colonial grog

1/2 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (1 oz Coruba)
1/2 oz Gold Virgin Island Rum (1 oz Privateer New England Reserve)
1/2 oz Lime Juice (1 oz)
1/2 oz Orange Juice (1 oz)
1/4 oz Maple Syrup (1/2 oz Deer Meadow Farm)
1/8 tsp Allspice Dram (1/4 tsp Hamilton's)
1 dash Angostura Bitters (2 dash)
1/2 oz Soda Water (1 oz)

Blend with 3 oz crushed ice for 5 seconds and fine strain into a glass with a thin ice shell (shake all but the soda water, and strain into an old fashioned glass with ice and the soda water). When I made was the Samoan Grog from the Mai-Kai, I learned that it was perhaps inspired by Don the Beachcomber's Colonial Grog. The circa 1944 Colonial Grog details were uncovered by Jeff Beachbum Berry in the notebooks of Mariano Licudine who worked for Don between 1939 and 1956. Berry published the recipe in his Potions of the Caribbean book and described it as a Tiki-fied Planter's Punch. Don's bartenders were some of the few using maple in tropical drinks before the cocktail revival with the most famous recipe being the Volcano Bowl from 1970 that showcased how well maple works with grapefruit (which inspired my Vagalume Bowl). Although I skipped the ice shell built into the inner circumference of the glass and doubled up the volumes, I kept true to the recipe save for using a local amber rum instead of a Caribbean one. In the glass, the Colonial Grog displayed dark rum, maple, and lime aromas. Next, maple, orange, and lime notes with a hint of carbonation on the sip unwound into dark rum, allspice, and lime flavors on the swallow.