Get Some Tiki Tonight: Where You Can Quench Your Tropical Thirst in Beijing

Our city might be a landlocked mess of blistering temperatures during the summer but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a little respite in the taste of the tropics from some talented barkeeps. We asked selected masters of spirit what they think is the ultimate summertime cocktails to keep you lubricated and not burnt to a crisp this season.

MAS PUNCH: Ross Harris of Más (RMB 60)
Last summer we had a classic Planter's Punch on the menu, but it didn't sell very well.  Maybe people have pre-conceived notions about what a Planter's Punch is because they've been severed terrible 80s vacation versions, which is a similar issue that plagues Mai Tais. So I decided to make a riff off the original using nearly every delicious fruit flavor combination imaginable along with strong bitters and that funky Myer's Rum. The result is the most tropical thing imaginable, fresh, sour, sweet and refreshing.

Ingredients
60ml Myers’s Rum
15ml orange curaçao
30ml homemade fresh pineapple syrup
30ml homemade fresh passionfruit syrup
15ml honey
30ml lemon juice
2 barspoons Thai coconut cream
5-7 dashes homemade tiki bitters

Kiss Me, Spank Me: Travis of Daily Routine (RMB 50)
I always love drinks that are tasty and refreshing but have a hard kick in the end. That’s the kind of experience I wanted to give the customer via this cocktail. I tend to think of this drink as a beautiful lady with attitude. Round after round of sipping this one down, you’ll find out the banana flavor is like a sweet tropical kiss, and the hot pepper is a playful spank on your bottom when you are bad. Finally, I use fresh coconut water because it quenches your thirst and is pretty decent at fighting hangovers. That’s my way of making sense of this creation.  

Ingredients:
1/2 banana
30ml fresh coconut water
30ml Thai lime juice
15ml acacia honey syrup
15ml Hot Monkey hot pepper infused vodka
15ml Sailor Jerry Rum
15ml Lemon Hart overproof rum
30ml Bacardi white rum
1 dash of coconut bitters
1 dash of hellfire bitters

Prague Spring: Eric Liu of Mao Mao Chong (RMB 45)
Here’s something we thought up and touches all of the bases for what a tropical drink can and should be. This drink is based on the sour family of cocktails and combines three totally tropical ingredients together, which are kaffir lime leaves, lime, and pineapple. The fresh materials must come first. It has fresh pineapple chunks giving it an intensely creamy base, kaffir lime leaves to add a slight, complex bitterness to all of the sweet and sour in the mix.

Ingredients:
30ml kaffir infused vodka,
15ml simple syrup
30ml lime juice
4 pineapple chunks
4 lime leaves

Fog Cutter: Phil Tory of Bungalow Tiki and Cocktails (RMB 50)
I wanted to put this on the menu, but I wasn’t sure if it would appeal to a lot of people. But I like it because it has a very different taste profile than other tiki drinks. Along with being a Trader Vic original from the early 40s in San Francisco, it fulfills three things that I feel make a great cocktail. It has a history, the flavor is unique because the rum plays second fiddle to the sherry that is extremely rare for a tiki drink, and finally I love drinks with a cool name. The quote from the creator of this dangerous grog is that "if you drink three of these you won’t even see the fog (or smog in our case)."

60ml Havana Club Puerto Rican Rum
15ml Orgeat
15ml Bombay Gin
30ml Renault Brandy
60ml Lemon Juice
Float the Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry

Editor's note: Bungalow Tiki and Cocktails closed just as we were going to print with our July issue. Mix up the above recipe and toast their short life on the bar scene, at least until they can reappear somewhere else.

Photo: Thrillist