Properly Sauced: Tiki on Acid

By Rob Christopher in Food on Sep 2, 2009 7:20PM

Earlier this summer while on a trip to L.A. we made a pilgrimage to Tiki Ti. A tiny place perhaps (it seats fewer than thirty people) but its importance in the world of cocktails looms large. Opened in 1961 by Ray Buhen, a former bartender at the original Don the Beachcomber's as well as several lesser establishments, Tiki Ti has almost single-handedly kept many a vintage cocktail recipe from vanishing forever. Buhen passed away in 1999 but his son and grandsons proudly carry on the Tiki Ti tradition.

Tiki on Acid caught our eye on the drink menu so we ordered it, sight unseen. An immediate sense of disquiet descended upon us as we watched bartender Mike reach for the bottle of Jägermeister. Our April Fool's Day post notwithstanding, we avoid the stuff at all costs. Disquiet turned to perplexity when Green Chartreuse made an appearance. The cocktail was mixed lickety-split and suddenly there it was before us.

We took our first sip with genuine trepidation. But damned if it wasn't half bad.

Tiki On Acid

1 oz. coconut rum
1 oz. Green Chartreuse
4 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
3/4 oz. Jägermeister

Fill a large rocks glass with ice cubes. Add rum and Chartruese. Stir, then add pineapple juice. Float Jägermeister and serve.

A bizarre combination of ingredients, the flavor is awfully hard to describe: toasted caraway seed mixed with fruit and pronounced herbal notes. And coconut. It's one of the most peculiar cocktails we've ever tasted. Somehow though it sneaks up on you.