An interesting thing has been happening in this post-lockdown time: many of the bars which opened in the two or so years in the run up to 2020 still feel, well, kinda like they’ve just opened. But they haven’t. Some of them, like Jacoby’s Tiki Bar in Enmore, are even celebrating their fifth birthday.
And a bar turning five is no small milestone; it’s often a marker that the bar has a long life ahead of it.
“I still feel like it’s a new bar to me, but it’s five years,” says co-owner Pasan Wijesena. “But we’re still like a little baby bar.
“I’m equal parts grateful we made it this far. I think there’s always an element of imposter syndrome that keeps you humble. A lot of places haven’t made it to five years so I’ll never take being open for granted. [I’m] also equally chuffed because we bloody hustled for the last few years.”
To celebrate its fifth birthday tonight, Jacoby’s Tiki Bar — which previously has been named Rum Bar of the Year by Australian Bartender, and Bar of the Year by Time Out — is releasing its first cocktail list update since the lockdown era.
And it’s a beauty. The illustrations come from the Sydney-based illustrator 50s Vintage Dame (find her on Instagram here), and the big idea behind it? Bartender Sam Pinneri (ex-Mahiki, London) had a big hand in the new list, and says that it’s designed to celebrate the classic tiki canon.
“It’s classic tiki-inspired — stay true to some of the tiki classics, but we’re also going a bit new age and a bit modern with some of our techniques,” Pinneri says.
Below, get a look at a few of the new drinks from the list at Jacoby’s, and check them out for yourself from Thursday 18 August at 154 Enmore Road, Enmore, and on Instagram @jacobystikibar.
Mahi Mahi
Ingredients
- 45ml house grog
- 15ml Plantation OFTD
- 20ml orange juice
- 20ml lime juice
- 20ml ginger syrup
- 10ml passionfruit syrup
- splash of blue curaçao
Instructions
- Build ingredients over ice — blue curaçao on the bottom — in a Hurricane-style glass.
Recipe by Jacoby’s Tiki Bar, Sydney, 2022.
“The Mahi Mahi is one of the most powerful fish in the Pacific Ocean,” says Pinneri. “I put a bit of an overproof rum in there as well to give it that kick, and that layered effect has the same look as the mahi mahi in real life. If you turn the glass on the side, it looks like the fish as well.”
Our Flag Means Death
Ingredients
- 40ml house grog
- 20ml Amaro di Angostura
- 15ml Campari
- 15ml orgeat
- 20ml orange juice
- 10ml lime juice
- splash of soda
Instructions
- Build ingredients over ice. Garnish with appropriate piratey fervour.
Recipe by Jacoby’s Tiki Bar, Sydney, 2022.
“It’s just playing around. I put some Campari, put some rum, added some juice, a bit of orgeat, and the Amaro di Angostura to give it that nice spicy feel,” says Pinneri.
Rapa Nui Nui
Ingredients
- 30ml house grog
- 30ml St James Agricole Rum
- 10ml pimento dram
- 30ml lime juice
- 20ml passionfruit syrup
- 10ml vanilla syrup
- 2 dashes of orange bitters
Instructions
- Build ingredients over ice.
Recipe by Jacoby’s Tiki Bar, Sydney, 2022.
“It’s a riff on a classic tiki cocktail, the Nui Nui,” says Pinneri. It’s served in an Easter Island-style tiki mug, and the name? Well, it means Easter island in Spanish.
