Tonga Hut North Hollywood GoFundMe →

I’m calling this one out specifically because these are friends of mine, and this is our home bar. If you have patronized the Hut and can spare a few dollars, please consider kicking in.

I know a lot of people aren’t in a position to help. You’ve already been impacted by this pandemic, no worries. If you can’t contribute monetarily, please raise a glass and wish the Tonga Hut well. It’s been there for us since 1958 and we want it to remain in place for a long long time.

Guest bartending in simpler times.

While you're at it, don't forget about local distilleries →

Many have pivoted their business to include manufacturing hand sanitizer. It certainly doesn’t sound like a money-making operation…it’s more a way to help their local communities with shortages. Check your local area and if there are operations like this support ‘em if you can.

“In Orange County, when supervisor Andrew Do heard that distilleries were doing this, he reached out to Blinking Owl and helped connect them to county agencies. The distillery is producing 2-oz. pocket bottles, 12-ounce pump bottles, 1-gallon tubs and 55-gallon drums of hand sanitizer. Most of it is already spoken for. Orange County officials plan to distribute the pocket-size bottles to homeless people. The industrial-size containers will likely go to police stations, fire departments, hospitals and medical facilities. Blinking Owl will also sell some of the pump bottles to their customers.”
— https://laist.com/2020/03/20/socal_distilleries_start_making_hand_sanitizer_instead_of_liquor.php

Helping Tiki bars while sheltering in place

It’s apparent that our current pandemic is going to devastate many industries, including hospitality (restaurants, bars, and the like). If you’re able to provide assistance, there are many ways to support your locals, be in take-out/delivery for food, buying gift cards and merchandise, and through the various GoFundMe campaigns that have been set up to help employees of bars and restaurants.

Obviously, tiki bars are close to my particular interests. Luckily, there are already some lists being compiled that link to the online stores for various tiki bars and individual GoFundMe campaigns (and similar campaigns).

Hurricane Hayward over at The Atomic Grog has a great resource page with links galore, and which he’s keeping updated. Go have a look, and donate to your favorites if you can.

In addition, a thread has been started on Tiki Central with added info/links. It’s available here.

Let's talk soon

Hi. It’s no secret to followers of this program that over the last couple of years, I haven’t produced a lot of episodes. There’s at least 17 reasons for that, none of which are particularly important enough to get into at this time. I guess in short I wasn’t sure what else I had to say on the topic. Was I just repeating myself? Had I come up with a decent original recipe in the the last 6 months, and did that even matter? Oh right. I said I wouldn’t get into it right now. Ask me sometime in person, if you’re really curious.

But a funny thing happened recently. Everything got weird. And stressful. And uncertain. I feel like I’m coping, but there’s a tendency to look for comfortable patterns when everything else is unpredictable.

As we’ve been preparing to hunker down here in Rum-and-Sewing Central, tikival had a suggestion (one that was backed up by others). She put forth that in times like these, where people aren’t going out as much as usual (or going out at all), it may be nice to have something to listen to. Something to mix cocktails to. A virtual hangout to go to, if even for a short time. Goodness knows I have my own go-to shows for when I need a break from real life.

Some I’m once again tasting. And once again writing. And soon I’ll once again be recording. There’s no production schedule, but as always, when an episode is ready I’ll release it. And then the next one, as soon as it’s ready. And so on.

Please be safe out there. Let’s talk soon.