When does Arizona Tiki Oasis begin?

How can I get Arizona Tiki Oasis tickets?

Get ready to sip and celebrate at Arizona Tiki Oasis.

Which events should cocktail fans attend?

Samples of boozy beverages abound with most cocktail-centered panel events at Tiki Oasis.

It’s time to break out the caftans and Hawaiian shirts because Arizona Tiki Oasis 2025 is coming back to Old Town Scottsdale. The boozy weekender will celebrate all things tiki at the mid-century Hotel Valley-Ho this Thursday through Sunday.The 2025 rum-soaked extravaganza marks the seventh year since the tiki-centric festivities began in Arizona. The more mature, 21+ sister to the long-running Tiki Oasis San Diego is the brain-child of Otto and Baby Doe Von Stroheim. The duo curated their first retro-island event in 2001 to restore the Palm Springs Caliente Tropics Motel. What began in Palm Springs as a modest gathering for a coterie of island imbibers has exploded with the mainstream popularity of the retro, tropical cocktail scene.This year's event is set to be the largest to date, with several thousand attendees projected to come and soak up the festivities. Island enthusiasts intent on attending this year’s Tiki Oasis are encouraged to make a plan before showing up in Hawaiian print, as there is a lot going on. For those looking to dive into the drinks, here's what you need to know.Arizona Tiki Oasis 2025 will be held April 24 through 27 at The Hotel Valley-Ho in Old Town Scottsdale. Pre-gaming events on Thursday begin with registration check-in at 3 p.m. and go until 10 p.m. Official festival events will start at 9:30 a.m. each day on Friday through Sunday, with the latest events ending at midnight on Friday and Saturday. The festival winds down Sunday afternoon with a final poolside DJ set ending at 5 p.m.Two tiers of tickets are available for Arizona Tiki Oasis. A Resort Pass ($159) will get you access to the social events, art openings, exclusive suite soirees, pool and sample tastings.The Deluxe Resort Pass ($320) gives you access to all of the above, plus a limited edition Tiki Mug, AZTO tote bag, exclusive Friday kick-off party and an invitation to a speakeasy-style party on Saturday evening. Seminar tickets are sold a la carte and range from $20 to $60. A portion of all ticket sales will go to benefit the Arizona Preservation Foundation.The Valley's most-awarded tiki bar Undertow is trading its underground digs for the Hotel Valley-Ho Skyline bar for a round or two of sunset sips. As registration ends and attendees arrive for the weekend, this will no doubt be a good spot to catch some great beverages and even better people-watching.Shake off the residual rum hangover and call out of work. Friday is the day to get educated. The first cocktail-centered panel of the weekend is a can't-miss event. Renowned mixologist and tiki YouTuber Scott “Cush” Cushman will walk attendees through the intricacies, secrets and history of each of the sacred seven original Tiki drinks, complete with samples, so that you can master them at home.Cushman, in his words, was a “super-serious LA bartender with Phoenix roots." The serious part took a turn when he dove into the fun and colorful world of tiki.“Tiki is truly the last bastion of truly ‘out-there' creativity in cocktails. With my bartending pedigree, I can look at the drinks from some angles that others might not, and I love using those skills to help decode these drinks so that everyone can make them,” Cushman says.Cushman's first Tiki event was Arizona Tiki Oasis, which, compared to the larger gathering in San Diego, is much more intimate. For that reason, he wants to bring out all the stops, hinting at surprise guests and some props for this panel.“That might put me out of business, sharing all these secret recipes, but I love the tiki-freakys at Tiki Oasis. It’s my first home,” Cushman admits. Attendees can find Cushman at The Sands Room at noon on Friday. Tickets cost $60.While tiki is admittedly a form of escapism, AZ Tiki Oasis newcomer Julio “Jules” Gutierrez of Los Angeles-based Chuntikis aims to educate and subvert some of the traditional stories and recipes of tiki’s Golden Age by investigating the roots of their inspiration.“We’re not just making drinks,” Gutierrez says. “We’re telling the stories behind them. My goal is not to reinvent these cocktails, but to remind us of where these flavor combinations originally came from. At heart, they are Caribbean, indigenous, immigrant. And that is something we can celebrate."Expect plenty of agave, bacanora, sotol, and more as Gutierrez makes space for Sonoran-inspired Tiki at the bar. This event will take place in The Sands Room on Friday, and costs $60.Grab a water or two and head up to The Spa, because he’s The Captain now. Captain David Muhlstein, that is, of Hula’s Captain’s Cabin, one of the most lovingly curated Tiki experiences in the city. He’s taking the wheel for this flight of cocktails and he can do it all, from the historically accurate to whimsical reinventions.“For the newcomers, expect the unexpected, in the best way possible,” Muhlstein suggests.His knowledge of the drinks and bartenders behind them is just as impressive as his bartending skill. Plus, fans have the chance to enjoy an afternoon with a Valley tiki legend.“Pace yourself, drink lots of water, and have all the fun. That’s what this is all about. Tiki covers a lot of things, but we all have one commonality: we love these drinks, and it brings folks together in the best way possible," he says.This event is included with Resort and Deluxe Resort passes.At this Saturday afternoon panel, be prepared to encounter vibrant, well-researched drinks that hint at the possibilities of 21st-century cocktails you can recreate at home.“The fact of the matter is that, post-World War II, your average party host didn’t have access to most of the high-quality ingredients that were readily available when Tiki first started," says speaker Tiki Lindy, Linda Panofsky. “My aim, with this panel, is to respect the original recipe with more fresh, modern ingredients."Come ready to sip and learn. This event will take place in The Sands Room and cost $60.Captain David is back for another event on Saturday, aiming to de-stigmatize the concept of batching cocktails.“There’s this idea that when you are hosting a party, you have to craft every drink at that moment, and that sucks the fun out of everything for the host,” Mehlstein explains. “Tiki’s meant to be fun, and I’m going to show you how to keep your sanity and maintain a quality drink for your guests."Expect several batches of samples at this event in the Soho 2 Room. Tickets cost $55.On the final day of festivities, the Valley’s best-of-the-best will compete in a fervent head-to-head cocktail throwdown, with one winner claiming the title for Tiki Oasis Bartending Champion.The cocktail competition takes place in the SoHo Room and costs $45 to attend. There can be only one winner, before one more drink at the pool with the Tiki Oasis DJs winding down the weekend. Until next year, Aloha!