There are few movements within the cocktail world as pervasive as that of modern tiki, so much so that it’s easy to forget that the genre, not long ago, teetered on the brink of extinction. Even more impressive is that its return came at the hands of just a few committed revivalists, chief among them, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry.
Widely considered tiki’s leading authority, Berry isn’t so much a bartender as he is a kind of cocktail archaeologist; over the course of two decades—working from antique menus and matchbooks—Berry pieced together dozens of forgotten drinks, eventually publishing them in a series of books that’d lay the groundwork for today’s tiki revival. What’s more, he’s gone on to serve many of these drinks at Latitude 29, his restaurant and bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
So how much does Polynesian Pop factor into his life when he’s not drinking (or drink-making)? Here, Berry tackles our Lookbook Questionnaire to reveal his weirdest cocktail experiment, the strangest drink request he’s ever gotten, his go-to dive bar drink and more. Read on…