Smuggler's Cove

Martin and Rebecca Cate, founders and owners of Smuggler’s Cove (the most acclaimed tiki bar of the modern era) take you on a colorful journey into the lore and legend of tiki: its birth as an escapist fantasy for Depression-era Americans; how exotic cocktails were invented, stolen, and re-invented; Hollywood starlets and scandals; and tiki’s modern-day revival, in this James Beard Award-winning cocktail book.

Featuring more than 100 delicious recipes (original and historic), plus a groundbreaking new approach to understanding rum, Smuggler’s Cove is the magnum opus of the contemporary tiki renaissance. Whether you’re looking for a new favorite cocktail, tips on how to trick out your home tiki grotto, help stocking your bar with great rums, or inspiration for your next tiki party, Smuggler’s Cove has everything you need to transform your world into a Polynesian Pop fantasia.

Make yourself a Mai Tai, put your favorite exotica record on the hi-fi, and prepare to lose yourself in the fantastical world of tiki, one of the most alluring—and often misunderstood—movements in American cultural history.

MARTIN CATE is a rum and exotic cocktail expert and the owner of Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco. Smuggler’s Cove opened in 2009 and has been named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars (Drinks International, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015), 50 Best Bars on Earth (The Sunday Times, London), Top Ten Food and Beverage Concepts of the Last 25 Years (Cheers Magazine), 13 Most Influential Bars of the 21st Century (Liquor.com), and America’s Best Bars (Playboy, 2012 and Esquire, 2013). Smuggler's Cove was also awarded Best American Cocktail Bar at the 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. A member of the United States Bartenders Guild (USBG), Martin conducts educational seminars and adjudicates rum and cocktail competitions across the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. In 2015, along with partners Alex Smith and John Park, Martin opened Whitechapel in San Francisco to bring the same passion for history and craft to the world of gin. He is also the co-owner of Hale Pele in Portland and a partner in Lost Lake in Chicago and False Idol in San Diego.


In 1999, REBECCA CATE inadvertently fueled Martin’s madness by famously uttering words (which she thought were a joke) about making a spare bedroom a home tiki bar. Since then, however, she too has been swept up in the tiki fantasia, first as an enthusiast, then helping Martin open and run Smuggler’s Cove, while juggling a full-time career as a research psychologist “on the side.” Rebecca earned her PhD in personality and social psychology from The University of California at Berkeley in 2006, and has spent over a decade leading large-scale studies of behavioral health interventions as well as topics related to retirement and longevity. The opportunity to coauthor this book has allowed what had been just a weekend and vacation escape to turn into a full-time journey.