Tiki Talk with Ben Willis: Easter Island, Moai, and a Killer Drink

A remote island with massive stone faces… and a history that still raises questions.

A bold cocktail inspired by Rapa Nui… and one of the most iconic tiki artifacts out there.

Ben Willis dives in with Tiki Talk.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

It's Friday afternoon, and it's time we light the torches once again for Tiki Talk on Mega Rock. Ben Willis with you. Well, we're coming into Easter weekend here, and I could not let this Friday go by without touching on the topic of Easter Island. Of course, if you know anything about Easter Island, probably the first thing that comes to mind, of course, is those gigantic statues we know as Moai, which some reach upwards of 80 feet high. And it has been mostly a mystery as to how the native people, who still exist, by the way, on the island, a lot of these old television shows like In Search of or clips on YouTube and on TikTok may claim that the people of Rapanui, as the island is properly known, uh disappeared mysteriously. Actually, sadly, a lot of them were carried off into slavery on the Chilean mainland. But that's a whole other topic for a different day. Suffice to say, the Rapanui people are still on Rapanui, and they have a lot of stories to tell. And one of those stories that the Rapanui people tell is how the giant Moai walked to where they stand to this day. And for those who know, we'll actually demonstrate they put your feet together with the heels locked together, and it's called Neke Neke, shuffling forward very slowly without lifting your feet. And so, not too long ago, a bunch of scientists and researchers got together and said, What if we tie a bunch of ropes to an upright Moai replica and kind of twist it back and forth, shuffling it like you would a giant refrigerator? And sure enough, before their eyes, this giant moai statue started shuffling forward. History brought to life once again. And not just the moai themselves, but also imagery from other aspects of Easter Island Rapanui culture have become very much ingrained with the modern Tiki culture. You'll find mugs and carvings and hats and statues in the shape of moai, the Kavakava Man, who is another figure, or the Birdman figure. And these motifs are well established throughout all of Tiki culture, to the point where there is a fraternal order of the moai, in fact. And thinking about a cocktail to discuss, one that comes to mind is a modern tiki classic, the Rapa Nui cocktail itself, from back in 2011. This was introduced at the Eastern Standard Bar in Boston, in fact, on their tiki-isms section of their cocktail menu. This comes to us by way of the Cocktail Virgin blog, and they describe the recipe as follows: two ounces specifically of blood orange juice, one half ounce of lime juice, one half ounce of cinnamon syrup, one quarter ounce of they call for Bauchant Orange Liqueur, but a curacao or a triple sec will probably do in a pinch. And for the rums, we're going to take one and one half ounce of Old Monk Dark Jamaican rum, and one half ounce of Smith Cross Jamaican rum as well. Shake everything with ice, strain into a big water goblet or a big wine glass, filled with lots of crushed ice, and finally we're going to float another half-ounce of Moostel East India Solera sherry on top, but in a pinch you can go with any sweet cream sherry. Garnish with an orange wedge and a cherry spear with a cocktail umbrella, and there you go, it's your Rappa Nui cocktail for an Easter weekend. So until we meet on another Easter Island somewhere out there, this is Ben Willis saying Aloha on this Friday afternoon. We're gonna have some fun. We're gonna leave you with the question of what would you do if you had an Easter Island head? It's throat culture on Tinky Talk on Mega Rock.