Polynesian Pearl Diver
Hubs and I love TCM. As vintage fans, we love tuning into those classic movies from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Sure, the stories are always quaint and the guy always gets the girl, but there’s just something about those black & white pictures with the beautiful clothes and stories so ridiculous there’s no way they’d ever get made today. But not all the films are screwball comedies. Some of our favorites can be found on Saturday night, off the beaten path over on Noir Alley.
This is where one goes for something a little darker. A film where there’s rarely a happy ending and where someone almost always ends up dead. It’s where you can find the femme fatales with their big, bright eyes hiding darker motives and where alcohol usually flows with unfortunate results. It was in one of these movies that I discovered today’s classic tiki cocktail, the Polynesian Pearl Diver. Anne Baxter plays a telephone operator who kills her date in self defense, but can’t remember the details because she has one too many Polynesian Pearl Divers during her date.
The movie is The Blue Gardenia, and it’s titled as such because that’s the name of the tiki bar where everything goes wrong. As soon as the film was over, I looked up the classic cocktail. I was thrilled to discover that while the drink is not often found on today’s tiki menus, (because of Don’s Gardenia mix) the recipe still exists. Better yet, it’s one of the few tropical drinks that doesn’t use pineapple, which means I can drink it! (Yes, I’m allergic to pineapple which takes a lot of the tiki cocktails off the table for me.) It’s fitting that this drink is in a film from 1953 since the cocktail comes from famed tiki man, Donn the Beachcomber. Though there’s no specific date when this drink was created, what makes this one less popular than some of his others is the Gardenia mix.
The Gardenia Mix is a concoction made up of butter, honey, cinnamon and allspice. It’s a thick, rich, butter bomb that adds a smooth, velvety texture to the drink. When mixed with orange, lime and three different kinds of rum (yes, three, remember it’s a tiki drink) you get a wonderful cocktail that goes down so easy, I can understand why Baxter’s character got sloshed off them. I wanted a second after I finished the first, but figured I should wait and see how it hit me. While it didn’t put me down for the count, I could definitely feel it.
Since Tiki Oasis is happening in San Diego this weekend, it seemed fitting to serve up this cocktail in honor of the festivities. So, while I won’t be in attendance, I’ll definitely be imbibing tropical drinks, there in spirit. But unlike our doomed heroine in The Blue Gardenia, I think I’ll be enjoying just one… okay, maybe two.
Ingredients
- Gardenia Mix
- 1 ounce unsalted butter
- 1 ounce honey
- 1 teaspoon simple syrup
- A dash cinnamon
- 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla
- 1/2 a teaspoon of allspice dram
- Polynesian Pearl Diver
- 1-1/2 ounces Puerto Rican rum
- 1/2 ounce Demerera rum
- 1/2 ounce Jamaican rum
- 1 barspoon Velvet Falernum
- 1 ounce orange juice
- 3/4 ounce lime juice
- 3/4 ounce gardenia mix
- 1/2 cup crushed ice
Instructions
- Make the Gardenia Mix
- Mix together all ingredients. Place in a bottle and refrigerate for up to a week.
- Make the Polynesian Pearl Diver
- Blend all ingredients in blender for about 20 seconds. Pour into a tiki mug. Garnish with a pineapple frond or banana leaf and a sprig of mint and serve.
