One of the many pleasant surprises on offer at last week’s Tiki Oasis, the annual three-day celebration of Polynesiana held in San Diego, was our discovery that the hotel hosting the event had added one of our original drink recipes, the Miehana (recipe on page 56 of Intoxica!), to its restaurant’s cocktail menu.
We were even more surprised to see the bartender pouring all his tropical drinks into flimsy plastic cups with snap-on lids. When we asked for our Miehana in a proper glass, he replied that the restaurant was too busy that day to wash glasses. Now, we are as averse to washing as the next bum. But serving an exotic alcoholic beverage with premium ingredients — even one of ours — in plastic cups is like serving Steak Diane in a paper bag. Moreover, at $10.50 the Miehana cost more than our lunch, which came on a china plate. Even our water came in a real glass.
The Bum may be a vagrant but he is not a lout, so instead of calling these facts to the barkeep’s attention and challenging him to pistols at dawn, we merely canceled our drink order. “Fine,” the man snarled in response. “Have it your way.” Well, sir, if we had it our way, we wouldn’t be forced to make a choice between cocktails served in kindergarten sippy cups or no cocktails at all.
If you’re ever confronted by that choice yourself, gentle reader, we urge you to make a stand for civilized imbibing and opt for sobriety — perhaps the only time you’ll ever hear us endorsing that dreaded condition!