Here’s how to make the Shark’s Tooth, a rare tiki cocktail that’s easy to make. It uses rum from Barbados and Jamaica, Lime Juice, Pineapple Juice, Simple Syrup and Maraschino Cherry Syrup. The drink was created by Don the Beachcomber and decoded by Beachbum Berry in his book, Beachbum Berry Remixed.
The drink appeared on the Don the Beachcomber menu and in the newspaper at least as far back as 1937. It’s a pretty straightforward recipe for a Donn drink, both in terms of the accessibility of ingredients and simplicity of the measurements.
The taste of this drink would be a little flat, especially for a tiki drink, if not for the maraschino cherry syrup. The syrup lends that much-needed third dimension to the drink. It also lends some much-needed mystery and exoticness to the drink. The cherry syrup changes the whole drink and gives it that flavor that's hard to pin-point or is slightly misleading, which of course, tiki drinks excel in.
So, even though Beachbum Berry presents the maraschino cherry syrup as optional when he reprints the recipe, I'd highly recommend that you make it mandatory. Besides, it's an ingredient you're already going to have laying around for any number of drinks that call for maraschino cherries. Often times you'll run out of cherries long before you run out of syrup, so this is the perfect place to use it.
If you want to make simple variations on this drink, you can do it easily by swapping out the cherry syrup for cherry liqueur, creme de cassis, creme de mûre, raspberry syrup, grenadine or something in that neighborhood. The fruit syrup does a lot of lifting for the exotic palate of this drink, so just making that minor change can give you some fun variations without having to retool or rebalance anything else in the drink.
The rums are pretty straightforward. Barbados and Jamaica both produce really accessible rums. It's not like using rhum agricole or clarin or something that's not sold on every shelf. These rums should be pretty easy to track down.
The mug used in the video comes from Trader Brandon and is a reference to cinema's most famous shark, Jaws. It's well suited for this drink, not only because it's shark-themed, but also because it's on the smaller side. It holds about 6 oz (180 ml). This drink is much smaller than most tiki drinks because the measurements are on the smaller end of the spectrum and it also doesn't call for the drinking vessel to be loaded with ice, so you can fit it into a smaller glass or mug.
Donn recipes almost always call for a blender and I almost always ignore that and shake them because you can often achieve the right effect without a blender. And for making one or two drinks at home, making them in a shaker is fast and it's easy to control and to clean up. I blend this one in the video, but you could easily just shake it, if you'd like. The idea is that you want pretty much all of the ice to dissolve in the drink, and because there's so little of it, that won't be too hard to accomplish in a shaker. Either way, you'll be able to quickly and easily whip up an exciting tiki classic. Okole Maluna!
#DonTheBeachcomber #Jaws #EasyTiki
Recipe:
1 oz (30 ml) Barbadian Rum
1 oz (30 ml) Jamaican Rum
0.5 oz (15 ml) Lime Juice
0.5 oz (15 ml) Pineapple Juice
0.5 oz (15 ml) Simple Syrup
1 tsp Maraschino Cherry Syrup
3 oz (90 ml) Crushed Ice
Garnish: Cherry & Pineapple Fronds
Blend all on High for 5 seconds. Pour into mug or old fashioned glass. Add garnish.
Original Don the Beachcomber Recipe:
1 oz (30 ml) Barbadian Rum
1 oz (30 ml) Jamaican Rum
0.5 oz (15 ml) Lime Juice
0.5 oz (15 ml) Pineapple Juice
0.5 oz (15 ml) Simple Syrup
1 tsp Maraschino Cherry Syrup
3 oz (90 ml) Crushed Ice
Garnish: Cherry & Pineapple Fronds
Blend all-but Jamaican rum-on High for 5 seconds. Pour into mug or old fashioned glass. Serve with sidecar of Jamaican rum. Float the rum on top before drinking.
Music:
Seaside Resort by Balance Back
via Epidemic Sound
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Featured in this Episode:
Doorly’s 8-Year Barbadian Rum
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Hamilton Jamaican Black
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Simple Syrup
• How to Make Simple Syr...
Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
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Beachbum Berry Remixed by Beachbum Berry
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Barbados Rum Cheat Sheet by Cocktail Wonk
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Bar Tools:
Orca Mug by Trader Brandon
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CB2 Suave Double Old Fashioned Glass
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Skull Cocktail Picks
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Leopold Jigger
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Fine Mesh Strainer
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Citrus Juicer (Lime)
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Breville Juicer
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Cutting Board
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Small Knife
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Lewis Bag & Ice Mallet
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