Jennifer Newens, "Thursday Night Tiki Lounge"

This spring a new book invites home entertainers to join in the very popular tropical cocktail trend. Blending timeless tiki classics with fresh, contemporary twists, the book features easy-to-make recipes built on fresh juices, spiced syrups, and creative infusions, all brought to life with vibrant, full-color photographs that make every pour feel like a getaway.

Tiki-style drinks and the culture they spawned began in post–Great Depression America when bar-goers sought a change from the starkness of the day in the kitschy, tropical-themed Don the Beachcomber bar founded by Donn Beach, née Ernest Gantt, in Southern California. His popular bar served umbrella-garnished, highly alcoholic, rum-based tropical drinks. The trend then spread up the coast to Northern California where “Vic” Bergeron, founded the equally over-the-top Trader Vic’s in the San Francisco Bay Area. Trader Vic’s eventually expanded to become the first nationally franchised tiki-style bar. Tiki lounges surged in popularity throughout the 1950s but all but died out in the 1960s. A revival by a new wave of serious mixologists in the 2000s firmed up a place for these tropical-inspired cocktails on bar menus for the foreseeable future.