The Journal

Tales from the swizzle stick

Notes from a Lao tiki bar — cocktail history, island gods, carved faces and the people who keep the torches lit. Written slowly, between services.

Cocktails · History

The Drink That Named the Bar

Before it was our name, the swizzle was a sound: a wooden stick spinning between two palms, ice hissing against tin, and the coldest drink in the tropics being born.

6 min read · September 2026
History · Legends

The Man Who Invented an Island

Tiki bars have a single founding father, and he built the first one out of driftwood, theatre props and rum nobody wanted. This is the story of Donn Beach — and why one page of our menu belongs to him.

8 min read · August 2026
Culture · Polynesia

Four Gods and a Carving Knife

The faces on our walls have older names than 'tiki bar.' A short, respectful tour of the gods and ancestors behind the carvings — and what the word tiki actually means.

7 min read · August 2026
Craft · Objects

Totems, Mugs, and the Spirits That Hold Your Drink

Between the six-foot guardian by our door and the little carved mug in your hand runs one unbroken line of craft. Here is how the faces got from the temple to the bar top.

6 min read · July 2026
Cocktails · Canon

From Navy Grog to the Zombie

The drinks in our Book are almost a century old, and some of their grandparents are older than that. A short history of the tiki cocktail, from ship rations to the glass in front of you.

8 min read · July 2026