Not sure what your excuse is, but here's mine...

My intro into the world of Tiki was courtesy of my Aunt Wylene's desire for air conditioning. As we trudged through Adventureland on that particularly hot day at Disney World we suddenly felt the rush of cool air coming out of the exit of the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room and in she went. By the time the thunderstorm began and the volcano was erupting I was hooked. 

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Fast forward 10-15 years and I was a college student heavy into the restaurant scene and bartending. Bartending in the 90's went something like this Tiki = boat drinks = syrupy sweet, blue colored, low alcohol crap that sorority girls ordered. I drank beer or tequila.

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Another 10-15 years go by (I'm now a bourbon drinker) and I find myself the my wife and kids at (you guessed it) Disney World. One night everyone was done and I decided to wander around the Polynesian Resort where we were staying. Next thing I knew I was in Trader Sam's (no relation) where I ordered a Mai Tai (since I'd never actually seen one on a menu before) and was startled by a sudden rain storm and a Tiki Idol that was quite angry about another table ordering a punch bowl. I was in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room again but this time they were had stiff drinks.

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Upon returning to Nashville, I was certain that I could find a great Tiki bar and I was jonesing for one. Despite Nashville's great cocktail scene, it wasn't to be. I had 6 places to go for pre-prohibition cocktails but nowhere for a real Zombie. So, I started making my own. If' I'd known then just how far I'd go down this rabbit hole I might have stuck with bourbon; but once you've got the Tiki bug, well, nothing short of a 12 ingredient cocktail using 3 different rums will do...

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As they say, no man is an island. I owe a debt of gratitude to enough folks to fill another page. In fact, I did and it's right here.