Volcano bowls are ceramic drinkware originally associated with mid-20th century American

tiki bar A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a rom ...

s and tropical-themed restaurants. Drinks served in volcano bowls are typically

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phili ...

-based, mixed with tropical fruit juices and other liquors such as

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

, and

triple sec Triple sec is an orange-flavoured liqueur that originated in France. It usually contains 20–40% alcohol by volume. Triple sec is rarely consumed neat, but is used in preparing many mixed drinks such as margaritas, cosmopolitans, sidecars, Long ...

, and garnished with fruit. The

Flaming Volcano Flaming volcano is a large tropical group cocktail typically made with rum, brandy, pineapple juice, orange juice, and orgeat syrup. Many variations exist, and the cocktail in the 21st century is more about the presentation than an adherence to ...

cocktail is especially associated with this drinkware.

Background

Volcano bowls typically have a large capacity of 32 oz. or more, and are used to serve a communal beverage to a group of two or more friends who share the drink, often sipping simultaneously from the bowl through long, colorful straws. Volcano bowls are designed with a rising central hub feature formed and painted to resemble a crude

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

cone, giving the vessel a

topological In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing h ...

similarity to a

Bundt pan A Bundt cake () is a cake that is baked in a Bundt pan, shaping it into a distinctive doughnut shape. The shape is inspired by a traditional European cake known as , but Bundt cakes are not generally associated with any single recipe. The style of ...

. The central cone, in turn, is topped by a pit or "crater" which is intended to be filled with overproof rum or other flammable high-alcohol liquor. This "crater" liquor is ignited just before service, creating a festive, mildly volcanic ambience with its central blue flame. Meanwhile, the drink surrounds the "volcano cone" in a ring-shaped moat, like a pool of

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

or an ocean surrounding a volcanic island. The exterior surfaces of volcano bowls are usually decorated with painted or glazed-on tropical-themed images, such as

hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song (Mele (Hawaiian language), mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of t ...

dancers,

palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

s, and island landscapes. They are not to be confused with the Fat Lava style in 20th-century

West German Art Pottery West German Art Pottery is essentially a term describing the time period of 1949–1990 and became the early way to describe the pottery because the country of origin, with numbers denoting the shape and size, was often the only "mark" on the ...

References

Drinkware Tiki culture {{drinkware-stub