Isla de Pina

  • 2 oz Aged White Rum

  • .25 oz Allspice Dram

  • .5 oz Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Pineapple Liqueur

  • 3 cubes Frozen Passion Fruit Puree

  • 4 oz Crushed Ice

    Blend all on high for 5 seconds. Fine strain into a coup glass.

  • Garnish: Pineapple frond clipped to glass.

  • Notes: I prefer The Real McCoy 3yr white Barbados rum. The original recipe by Shannon Mustipher calls for Diplomatico Planas out of Venezuala. The key here is to use an aged white rum without any Jamaican blended in. The funk could work of you’re looking for that, but the way the drink is meant to taste is with a fruity Spanish style rum.

Strawberry Daiquiri

  • 1.5 oz White Rum

  • .5 oz Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Simple Syrup

  • 4 Fresh Hulled Strawberries

  • 4 oz Crushed Ice

    Blend all ingredients on high for full 30 seconds. Fine strain, to avoid any seeds, into a coup or hurricane glass.

  • To hull strawberries cut a circle around the base of the leafy top and pull out the leaves and any hard parts.

  • Garnish with a cocktail umbrella because this is the time!

Pod Tiki Mai Tai

  • 2 oz Denizen Merchant’s Reserve Rum

  • 1 oz Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao

  • .5 oz Latitude 29 Formula Orgeat Syrup

    Fill a Mai Tai glass with crushed or cracked ice, add ice and all ingredients to shaker, shake, open pour into Mai Tai or double rocks glass.

  • Garnish with mint sprig.

Doctor Funk

  • .75 oz Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Grenadine

  • .25 oz Herbsaint

  • 1.5 oz Light Blended Rum

  • 1 oz Soda Water

    Add all ingredients except soda water to a cocktail shaker. Shake with ice. Stir in soda water. Pour entire contents into a pilsner glass or tall Tiki mug. Add ice to fill.

  • Garnish: Mint sprig and cherry.

  • Notes: For “White Blended Rum” I’m referring to something like Plantation 3 Star or Probitas. Something that falls between light and funky. A standard white column still rum gets lost in the drink and a heavy funky rum overpowers it.

Sazerac

  • .25 oz Herbsaint

  • .5 oz Sugar Syrup

  • 2 oz Rye Whiskey

  • 4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

    Rinse inside of a rocks glass with Herbsaint and set aside. In a mixing glass add, syrup, bitters, rye whiskey and stir with ice. Strain into the rinsed rocks glass.

  • Garnish with a lemon twist.

Hot Buttered Rum (Tiki)

  • 1 oz Amber Rum

  • 1 heaping tablespoon Honey/Butter Batter

  • 6 oz Boiling Water

  • 2-3 pinches of Season Blend

    In an Irish Coffee or Tiki mug designed for heat place rum, batter, and seasoning. Pour in boiling hot water and stir till dissolved.

  • Garnish: Cinnamon Stick. Light the tip and lay across rim or drop into cup for stirring.

  • Honey Butter Batter: Cream equal parts honey and unsalted butter.

  • Season Blend: Equal parts powdered nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove.

    Notes: Cinnamon and Clove can be a bit strong so adjust those to taste. Or sub clove out for allspice. American or Spanish style amber rums work best in this drink. Funky or grassy notes tend to overpower the festive vibe.

Nui-Nui

  • 2 oz Gold Virgin Island Rum (Cruzan Single Barrel)

  • .5 oz Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Orange Juice

  • .25 oz Cinnamon Syrup

  • .25 oz Don’s Spices #2 (1:1 Vanilla Syrup:Allspice Dram)

  • 2 dashed Angostura Bitters

  • 4 oz Crushed Ice

    Blend all ingredients for 5 seconds and pour into a 10 oz Collins glass or Tiki mug.

  • Garnish with a thick slice of Orange peel cut long enough to sink into glass and curl over the lip.

  • Notes: Increasing the #2 Spices to .5 oz makes a silkier texture and adds more vanilla without sweetening too much.

  • Optional: Tiki Bitters

Three Dots and a Dash

  • 1.5 oz Martinique Rhum Agricole Vieux (Clement VSOP)

  • .5 oz Plantation OFTD

  • .5 oz Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Orange Juice

  • .5 oz Honey Syrup

  • .25 oz Falernum

  • .25 oz Pimento Dram

  • 1 Dash Angostura Bitters

  • 6 oz Crushed Ice

    Blend all ingredients for 5 seconds and pour contents into a 10oz Collins glass.

  • Garnish: Pineapple stick and 3 cherries speared to a cocktail pick. Pineapple frond.

Wray & Ting

  • 1.5 oz Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum

  • 4 oz Ting (Jamaican Grapefruit Soda)

    Pour both ingredients into a rocks glass or 10 oz Collins glass, fill with cubed ice, and gently stir.

  • Garnish with a lime wedge.

  • Notes: It’s optional to squeeze the lime wedge into the drink and drop it in. Both ways are acceptable depending preference.

Voodoo Grog

  • 1 oz Rhum Agricole Vieux

  • 1 oz gold Puerto Rico Rum

  • .75 oz Lime Juice

  • .75 oz Grapefruit Juice

  • .75 oz Pimento Dram

  • .25 oz Honey Syrup (1:1 Honey:Water)

  • .5 oz Passion Fruit Syrup

  • 1 Egg White

  • 1 cup Crushed Ice

    Add all ingredients to blender cup and blend on high for full 20 seconds. Pour unstrained into a Voodoo Grog tumbler, double rocks glass, or Tiki mug. Allow foam to rise then sprinkle with ground nutmeg.

  • Garnish: Mint and Pineapple Spear.

  • Note: The original recipe calls for pure clover honey diluted into lime juice before adding other ingredients. I found honey syrup to be the same in flavor and texture without being messy.

Negroni

  • 1 oz Campari

  • 1 oz Italian Sweet Vermouth (Rosso)

  • 1 oz Gin

    Stir all ingredients in a cocktail beaker with ice till glass frosts over and/or ice becomes “loose” and easy to stir. Open strain into a rocks glass and add 1 large ice cube.

  • Garnish: Lime Twist or Orange Peel

  • Note: I prefer a London Dry Gin or medium botanical. Too light on botanicals will leave something to be desired on the palate and too floral will over power the delicate balance.

Bungalow Mango Margarita (Original)

Leaving the skin on, cut a large slice of fresh mango. Place skin side down in the bottom of a shaker. Muddle till the meat is a mushy pulp. Add:

  • 1 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

  • .75 oz Triple Sec

  • .25 oz Organic Agave Nectar

  • 2 oz Tequila Blanco

    Add ice to shaker, enough to top of liquid, and shake. Pour entire contents, including mango skin, into rocks glass.

  • Garnish: Lime Wheel or Wedge

  • Notes: I was living in my one bedroom bungalow downtown Nashville when I rediscovered my love for the tropics. Basically, because I missed home. During my personal renaissance, my front porch facing the pool and decked out like a beach shack bar, I would follow up my meal of black beans and rice with a mango and my favorite cocktail - Margarita. It wouldn’t be till years later I combined these magnificent muses into one.

Port-au-Prince

  • 2oz Clairin Vaval

  • .25 oz Plantation OFTD

  • .75 oz Falernum

  • .75 Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Pineapple Juice

  • .25 oz Grenadine

  • 7 drops ‘Elemakule Tiki Bitters

    Combine in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a 10oz Collins glass or Tiki mug and add crushed ice to full.

  • Garnish: Nutmeg, mint sprig and orange zest.

Island of Martinique Cocktail

  • 1.5 oz Rhum Agricole Vieux

  • .5 oz Fresh Lime Juice

  • .5 oz Velvet Falernum

  • .25 oz Don’s Honey (Honey Syrup)

  • 2 dashed Angostura Bitters

  • 3 oz Crushed Ice

    Combine all and blend on high for 5 seconds. Strain* into coupe or cocktail glass.

    *Double Straining will get all the little ice chunks out but won’t leave the bubbly head.

  • Note: The honey syrup used in this recipe is 1 part clover honey to 1 part water. Bring to a boil while mixing. When it starts to boil remove from heat and let cool. Should keep in the refrigerator for a month or so.

Navy Grog

  • .75 oz Lime Juice

  • .75 oz Grapefruit Juice

  • .75 oz Soda Water

  • 1 oz Honey Syrup

  • 1 oz Puerto Rican Rum

  • 1 oz Demerara Rum

  • 1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum

    Shake with ice and strain into a double rocks glass or short Tiki mug.

  • Garnish: Ice Cone

    Notes: Ice cone is made by packing snow ice into a flute glass and inserting a straw through the center. Once solid carefully dump out of glass and remove straw, giving the cone a hollow core. Freeze till use.