New Tiki Classics: the Ancient Mariner

This drink comes from Beachbum Berry himself. During the process of trying to work out the secret ingredients in the Navy Grog, Jeff came up with this drink, which is quite reminiscent of, but subtly different from, the original.

Ancient Mariner
1 oz Demerara rum
1 oz dark Jamaican rum
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.25 oz allspice dram

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass.

The sip leads off sweetly, quickly segueing to a combination of the Jamaican and Demerara rum flavors mixed with the spice of the pimento dram. The drink finishes with the tartness of the lime juice and the slightly bitter notes of the grapefruit juice.

While not as smooth as the Navy Grog, the allspice dram adds its charms to this drink. There's a reason why the Jamaican/Demeara rum combo shows up in countless tiki drinks and the Appleton and El Dorado 12 year rums bring an incredible amount of richness to the cocktail. However, using Appleton V/X and El Dorado 5 Year would probably transform this into a more fruit-forward drink. To really pump it up, try adding a bit of the ever-useful Smith & Cross Jamaican rum. If you're interested in tweaking this drink, it would be interesting to try substituting in orgeat or cinnamon syrup to emphasize different elements of the drink.