Inside Passage – Guest Write Up By Stephen Curran (Seattle WA)

Inside Passage — the new immersive bar on Capitol Hill near downtown Seattle wants to let you know that it is not a tiki bar …

While it is clothed in tapa cloth, has thatched covered booths, displays mugs, and serves rum drinks, Inside Passage stays away from displaying tikis.  (Its statement explaining why has raised some eyebrows within the tiki community on social media.)  Instead, consider Inside Passage as nautical pre-tiki re-imagined.

But to me, the labels and absence of tikis are irrelevant. I judge an immersive bar on its decor, themes, and creation of an overall immersive experience — not to mention the quality of drinks and service.  Inside Passage delivers on every count.

Inside Passage is the dream of Rumba owner Travis Rosenthal, brought to life by designer and builder Notch Gonzalez.  (One of Notch’s more recent builds includes the second floor of tiki mecca Max’s South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Michigan.)  The build is simply incredible.

The walls look like an aged wooden ship’s hull — complete with ancient-looking wood and lights in the cracks between some of the planks.  The ceiling has decorative, float, and puffer fish lights.

But the decorative star is Kiki, an octopus with up to 18-foot tentacles wrapped around the ceiling.  Kiki — not quite a kraken and not quite tiki — impresses not just with her size, but with the detailed rendering of her head and tentacles.  (During Rumba’s COVID shut-down, staff members helped create the hundreds of suckers for the tentacles.) In the Inside Passage mythos, Kiki has collected “crates, barrels of rum or even an unlucky sailor” in those tentacles.

I was happy that Inside Passage incorporates a Pacific Northwest theme.  (Shameless disclaimer: My home bar incorporates pan-Pacific themes and decor, including the Pacific Northwest.)

Inside Passage’s entrance area is bathed in a green glow befitting the Emerald City. The most obvious PNW reference is the name itself; as Inside Passage refers to the nautical route running between islands and the mainland from northern Washington, through British Columbia, to southern Alaska.  (Look for decorations, and even an Easter egg or two, displaying shipwrecks along the Passage.)  Kiki recalls the Giant Pacific Octopus, which is the world’s largest octopus species and resides in Puget Sound.  In addition, some of the decorative elements — and one of the drink’s glassware — are from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair that gave birth to the Space Needle.

Inside Passage is located adjacent to its sibling bar, Rumba.  Rumba is known for its quantity of rums and the quality of its rum drinks.  Inside Passage takes its special drinks to creative, unusual heights.  Plus, sitting at the bar, I found the bartenders and staff seemed to enjoy talking about the drinks and making recommendations.  I also appreciated the menu giving credit to each drink’s inventor — many from manager Jen Akin.

My favorite drink is the ’62 Panorama Punch for two reasons.  First, it’s my favorite tasting drink of those I tried — the mandarin sorbet on top blends with the gin and rhum agricole drink underneath, adding texture and complementing the drink’s orange flavors.  Second, (and second shameless plug) it is presented in frosted glasses from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, which are the same glasses I display in my home bar.

I was not as enamored with the I See A Light. It is a solid drink, and will appeal to those who like pronounced citrus flavors.  But I found the yuzu-flavored drink a bit too tart for me. Added points, however, for adding the light on the angler fish mug — recalling denizens of the deep using bioluminescence to lure their prey.

Another drink I enjoyed was the I Believe.  This sweet drink has a creamy consistency of chocolate with banana and an almost coffee-like after taste. I was worried that the scotch blend would overwhelm the drink, but instead I found I enjoyed the balance with pineapple rum. It is the perfect nightcap or dessert drink in the best sense. The creative use of a Bigfoot Investigative Kit adds another nod to the PNW.

The One-Eyed Willy tastes strong, but if you like an old-fashioned, you should like this old-fashioned with a tropical twist.  The One-Eyed Willy is named after the legendary pirate from the movie Goonies, which takes place in Astoria, Oregon, located (of course) in the PNW.

The Mohai Tai mixes rum, guava and apricot flavors with beer.  This unusual pairing provides a mild tangy after taste mixing the beer and fruit.  It surprised me that these ingredients can work well together.  It is served in a Rainier beer can — a favorite old-school beer of (yes) the PNW.

Finally, the Amazombie 2.0 mixes cachaça — a Brazilian cousin to Caribbean rum — with açaí, passion fruit, allspice, lime, and absinthe. The grassy notes of the cachaça are forward tasting, with the fruit as a mild after taste.  The Amazombie 2.0 is served with a fanciful box that looks at first glance like a real box from Amazon, which, as we all know, is based in the PNW.

So, whatever you call it, Inside Passage captures the immersive experience with humor, quality drinks, and a captivating atmosphere.  I’m eager to go back to sample more of the signature drinks.  It’s one of my new favorite places to visit here in (where else?) — the PNW.

Here is the Inside Passage Website

And Facebook Page

Here is the website for Rumba

And Facebook Page