New at Tini: Punch Bowls

First, Revolucion (1132 Prospect St., 317-423-9490) converted its back patio into a grass-skirted, paper lantern–festooned cantina. Then salsa shop Lava Lips (4915 N. College Ave., 317-965-6629) opened a sampling room full of bamboo and rattan. Further proving that the tiki trend has firmly planted its tiny plastic sword in Indianapolis soil, Tini (717 N. Massachusetts Ave., 317-384-1313) recently introduced a spring/summer drink menu that might as well come with its own ukulele soundtrack. The five new mostly rum-based drinks are poured into punch bowls and offered with cups and ladles, a presentation inspired by owner Brad Kime’s recent cocktail hour at Workshop Kitchen + Bar in Palm Springs. The drinks are designed to be shared among the table, sipped on Tini’s new sidewalk patio. Bar manager Curtis McGaha (fresh from a banana daiquiri-sipping trip to St. Lucia, incidentally) created the menu at Kime’s direction. “The thing about tiki drinks,” McGaha says, “is that they are really boozy.”
True to form, McGaha’s potions include a potent Beach Comber, like a refined pina colada with traces of coconut and almond; a Peg Leg poured with Ron Zacapa dark aged rum and garnished with basil; the tequila-based Paloma Anderson, a grapefruit juice-and-soda play on the popular Mexican sipper made from tequila and grapefruit soda; the dark, coconut-flavored Let’s Have a Tiki, warmed with cinnamon syrup; and (hold on to your paper umbrella) an absinthe-spritzed Zombie that is the booziest of them all.
The punch bowls range in price from $50 to $60, or $25 to $30 for smaller versions.