318 Christmas With Beyonce, Farting Santa And Frosty The Cheeseman

Now in our 8th year of shenanigans behind the Zen Tiki Lounge bar, all of your hosts gathered once again for our annual Holiday Spectacular.  It would be pointless to try and describe the evening in words.  Best to give you the cocktail recipes, a few pictures of some vintage and not so vintage snacks, and send you on your Merry way.  All of us at the Zen Tiki Lounge podcast wish you the most fabulous of Holidays filled with inebriated shenanigans.  

316 Idiot Proof Holiday Cocktails With The GOP

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In response to a listener email, Sunshine gives his foolproof 3 step process for making holiday cocktails.  Thanksgiving is upon us and keeping the family lubricated with liquor can help Aunt Jenny and Granpa Earl enjoy each other's company.  It seems that these days you my have one or two family members who prefer a specific cocktail like a specific bourbon in a Manhattan.  But for the most part, you can please everyone with a few ingredients and a little presentation.  

Click here for the drink recipes and a few holiday tips from the tiki bar

Also in this episode, Sunshine shares his concern for preserving liquor bottles before its too late.  Many brands distinguished themselves with ornate bottles or included labels that are works of art.  We recommend keeping these bottles and decanting into them vs. tossing them out and using the new plastic bottles.  Take Chambord for example.  The classic bottle literally looks like the Holly hand grenade mentioned in the timeless Monty Python movie.  The current iteration is round glass with a gold sticker.  But you can see that any true character has been removed.  This new bottle could easily have any name or color slapped on it and no one would even realize it was Chambord.  But the original, you can get away from knowing what was inside even after the spirit is long gone.  

How about Coruba rum.  The bottle wasn't fancy, but the paper label was art.  And the natural raffia wrapped around the base and sides gave character.  Now, its just like every other spirit.  A tall bottle with little to no definition and a plastic sticker.  

Many varieties of Coruba rum were packaged like this up until the last 10 years.  Finding a way to save on packaging is common in any industry, but theres just something about showing off your booze in a good looking bottle.  

The current Coruba label looks cheap and no longer disguised from any other mid to lower priced rum.  Looks very similar to Bacardi and many others.  Too bad.