Each year all of the ZTL hosts gather in the lounge for the annual holiday spectacular. Sunshine, Pumpkin, Starshine and Kalani are all here for some festive mirth and shenanigans. Sunshine mixes up the Coquito and a few of our favorite ZTL cocktails. We enjoy vegan snacks in honor of Pumpkin, Starshine reveals a dark secret and Kalani shares her chocolate balls.

Follow the links below to try some of our favorite winter cocktails. Start by making Sushines’s Very Spicy rum and them move on down the list.

Click the links and mix up any or all of these holiday libations:

Coquito

Better Buttered Rum

Island Fruit Cake

Dirty Christmas Punch

Sunshines Very Spicy Rum

There is not softer tiki t-shirt out there. We love tiki bar t-shirt club. The perfect gift

On a recent voyage around the Caribbean, Sunshine, The Husband and a few friends put a few minutes aside to record a podcast at sea. Sunshine is joined by Emmy award winning news personality (he really is a personality) Jordan Hogan. Some of our best shows come from little prep and lots of tangents. This episode may be one of those. We discuss: cruising (the ship kind you perv), cocktails, social anxiety at parties, certainly no politics ;), meeting people onboard, how to win an Emmy and much more.

9north drinks and rum

Circa Caliente

Full details and pictures will be added shortly

Let’s start with the cocktail. On this episode we are drinking ABBAstract, a concoction we developed using 9north Rum. We highly recommend you mix this up at home. 9north is become more available, especially in the SoCal area. You can order from Chips Liquor, and their shipping prices are pretty decent.

Mentioned on this episode are two places the ladies like to get their retro clothing. Kalani and Nicole recommend Unique Vintage and Retro Ruthie. If you need that perfect dress for the weekend, try Unique Vintage. For customers aloha shirts and skirts…Retro Ruthie.

Also on this episode, a new tune from Mr. Moai and the Tikiheads, featuring both Mark Riddle and Kane Manakoora of The Manakooras to bring you, "Tahitian Twilight."

As of this posting, there are just a few dozen wristbands left for Circa Caliente. This is the biggest, smallest tiki event in Palm Springs and the place to be this October.

Click the image and get your tiki bar t-shirt club…we love them and we wear them!

Pumpkin is in the lounge with Sunshine and it’s Summer. That means blendy drinks! Our version of Missionaries Downfall stays pretty close to the classic, but switches out honey with agave syrup to make it vegan, and adds a bit more rum to punch it up a bit. Pumpkin sucked down two of these quickly in the first half of the show. This drink alone is reason enough to plant some mint in the Spring and Summer. You will gladly use it all.

Sunshine and Pumpkin discuss candle tips part 2, why mojitos aren’t so great, the demise of The Mirage Las Vegas, Rhumbar says good bye, Aloha to the volcano, and other shenanigans.

We don’t just promote them, we wear them. so soft and tikitastic

On this episode we are drinking The Diane. Click on this AI generated image to get the recipe and the story. It’s a perfect summer libation with actual “nutrition”.

Here in the lounge we talk about our favorite event on half of our podcasts. Well, its sold out as usual, BUT, you may still be able to attend. Are you a female between 37 and 50 years of age? Can you be at the event? Would like a wristband with one small harmless catch? Listen to this episode to find out how. We promise, no stranger danger. It’ll be fun and you get to be on the podcast.

If you are attending Tiki Caliente 15, you won’t want to miss our annual room party. This year for the first time we will be the kick off party on Thursday night. Tiki Chance On Me smashes ABBA and Tiki together in ways we aren’t even sure how to explain. As always the drinks and music will be just what you need to start a wonderful TC weekend.

Tiki Mirage, the moving tiki bar in the back of a truck. Starshine and the Surfing Samurai booked seats in Tiki Mirage and give a review of the bar in a truck. The decor, aroma and drinks were all highly recommended by both of them. Listen for their full review and more details.

We hope to have some new rum friends here at ZTL. Sunshine is speaking with the team at 9 North Rum and hope to be sharing them with you at Tiki Caliente this May. Take a look at their info and follow the instagram page for all the details. 9 North offers an aged silver, dark spiced and an aged. We just got some bottles of the silver and spiced. The Blanca is a lovely sweet and auricle aroma with some nice fruit flavors and lightly sweet feel. The Especiado or spiced is not your usual holiday spiced rum. (I said that, not like mine at all) This spiced option is very smooth, a little overproof and a complex blend of not your mothers spiced rum. Its unique, floral and citrusy, maybe some chocolate…there’s a lot going on there. Listen to episode 476 for some tasting notes and a first ZTL cocktail made with 9 north rum.

Soft! Tiki! Cleans up Mai Tai spills! You need tiki bar T-shirt club shirts. A new one each month. We wear them and swear by them. Click the image!

Below you see all 4 ZTL podcast hosts enjoying a libation at the Reef Palm Springs. We haven’t been this happy in a few months now. 16 years hosting together and we have run into some challenges that normally would have never come between us. Listen if you like.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

We always start with a beverage. Usually a spirited drink, but Starshine ask for a mocktail and we know better than upsetting her. The Insurrection was crafted just for dry January at Starshines request.

This is one of our rare episodes with all four hosts present. Sunshine is doing his best to wrangle the cats and still share some tiki news and updates on new bars and events. The ladies were actually on their “better” behavior.

Conversation includes:

Dry January, soap making, a visit to the Lost Inferno, things you do only when in college, Pumpkins tips for staying youthful and thoughts about a tiki bar train tour in Southern California.

On this episode we are happy to share the latest from Mr. Moai & The Tikiheads, listen at the end of the podcast. From their recent press release: The band has consistently delivered feel-good music that captures the essence of island life, and "Rongo Rongo" is no exception. Mark your calendars for January 18, 2024, as the band invites you to kick off the new year with the infectious rhythms and sunny melodies of their latest single. Kane Manakoora, also known as Jeremy DeHart, is a distinguished artist associated with The Manakooras (Hi-Tide Recordings), The Lords Of Atlantis (Tabu Recordings), and Charlotte, NC’s own Aqualads. With a stellar reputation in the music industry, Kane Manakoora brings his unparalleled talent on the steel guitar to collaborate with Mr. Moai & The Tikiheads on "Rongo Rongo," promising a sonic experience that transcends boundaries.

We recommend their newest release Rongo Rongo feat. Kane Manakoora as well as their most recent album Surfotica. Use the link to download all of the tracks, just $8! What do we like most about Mr. Moai? Chill surf that feels good.

During the recording of this, our 473rd episode, Pumpkin acted like she didn’t know how we start the show. There is a way of doing things. We may not be very professional but we do have some “best practices”. After clearing up who says Aloha first we get right to the cocktail, our listener mail and some party planning and hosting tips. Thats pretty much the show. We stuck to the basics. Listen, drink, enjoy!

Below are two of our time tested holiday cocktails. Every tiki bar has a few festive rum concoctions to keep us all merry and bright. Start with Xmas Helper to get everyone in the mood for wrapping presents and putting up the lights. Then put out Dirty Christmas Punch , one of our ZTL favorites during the holidays. Our record is 5 punchbowls at one event. Can you do more?

Starshine and Kalani and Pumpkin, Oh my! All the ladies are in the lounge for one of our rare all host podcasts. If you hear meowing cats its because Sunshine couldn’t edit out all the cross talk. Sorry. Sunshine and the ladies have some catching up to do including: Summer tomato tastings from our gardens (it turns dirty say you may assume), what scent is your tiki bar (it also turns dirty), and what event was I ate when I was found passed out in a stairwell. Classic.

We are drinking a lovely Summer Missionaries Downfall. This classic tiki drink from Don the Beachcomber in the 1940’s. Our version simply adds more booze. Specifically more rum and a little more mint. Click HERE for our recipe!

Below you will see clip from the hit toy of this years potty training crowd. Although I Gotta Go Flamingo isn’t new, it might as well be for these inebriated podcast hosts. Pumpkin came up with more synonyms for poop than you might imagine. If you have a potty trainer in your family you need Gotta Go Flamingo.

Listener Bonus! Count how many scents the ladies describe in this episode. Send your answer to [email protected] and give us your answer. First person who is correct gets a pair of our signature rocks glasses. Or just buy them by clicking here…

Have you heard of the Mrs. Roper Romp? We have! But what we didn’t know is that this awesome fun has been growing each year. If you live in the Mecca of San Diego you must join next year. Not in SD? Try staring a romp of your own. Or, just get your pals together in caftans and big wigs and hit the local tiki bar. Mrs. Roper is a true legend of TV.

Its been a few months since the horrible fire the ravaged Maui and burned Lahaina to the ground. The island is special to all of us, but most of all it is home to thousands who have lost their home, their belongings and even their lives. You can’t make lite of something that has had such a huge impact on so many and our tiki community. There are may organizations you can donate to that make sure your contribution really helps people and doesn’t get trapped in charity red tape. While we don’t recommend a specific charity, we do recommend that you use Charity Navigator.org to see how well your money will be put to use before you donate. Please help however you can.