Unlock the Secrets of Exotic Cocktails with Shannon Mustipher's Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails

Sauro: Sono rimasto molto deluso dai contenuti, sia le ricette dei cocktails che delle preparazione, come quella per il falernum o quella del lime cordial...non adatto per gente del settore..buuuhh

Italy on May 07, 2023

B. Rogers: What a fantastic work!

So many books on tiki focus solely on the traditional tiki cocktails, or slightly updated versions of them. The unfortunate truth is that many (but by no means all) of the "classics" are not necessarily great cocktails. They may have been great in concept, but in execution they were unbalanced and repetitious messes.

The modern tiki revival has started to correct the sins of the past. Books such as Smuggler's Cove have brought the classics up to date in a more sophisticated way, while digging into a lot of the history. "Tiki", by Shannon Mustipher, takes it to another level with balanced versions of the classics, and many many original modern tiki cocktails presented in an informative and sophisticated fashion.

I'll have to take exception to the reviewers who say that only a few of the cocktails are approachable, or even feasible given the range of ingredients required. True, this isn't a book on making gin and tonic, or bourbon on the rocks. A range of syrups, bitters, rums, and other spirits are necessary for most of the cocktails in this book. But that's a characteristic of tiki. Anyone familiar with tiki cocktails, and used to making...

United States on Mar 08, 2023

Timothy Arling: Many people have already stated that this book uses a lot of hard to source ingredients. That's not inherently a problem as if you're already familiar with the traditional tiki profile from the 1930s-1950s then you don't need yet another book to riff on originals. The greatest problem I have is to source said ingredients and then the final product just really isn't very good. Ernest Hemingway would love this book as far too many cocktails are spirit forward and exclude a sweetener entirely. If you feel comfortable editing nearly half the book to make the drinks more palatable then go ahead but I find such constant revision exhausting.

United States on Feb 20, 2023

Christopher A Avery: This book is great! Substitutions and from-scratch help with hard-to-find items is a welcome addition. Pleasantly written, great photos, not pretentious.

Canada on Dec 30, 2022

reecereece: A fun little book to add to your collection. Every drink I’ve made from it has been a winner. I love all the washed spirit cocktails and have even been introduced to a new juice ala Soursop. The only negative I have to say is that sometimes the reference pages are off, or there is something missing from the index. But even with that I’d still buy and recommend this book!

United States on Aug 11, 2022

Ryan: Who is this book written for? If you are planning to open a tiki bar, and would like to serve a rotating menu of 20-30 drinks, and can source ANY ingredient, you will love this book.

If you are a home cook and cocktail enthusiast that is used to searching for great (or complicated) recipes and great ingredients, you will find most recipes here inaccessible.

There is also a pretty glaring omission. Not once does the author even mention salt. Practically all of these fruit forward tiki drinks would benefit from it. Fruit just POPS with a small pinch of salt.

About 10% of the recipes are useful (maybe 10 total drinks). The remaining 90% required obscure ingredients, and I have a very well stocked home bar. The cocktails I have made were delicious. However, most cocktails require specialty ingredients that are not sold at all but the best stocked liquor stores. Additionally, many recipes call for juices, plants, or other botanicals that I would have no idea how to source. The author calls for so many different types of rum too. You'd probably need 10 different types of rum to cover 50% of the drinks in this book. Maybe that's just how tiki is?

United States on Jul 28, 2022

J. H: This book is good, the photos are nice, the recipes sound tasty. Everything fine. But as already mentioned in other comments here: The cocktails require you to have so many special ingredients, some of which are not even available in my country. For example a lot of those drinks contain "soursop juice". I tbh have never heard of that before. And after doing some quick research I realized my only option to get it here would be to buy it via ebay for 25 bucks for a 500ml bottle of juice. That's definitely not an amount i am willing to pay for a fruit juice.

So to sum up: Book in general really tiki, drinks sound great but to mix it in your homebar from my point of view much too complicated

Germany on Feb 11, 2022

melanie boivin: Très bel ouvrage de référence
Magnifiques photos
Histoires de chaque recette qui permet d'apprécier davantage
Recettes simples, mais souvent des ingrédients plus difficiles à trouver

Canada on Feb 17, 2021

Amazon Customer: Wonderful book, arrived quickly and is beautiful! Many great recipes to try and we have been keeping a tropical drink theme going through covid so this will help us keep the fun going! The attached bookmark ribbon adds an extra touch of class too. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Canada on Jun 23, 2020

Glenn Cerny: I've explored both Martin Cates's Smugglers Cove and Beachbum Berry's Remix and opted to check out this book next. This book will take your tiki mixology skills to a new level. There is a small section of the classics incase you don't know how to make a Mai Tai. Mainly you want to buy this book for hard to find ingredients to try, some common ingredients not listed in other publications listed above and also some very doable new techniques. I'm becoming a big fan of fat washing and infusing spirits thanks to Shannon. The book is full of vibrant colorful illustrations too and has a handy bookmark ribbon to mark your favorite recipe. My only recommendation would be is: A lot of her recipes call for overproof spirits which seems to be a fad these days. I would tone this down and use a regular proof version because to me overproof spirits tend to have overpowering taste and tend to drown out the other flavors of the cocktail. Otherwise I'm extremely happy with this book.

United States on Apr 01, 2020