A Moment of Tiki: Okolehao and Moai Carving

Happy new year, folks! I'm back to kick off 2022 with an all-new episode of A Moment of Tiki... plus an older episode from November that I forgot to share here on the blog. What can I say? I'm nothing if not consistent.

In episode 37, I do a quick exploration of Okolehao. Okolehao is Hawaii's indigenous spirit, first distilled on the islands in 1790. Hawaii was a major base for U.S. whaling ships of the era, and the first crude stills were jury-rigged from the try pots the ships used to render the blubber from whales into oil. This is where the spirit gets its name: ʻōkole ("butt") + hao ("iron"). Okolehao has traditionally used roasted roots of the ti plant has the primary fermentable, but other sugar sources on the islands, such has sugar cane and pineapple, have also been used alongside ti root. Following World War II, cheap, unaged whisky from the U.S. was more economical to use so ti flavoring was added to the imported white dog spirit and sold as Okolehao. By the early 2000s pretty much all commercial production of Okolehao had ceased and it was nearly impossible to find. Thanks to the craft spirits movement, though, a small handful of distillers in Hawaii have begun producing versions of this heirloom spirit once again. On this episode of A Moment of Tiki, I sample some from Island Distillers out of Honolulu. I also give it a try in the Polynesian Paralysis, a classic mid-century Okolehao cocktail recipe out of the book "Beachbum Berry Remixed."

Then in episode 35, I take an old pecan log and attempt to carve it into a Moai based on those from the island of Rapa Nui. I use a combination of chain saw, angle grinder and die grinder. Of these power tools, I used the chainsaw and angle grinder (with a Kutzall Extreme shaping disk) to rough out the shape, then finessed the details using my die grinder with some Saburrtooth burrs. Because I am dumb, I left the log exposed outside for several years, which meant insects and fungus had gotten to work on it, which caused some issues. The log was also pecan, which turned out to be one of the hardest woods native to North America. Probably not the best planning on my part, but hey, I make the mistakes so you don't have to!

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