Jeff Berry Unleashes New Book, Plans for NOLA Tiki Bar

Todd A. Price has a look inside tiki expert/prolific author/New Orleans transplant Jeff Berry's new book this week, and also reports that the famous "Beachbum" is planning to open a tiki bar in New Orleans. More about the bar in a minute. First, the book: Potions of the Caribbean: 500 Years of Tropical Drinks and the People Behind Them will be released by Cocktail Kingdom in mid-December. It's a bit darker than Berry's previous books...granted, it starts with "the slaughter of the Arawak Indians in the first millennium A.D." Price does note that the book "moves briskly" though, "providing a crash course in everything from the Conquest... to the rise of the modern tourism industry," with 77 vintage Caribbean drink recipes in between.

About the bar: After Price joins Berry in what sounds like a hefty night of drinking at Kingfish, The French 75, and Cane & Table— which Price calls "the physical embodiment" of Potions of the Caribbean— Berry verifies a rumor that's been circulating among cocktail nerds for some time now... Berry and wife Annene Kaye are indeed planning to open a tiki bar in New Orleans. Price notes, "they have a designer, an architect and even staff lined up. What they still need is a location...If all goes well, as early as spring 2014 Berry and his wife will become barkeeps." Rejoice, tiki freaks, the revolution is nigh.

· Jeff 'Beachbum' Berry tackles 500 years of tropical cocktails in 'Potions of the Caribbean' [NOLA.com]
· All Book Club [-ENOLA-]
photo courtesy of Cocktail Kingdom