puka punch

1 oz Light Puerto Rican Rum (Don Q Gold)
1 oz Gold Virgin Island Rum (Cruzan 2 Year Dark)
3/4 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Coruba)
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Passion Fruit Syrup (BG Reynolds)
3/4 oz Honey Syrup
1/4 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Blend with 8 oz crushed ice and pour into a large glass (shake with ice and strain into a large glass filled with crushed ice). Float 3/4 oz Lemonhart 151 Rum, and garnish with a cherry speared into a pineapple wedge and orange slice (sub lime peel "grass" for the pineapple).

Three Saturdays ago, I decided to participate in the Puka Punch Challenge. These regular Instagram-driven Tikifests focus on a single drink each time chosen by California bartender El Nova. The Puka Punch was one that I had skipped over in Beachbum Berry's Remixed because it is quite the boozebomb. Luckily, I had assistance from my wife to split the damage, and it definitely felt like a Tiki Time Out after a busy Saturday night shift was in order.
When I made this recipe created at the Tiki-Ti in Los Angeles cerca 1961, the garnishes contributed orange and cherry aromas to the dark caramel rum notes from the Lemonhart float. The garnish aromas did prepare the mouth for the fruity sip stemming from the lime, orange, and passion fruit flavors. Next, the medley of rum notes began the swallow that ended with honey and spice on the finish. Towards the end, the dark overproof Guyana rum began to dominate the profile as a solid punctuation mark to the Puka Punch.