus drinks th

Hey guys,As you have noticed we have changed our schedule for the show. It will be posted on Monday's for now due COVID changing my work schedule. WE always make sure to get the show out to you as fast as possible.This show, we will be talking about the Don the Beachcomber's Pearl Diver cocktail. This cocktail was created by him when he opened his first location in California in 1930s. By the way, the address to that location is 1722 N. McCadden Place. It is now a dog park according to street view of Google. This location open December 5th, 1933 (anniversary coming up). WE are going to give you two recipes today from Don and.....Don!!! Yes, that is not a typo!! He created the Pearl Diver Punch in 1937 for his Don the Beachcomber's location. He created the Pearl Diver Cocktail in 1948 in Hawaii at the Polynesian Village bar or today known as Waikiki Village. Why two different brands? Listen to find out why!!This great cocktail has a Don's secret ingredient called Gardenia Mix. Thanks to Jeff "Beachbum" Berry w

Hi Guys,So this is not our usual format of a show but a cool look at the year and somethings that didn't make the show. We thought we would travel back throughout the year at some key times while recording that was not in the original shows. It's hard at times to edit the show and wonder what to keep and what you can't use. There are some of the cuts are due to time restraints of the show (so it won't be too long as we like to keep it under an hour). There was others that on their own are great but just didn't combine well with that show's content. So enjoy and here are some hints of topics you will hear:1) DUI driving and old man in a Volvo2) Crushed ice story 3) Mark and Flea markets4) Good food at a tiki bar?5) Does Paola read the scripts?6) Pass the Drink on the left hand side....7) Mark made the intro (and Norma made the graphic)!8) Different bartenders made the drinks their own way9) Paola will take the kid cup version of that tiki drink please!10) Sex in the City fact that is little more than the scrip

Hey folks,It's that time of year when all the goblins and ghosts come out to play. I hope you are all staying safe and enjoy this fall season.On today's show, we will be talking about the La Paloma Cocktail. This cocktail is normally made with Tequila (oh, Mark mentions don't eat the worm...yuck)!!! You can also make it with Mezcal which is not tequila technically. We will get into the details about that on the show. Also, we suggest trying Casamigos tequila that is George Clooney's brand. It's very smooth!!!This is not a tiki drink per say and we go into what exactly makes a tiki drink??? Just like a tiki cocktail, it has a lot of people claiming they created this refreshing cocktail. We break down two of them thanks to the assistance of Paola. You know me and Spanish…yeah exactly!!! Oh by the way, did you know how to make the proper Cuba Libre cocktail...listen to make sure!!!We also go through some cool facts about the celebration of the "Day of the Dead". Did you know people will sleep at their loved ones

Hey Guys,Sorry for the delay on the show! With the COVID situation in the bar industry, it prevented me from getting out in time!!So this show is focused on the apple cider cocktails for the season. We are getting into colder weather and what better way to warm up on those cold nights then a hot rum beverage. We will be covering two cocktails for you as we have two different Thanksgiving Days on our calendar (Canada-October 12th and USA-November 26th).The first cocktail that we will discuss is the apple cider old-fashioned. The second, cocktail will be the apple cider mule. For both of these cocktails, you will need apple cider which I recommend getting from our local farmer's market. You will find the end product a better drink and less full of preservatives and other items they throw into commercial juices. You will also find on these drinks that the garnish plays a key role on the outcome of the drink with a cinnamon stick and slice of apple.To get the recipes for them both: https://tikicentralcanada.ca/re