390 Russian Trolls And Spy Music

First things first.  Lets Drink.  After a few weeks of preparing for a weekend long tiki party and then Halloween, Sunshine wanted a drink that gets back to basics.  The Moscow Mule is on just about every cocktail menu these days.  Is it a great drink?  Sometimes.  Often your mule comes with very muted ginger and is overly sweet or too boozy.  Sunshine adjusted the recipe just a bit and is calling it the Russian Troll.  Easy and refreshing.

Now we are ready to share the winners of the Circa Caliente room crawl.  14 rooms joined the crawl and participated in the inaugural year.  Below are the winners of Best Drink, Best Decor and Best Overall Room.  To all who participated we send a huge Mahalo for your hard work and dedication to such a fun event.  Without all of our hosts the event would be 14 cocktails less fun.  Cheers!

Moscow Mules are fine but the recipe is improved with good rum and extra ginger.  Try the Russian Troll.  

How do you win best cocktail?  You can start with an existing cocktail like the Chi Chi but do it much much better.  When the judges entered the room several of us thought "oh no, they are serving chi chis".  But then we tasted the common libation recreated in uncommon style.  Perfectly balanced pineapple, citrus and coconut.  Wonderful and refreshing.  Mahalo to the Neelys and Colemans for BEST Cocktail.  

When it comes to winning Best Decor there is a lot that can go into themeing and preparation.  The Crew from The Black Lagoon Lounge covered every inch of their room with cave like walls, spooking lighting, tasty snacks and murky cocktails.  The judges couldn't stop talking about all the details.  

Winner of Best Overall Room goes to the Brady Brunch.  Congratulations to the Silvas and Romos for double hosting a fabulous brunch in costume as the Brady Bunch and the scrumptious appetizers.  Sunshine may have gone back for the deviled eggs more than once.  

Below is a before and after of the hotel Suite at the Caliente Tropics.  One moment a standard motel room and just hours later a Totally Tacky Tiki 80's Dancy party.  The crew of the Zen Tiki Lounge podcast had as much fun as our Guests.  Thank you all who attended and to those who didn't.....see you next year at Circa!

As mentioned on this episode, Critiki.com has just release their list of  10 Best Tiki Bars 2017 around the world.  Have you been to 1 or all 10?  Check out the list and start drinking till you get to them all.  

The Spy music heard on this episode in order:

Spy vs. Spy: Combustible Edison

Spy's Demise: The Exotics

James Bond Theme: Various

Goldfinger: Shirley Bassey

You only live twice: Ray Davies and his Orchestra

She's gone again: The MelTones

Diamonds are forever: The London Theater Orchestra

Despair: Les Baxter and his Orchestra

Jill the Spy: Kenny Sasaki and The Tiki Boys

The Silencers: Hugo Montenegro and his Orchestra

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