What’s shakin, cocktail fans? Welcome to Episode 259 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!
This time around, we’re joined by Kim and Brandon Grilc of The Kazan Room in Kobe Japan. They’re on a mission to pioneer the tropical drinks category and spread the good vibes of Tiki in the land of cherry blossoms. In this complex, yet surprisingly potent conversation with Brandon and Kim, some of the topics we discuss include:
For those of you who would like to get updates on everything that’s going on at The Kazan Room, you can follow them on Instagram @thekazanroom and be sure to pull them up on your favorite maps app when you’re planning your visit.
This episode’s featured cocktail is Kokobe, and these formulation and assembly instructions are generously sourced from the print magazine, Exotica Moderne.
To make it, you’ll need:
“Combine all ingredients in a tin cocktail shaker with cubed ice. Shake and strain into a hollowed- out pineapple filled with small, cubed or cracked ice. Garnish with pineapple fronds, pineapple wedge, and orchid.
The Kokobe was created in Kobe, Japan by Kim Grilc in association with Tiki Bar Head Hunter. […] For anyone with a dusty old bottle of Japanese whisky hiding behind a sea of go-to tiki spirts, now is the time to turn up the rock ‘n’ roll music, don your Aloha shirt, slick back your hair, and feel like a Japanese Tikiphile, if only for a night.”
What we like most about the Kokobe is that it embraces fusion, which is something we talk about at length in this interview. Obviously, Japanese Whisky looms large in the cultural consciousness of Japan, but it is not an ingredient you find often in Tiki cocktails. When faced with this reality, the strong impulse to say, “yeah…but why not?” speaks volumes about our guests for this episode and their unique take on tropical drinks.
This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed and Tiki and bar design insights courtesy of Brandon and Kim Grilc of The Kazan Room in Kobe Japan. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2023.
This episode is also brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.
Head over to NearCountry.com and enter the code BARCART when you sign up for your subscription to receive 2 free pounds of bacon or ground beef in your first delivery.
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