Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #79 The Back Side Of Water – Gig Harbor WA

The Backside Of Water, what an interesting name for a tiki bar, right? But if you love Disney and more specifically, The Jungle Cruise, you will totally get it! When Chris and Lauren Ringlee bought their new home with a finished basement, they knew what they had to do, they built a tiki bar! Here is their story …

What is the tiki scene like where you live?

Chris- Tacoma has Devil’s Reef and once had Tacoma Cabana which was our local Tiki bar. We’ve done Sippin’ Santa in Seattle and Tiki Kon in Portland but it’s been tough to explore with our young son.

 What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle” and how long has it been part of your life?

Chris- Lauren brought me into Tiki and going to Tacoma Cabana when we started dating in early 2016. Tacoma Cabana was so close to Lauren’s house in Tacoma and we enjoyed many dates there.  We loved it so much we had our rehearsal dinner there. We also enjoy going to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at Disneyworld and Undertow in Phoenix when visiting Lauren’s parents. We are always researching wherever we go on vacation to search out Tiki bars and artists. We’ve been able to get artwork and tiki mugs from artists displayed in our bar.

Lauren- My love of tiki probably started when visiting the Polynesian Resort at Disney world. It is to this day a magical place for me and holds many fond memories. When the Grog Grotto opened I could not get down to Florida fast enough to visit! When I discovered that Tacoma had a tiki bar called Tacoma Cabana I was so excited that I went there that very day. I had Chris go there with me on one of our first dates and it became a very special place for us.

 Can you give a little history of how it all came together?

In 2018, We moved into our new house three weeks before our son was born. The house had a finished basement and was almost the same price as other homes half the size. We had plans to make a home Tiki bar somewhere in the house. What are we going to do with this basement?!? Make a bar!

 Any story behind the name of your bar? 

We thought of a lot of different names but didn’t really love any of the names we initially were thinking of. We both love Disney and our friends knew that. They found a really cool clock on Etsy that was Trader Sam’s themed that could be personalized. They decided to add “The Back Side Of Water” to the clock as they know we love the Jungle Cruise. Chris and I thought that would make the perfect name for our bar.

What is your favorite Tiki drink?

Chris- Polynesian Paralysis at Tacoma Cabana/Devil’s Reef. The variation Jason Alexander created is amazing and that drink has celebrated our rehearsal dinner and many dates. It is not like the recipe widely distributed online.

Lauren- My most recent favorite is a “Fiji Punch” they are serving at Devil’s Reef made with the new Plantation Fiji rum. It’s simple but very tasty and you can really taste the unique flavor of the rum.

What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own! 

Hands down Devil’s Reef. Jason and Robyn have created such a magical place and the drinks are always amazing.

Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment? 

 The ability to escape is essential and our bar is our attempt to do that. We both have very demanding and stressful jobs and we wanted a space to get away. Walking down to the basement and being able to turn the lights and music on transforms our space and makes it our own little oasis.

What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?

We have been able to do a lot on the bar. With covid, quarantine, and no flying for me, the bar has transformed in what we imagined years would take to create. We would like to eventually replace the carpet with wood and put up a framed television that plays the Krakatoa scene from the Grog Grotto. Honestly, we will probably always be coming up with something we want to add. That’s the beauty of a tiki bar.