{"id":22124,"date":"2017-06-28T10:52:19","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T08:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/rumporter\/?p=22124\/"},"modified":"2020-01-18T09:39:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T08:39:38","slug":"daniele-dalla-pola-tiki-master","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/daniele-dalla-pola-tiki-master\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet \u201cTiki Maestro\u201d Daniele Dalla Pola and hear about his new product"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniele Dalla Pola has mixed tropical rum drinks from Miami to Singapore and has a true passion for the spirit. Now, you can find this talented Italian behind the bar at his own place, Nu Lounge, in Bologna.\u00a0 Over the years, he\u2019s received some notable awards and nominations both as a bartender and for his establishment.\u00a0 We got the chance to catch up with him recently to find out about his inspirations, his advice for upcoming bartenders, his favorite rum drinks and more.\u00a0 Plus, he also announced plans for his new product lunch and hinted at some secret plans.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Daniele
\nForest Collins: Your name is one that comes up when people talk about rum and tiki bartenders.\u00a0 What originally attracted you to this style of cocktails or drinks? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola<\/strong>: As we\u2019re talking, I\u2019m just walking along here in Miami beach.\u00a0 And, actually I spent a lot of time here in the 90\u2019s.\u00a0 It\u2019s tropical here, very tropical. We are in the Caribbean, there are tropical drinks. And not far from here, there is the last tiki resort, it\u2019s called Mai-Kai. I\u2019ve been to Mai-Kai many, many years ago. I really enjoy seeing how they prepared these drinks, the mugs. I said to myself \u201cwow!\u201d I thought it was sort of amazing.\u00a0 Actually, I was in the right moment at the right time. I thought to myself, \u201cI think the world needs more tiki, like Jeff Berry, like Martin Cate<\/a> from San Francisco, all the American tiki bars\u201d.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say, I joined the group, and started to do it myself and started traveling more and got more interested in tiki bars and started doing tiki drinks more than before and getting my team into this and making that happen.\u00a0 We started to change our focus.<\/p>\n

FC: Why do you think that tiki experienced a bit of a dark period after the 70\u2019s when it was less fashionable or trendy than it has become once again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: Don\u2019t forget that tiki culture, tiki pop, was the longest movement because it\u2019s not just cocktails.\u00a0 It\u2019s music, movies, fashion, art, design.\u00a0 It was a big thing.\u00a0 It was a lifestyle. The lifestyle.\u00a0 And everything started with this kind of cocktail, this kind of tiki restaurant like Don the Beachcomber.\u00a0 And that went on for 40 years, after 40 years.\u00a0 Think about it: it started in 1934, they begin in the 30\u2019s until the middle of the 70\u2019s more or less.\u00a0 You know, and the dark era, was first of all not only for tiki, it was everything.\u00a0 Restaurant chains, disco music, Vietnam war and a lot of things were changing, the world was becoming more technical, TV, everything was different.<\/p>\n

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READ ALSO:\u00a0BEACHBUM BERRY REMIXED – TIKI BOOK OF THE CENTURY?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also, imagine that this generation already passed through tiki when they were kids.\u00a0 When they are grown up, they don\u2019t want to go there any more. And, it also was a dark era for any cocktail. The 80\u2019s was frozen stuff, nothing good, big chains coming up.\u00a0 I think about the United States or America because everything happened here. America has created a lot of new trends, mostly.<\/p>\n

And then, the comeback of the cocktails, around the beginning of the new millennium, like 2005, was like the ballooning of the mixology world coming up again.\u00a0 Then, people were demanding, thanks to the old TV programmes as well as the chefs, all the food revolution, foodies, all influenced a lot the cocktail scene.\u00a0 Because people, now, they are very attentive and spend money on food because they want to go to this place because they do this kind of food, they want to this place because they have the best of this, this chef is the guy who does this. The bartender is the same now.<\/p>\n

FC: Can you tell us about some of your favorite rum cocktails that aren\u2019t necessarily part of the tiki vocabulary?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: Of course! Let me tell you, tiki drinks are inspired by planters punch and daiquiris, that\u2019s the thing. Every tiki cocktail comes from a daiquiri idea.\u00a0 We have lime, sugar, and rum.\u00a0 That\u2019s the best drink you can have in your life. Then, what happened? Don the Beachcomber he switched the sweet part.\u00a0 Instead of sugar, he used syrups and spices.\u00a0 He used lime, grapefruit, passion fruit, lemon, you know, oranges.\u00a0 Anyway, this is the tiki part.<\/p>\n

Talking about rum drinks that I love, one of my favorite is the Hotel Nacional. It\u2019s got pineapple as well as apricot brandy.\u00a0 I like the El Presidente.\u00a0 I love it.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a tiki drink.\u00a0 There are more than one. Another: the Cuban Manhattan, it\u2019s like a rum Manhattan. On the classics, I would say the El Presidente is great and also the Hotel Nacional.<\/p>\n

FC: You\u2019re a big fan of the original tiki era, so if you could go back and have any drink, with anyone in any place from that era, what would you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: I am sure I would love to be with Don the Beachcomber when he invented the Missionary\u2019s Downfall.\u00a0 I would love to be in Waikiki, with my beautiful wife and my kids, having a Missionary\u2019s Downfall with Don the Beachcomber.<\/p>\n

\"Daniele<\/p>\n

FC: I want to talk about your championship in the 42 Below world cup in 2011.\u00a0 Can you talk about the cocktail you made and its inspiration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: To be honest, that was created with a vodka, because a vodka sponsored the competition.\u00a0 We turned out a tropical cocktail, we infused the vodka with pepper and with fresh pineapple. We made up a ginger and citrus syrup and also added fresh pineapple juice.\u00a0 It was like a super tropical drink with infused vodka instead of rum. A very tropical cocktail. It\u2019s called Elisir d\u2019Amore.<\/p>\n

FC: You were also nominated for one of the Tales of the Cocktail<\/a> Spirited Awards for best international bartender. Can you give some advice to up and coming bartenders who aspire to that kind of success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: Yes, last year I was nominated in the top ten for international bartenders.\u00a0 And they need to work hard, work hard every day. They have to try to be themselves; make up their own, like, personality, their own way of serving cocktail and just to be yourself is what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 But, also focus on the guest and not on just yourself. Try to learn. If you like rum, get into rum, all the way.\u00a0 Learn the difference between them. Taste, try, talk to others and see what they think.\u00a0 And be yourself, basically.<\/p>\n

FC: Nu Lounge has also won awards.\u00a0 You\u2019re in the Top 100 on the Drinks International<\/a> list of the worlds best bars and you received an award of best rum bar in Italy.\u00a0 What can new bar owners do to take their bar and drinks programme to the next level?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: What I think is, I will say something that works for both questions: by yourself you go nowhere.\u00a0 There is no way that you can achieve great success alone.\u00a0 You need a team, you need to create a team.\u00a0 Alone, it\u2019s impossible to reach any big goal. So what I suggest as a bar owner or as a bartender, look, you need to have a good team, team of people, who speak the same language, I mean a bartending language.\u00a0 You need to be able to talk, to know what to do, talk about what\u2019s good and bad. With the team is the only way to success.<\/p>\n

FC: Tell us how rum is perceived in Italy and if you have to adjust your approach to your drinks given the cultural norms of the customer base at Nu Lounge in Bologna.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: Italy is one of the biggest rum countries in the world.\u00a0 Not just now, but always.\u00a0 As you know there are a lot of rum lovers. Italians travel a lot to the Caribbean for many, many years, always going to the Caribbean and always to drink rum. And when they come back they want to drink rum as well.<\/p>\n

And, of course, I can tell you that the cuba libre, the rum and coke, can be the most popular.\u00a0 If you come to Italy and you want to open a bar, you can get at least 800 to 900 rums.\u00a0 It\u2019s big rum country, I mean there are a lot of bars, there are a lot of rums. Of course, because now we know a lot because of the internet. But, we talk about it back in 2002\/2001 when I opened the bar.\u00a0 I had like 35\/40 rums.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even pay attention to that because that was normal to me. In America, now, if you go in the bar, they have like 40 rums, oh great, oh come on.\u00a0 Here, it\u2019s like normal.\u00a0 Just imagine if you go to Martinique, you can have at least 100 rums just in one small island.<\/p>\n

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READ ALSO: SMUGGLER COVE COCKTAILS GO GLOBAL WITH VIRGIN ATLANTIC<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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FC: Do you have a drink you use to introduce new customers to the category of rum or tiki?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: What\u2019s happening now is that we changed our direction in the bar.\u00a0 In the last few years, we are working on this new tiki project, which is we are not doing anymore classic tiki.\u00a0 Of course if you ask we will make it for you, but they are not on the list. We have the new cocktail list coming out, which is our version of the classics.\u00a0 Like we have a new tiki, a completely new tiki, if you take the Bali Hai cocktail, 1970, you add a lot of citrus, you\u2019ve got a lot of lemon.\u00a0 When you taste it, it\u2019s not right for the modern palate.\u00a0 So we try to take history and make it for the modern palate.\u00a0 When we design the drink we think about ladies. Because, ladies have the perfect palate.\u00a0 We create for the ladies\u2019 palate, of course, with a kick of rum.\u00a0 One I love is called the Kamaaina, that word means a Hawaiian local.\u00a0 We serve it in a young coconut, it\u2019s got guava nectar, coconut cream, 2 rums, citrus. Also, if you want some advertising from me, I\u2019m coming out with my own product.\"\"<\/p>\n

FC: That\u2019s great! Tell us about the new product:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: It\u2019s called Alamea. It\u2019s a name that means precious in Samoan and it\u2019s also a star fish.\u00a0 The logo for the product is a star fish. It\u2019s a range of infused liqueurs with flavors like Hawaiian coffee, Pimento Rum and Peach Brandy.<\/p>\n

We will do the official launch at the Berlin Bar Show in October, on 10 and 11 of October at the bar show.<\/p>\n

FC: In another interview, I heard you mentioned maybe creating a tiki school. Are you still looking at doing that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: No, to be honest.\u00a0 I was looking at doing that with a friend who owns a school. But, what we are doing instead here is the Tiki Christmas, we throw a tiki class for two days in Bologna. Then we throw a Hawaiian party in my bar. But a proper school is not something I\u2019d like to do, because first of all I don\u2019t have time and second I\u2019m not a professional. I\u2019m the action guy, serving people, getting drinks.\u00a0 It\u2019s another kind of guy that teaches people in a school.<\/p>\n

I can go for the masterclasses as that\u2019s part of my job. I go to every bar show, do some master classes, couple hours talking about experiences, something new, different stuff, but it\u2019s not like a proper class where people come and sit down. That\u2019s not for me.<\/p>\n

FC: You travel a lot for work.\u00a0 Tell me some of your favorite rum bars around the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: I can\u2019t say my favorite, because it depends on the mood, it depends on where you are.\u00a0 If I\u2019m feeling great and want to go for a rum it can be any place in the world that is the best.\u00a0 But, I\u2019d love to go see Jeff Berry at Latitude 29, I\u2019ll actually go next month.\u00a0 I like Smuggler\u2019s Cove from Martin Cate, it\u2019s one of my favorite. To be honest, I like to go in this kind of place. I can\u2019t wait, Tuesday, I\u2019ll be at Mai-Kai.<\/p>\n

FC: What\u2019s behind your passion for pineapple?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: Pineapples, everybody knows.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s very fashion. For example, I\u2019m sitting here in the lobby of the hotel, in Miami, and there are two beautiful pineapples here.\u00a0 It\u2019s very fashion at the moment, I see every kind of designer putting it on things. Everywhere. I have a tattoo of a pineapple.\u00a0 It\u2019s a symbol of hospitality.<\/p>\n

I was talking to my son this morning, he was born here in Miami and we were just looking at his birth certificate for some paperwork. And, the hospital where he was born, their logo is a pineapple.\u00a0 In Hawaii it\u2019s the symbol of friendship.\u00a0 In Taiwan they are good luck.\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful just to see it. It\u2019s like a piece of art.\u00a0 And if you eat it, it\u2019s healthy too.<\/p>\n

FC: Do you have any future projects that you want to share with us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola:\u00a0<\/strong>My product is coming out.\u00a0 Official launch in October.<\/p>\n

We have another new project; we open a beach club in Italy in 15 days.<\/p>\n

FC: Will it have tiki drinks? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniele Dalla Pola: No, it\u2019s beach club with some tropical touches. It\u2019s complicated. I won\u2019t be there, but one of my team will be there with a new bartender.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I have kind of secret, I\u2019m in Miami because something is happening, there are a few situations going on, my future plan is that it would be nice to come back here.<\/p>\n

FC: And, I\u2019m sure they would be happy to have you there.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniele Dalla Pola has mixed tropical rum drinks from Miami to Singapore and has a true passion for the spirit. Now, you can find this talented Italian behind the bar at his own place, Nu Lounge, in Bologna. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":22125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1575,5435],"tags":[2292,2291,2294,2293],"class_list":["post-22124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews-rumporter-en","category-mixology-rumporter","tag-daniele-dalla-polla-interview","tag-daniele-dalla-polla-tiki","tag-nu-lounge-bar-dalla-polla","tag-tiki-coktais"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rumporter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}