We were so thrilled to learn that the recipient of this year’s Pioneer Award from the Tales of the Cocktail Dame Hall of Fame is none other than Shannon Mustipher. If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Shannon or trying one of her modern tiki cocktails, then she requires almost no introduction. If you haven’t, she is a veritable force in rum, rum cocktails and tiki.

Shannon is the author of Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails (the first Black American bartender to publish a cocktail recipe book in over a century) and was most recently the Beverage Director at Glady’s Caribbean in Brooklyn. She is also the founder of Women Who Tiki. We can think of no one more deserving of the Pioneer Award.

Our founder and owner Karen Hoskin first met Shannon through the network of Rum Festivals that takes place across the United States. Shannon attended a seminar that Karen hosted on gender in the rum world and Karen later attended a cocktail event that Shannon hosted at Café Roval during the Miami Rum Congress, an event which turned out to be one of Karen’s favorites of the trip. She was struck by Shannon’s jaw dropping daiquiris served in copper coupes in the secret back-garden tiki bar of this well loved Middle Eastern restaurant. Everything that evening was such a surprise and so unexpected and classy.

From the start, Shannon’s bartending prowess was clear and Karen was thrilled to later partner on a Montanya luncheon in New York City at abcV in March 2019 and again at Mother of Pearl in September 2020, as well as at a raucous Happy Hour at Glady’s in March 2020. Throughout the partnership and their friendship, Shannon has embodied the Pioneer Award in so many ways:

First, Shannon doesn’t just just make new versions of classic cocktails. She creates original tiki cocktails. It’s not only rare, but bold. It’s such a vintage category of drinks that to put a new and modern spin on it is audacious and inspiring.

Shannon is also fearless. It’s one thing to be knowledgeable in the history of rum and another to educate others on the bad along with the good. She speaks openly about the historical connection between the slave trade and rum—a commitment that we believe to be so important (and rare) to the industry. It’s only when you own the full story of the past that you can create a more inclusive narrative today.

Again and again, Shannon has also proven that her opinion isn’t for hire. She knows and loves many kinds of rum, and you will never see her be anything but straight up about her influences. That kind of integrity is refreshing and always welcome in the world of “hired guns.”

And perhaps most inspiring, Shannon is what we can only describe as an “inclusionist” (if we can’t make up a word for Shannon, then who can we do it for?). She will talk with anyone about rum whatever their experience level, and she’ll never come across as condescending. She wants you to love the spirit as much as she does.

Congratulations to Shannon for a well-deserved Pioneer Award, and thank you to the Tales of the Cocktail for recognizing a true pioneer!

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