Demerera Dry Float
One of the most common fruit juices used in tiki cocktails is pineapple. This has always been a problem for me because I’m allergic to pineapple. So, I’ve always either tried to find a drink without pineapple in it or I’ve asked that they substitute passion fruit. Luckily today’s drink doesn’t have pineapple in it. It does have passion fruit though and plenty of rum.
I love passion fruit juice. Since I’ve been to Hawaii and Mexico several times, I’ve actually enjoyed the juice in several cocktails. Until this drink though, I’d never tasted the fruit fresh out of its shell. It was amazing! The fruit is tart and sweet all at the same time. It’s totally tropical and absolutely wonderful, especially if you can’t eat pineapple. There’s one small problem though: there’s not much juice. I cracked open half a dozen of those little purple fruits and only got an ounce of juice in total. Luckily an ounce was all I needed to make the Float.
While I got the recipe out of the awesome new tiki book from Smuggler’s Cove, neither I nor Smuggler’s Cove came up with the recipe. That honor goes to Don the Beachcomber who opened up his bar shortly after Prohibition ended. He supposedly created this cocktail in 1941 and it’s definitely stood the test of time.
What makes this cocktail special, isn’t just the passion fruit juice, it’s the fact that it’s “served with a side of danger”. Yes, my curiosity was piqued. What in the world was a “side of danger”? Turns out it’s a super high proof rum. The original recipe called for 151 Demerara Rum which as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is rum that’s 151 proof. While that shot is still served with the drink, it’s up to you whether you want to sip (or shoot) the shot first, or float it on top of the fully made cocktail. I chose to float it on top. (I mean, if a cocktail is called a float, I might as well do what it says.) It definitely makes for a stronger cocktail, but the good news is it doesn’t take away anything. In fact, I’d say it only enhances the drink. And don’t worry if you can’t fine Demerera rum, any good, strong, dark rum will work for this cocktail.
So, if you really like rum (especially strong rum) and you want tropical but are over pineapple, the Demerera Dry Float is the tiki drink for you. I loved it and can’t wait to make it again, only this time I’m going to get twice as many passion fruits.
Demerera Dry Float
Ingredients:
- 3/4 oz. high proof rum
- 2 oz. lime juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 oz. passion fruit syrup (mixture of 1:1 passion fruit juice and simple syrup)
- 1/4 oz. simple syrup
- 1/4 oz. Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
- 1-1/2 oz. blended aged rum
Directions:
- Pour the high proof rum into a shot glass and set aside.
- Add the remaining ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake vigorously until chilled. Open pour into a double old fashioned glass and serve with the shot. (At this point it’s up to the drinker if he/she wants to shoot the shot or float it on top of the cocktail.)
