Bar: Daiquiri Time Out
Location: 2701 Market, Galveston
Hours: 4 p.m.–2 a.m. daily
Opened: July 2016
Owner/Bar Manager: Brad Stringer
Background: Featuring a menu of midcentury island-time sippers, DTO feels far removed from the shot bars of the nearby Strand. With its namesake drink—the timeless shaken union of rum, lime, and sugar—this is a welcome find in a city better known for saccharine daiquiris of the frozen and flavored variety. (The bar’s name has roots in the Boston bartending scene, where hospitality workers enjoy mini daiquiris to help relieve stress or to just take a break.)
Ambience: The pink neon sign is a beacon of what’s to come in Galveston’s rapidly changing former red-light district. Inside, warm wood paneling and ornate pineapple wallpaper make for a cozy throwback vibe.
Pro Tip: Visit in December, when the bar transforms into a tiki holiday wonderland.
What to Order: Consider the Queen Stiggins, made with Plantation Pineapple rum, Dolin Blanc, Bénédictine, and London dry gin—a piña colada for the stiff-drinking set. More complex seasonal offerings, like the whiskey-and-grapefruit Hopping Westward, transition tropical flavors to wintertime.
Hopping Westward
1.5 ounce Aged Genever
.75 ounce Hopped Grapefruit Syrup* (see recipe below)
.5 ounce American Single Malt Whiskey (they use Westward)
.5 Lemon Juice
1 bar spoon Falernum
1 dash Salt Solution
Dry-shake all ingredients in a shaker and pour over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a grapefruit peel and mint sprig.
*Hopped Grapefruit Syrup
Half a cup of grapefruit zest
5 cups sugar
5 cups of water
2/3 cup of Citra hops
Combine zest and sugar; let sit for 24 hours. Add water and hops, stir to dissolve. Strain through chinois.
Queen Stiggins
1.5 ounces Plantation Pineapple Rum
.5 ounce Dolin Blanc
.25 ounce Benedictine
.25 oz London Dry Gin
Build in mixing glass and stir. Pour into a Coupe glass. No garnish.
This article originally appeared in the December 2019 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Tiki Tock.” Subscribe today.
