056 – Beachcomber

A Sydney Covid ‘lock-down’ exploration of the ‘Beachcomber’ cocktail.

Lock-down has inspired me to explore this famous pre-1947 cocktail by Trader Vic.

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ #Locktail ‘Beachcomber’ in its original blended ‘frappé’ style.

METHOD – Add 60ml White Rum. 20ml Cointreau, 20ml Lime Juice, 5ml Luxardo Maraschino, 5ml of home-made simple syrup (use 2-parts sugar to 1-part water) and around 90ml (90gm) of ice into a blender. Blend until a frappé (for an even better result, put the Rum and Cointreau in the freeze beforehand). Poor into a Martini glass or alternatively a Coupe or Cocktail glass. Option to garnish with a lime slice and salted glass rim.

HISTORICAL NOTES – Turning up in Victor Jules Bergeron (1902–1984) book, the 1947 edition of ‘Trader Vic’s Bar-tenders Guide’, as a blended cocktail as detailed under ‘The Official Mix’ section below. We explored more about Trader Vic under his more famous cocktails the ‘Mai Tai’ and the ‘Mexican El Diablo’. Trader Vic is also credited with a number of other famous cocktails including the ‘Fog Cutter’, ‘Scorpion Bowl’, and ‘Eastern Sour’ among others.

One of Trader Vic’s contemporaries and competitors was Donn Beach, creator of ‘Don the Beachcomber’ restaurant in California a few years before Trader Vic joined the ‘Tiki Culture’ emergence. Donn Beach was the creator of the famous ‘Zombie’ cocktail and also, like Trader Vic, a number of others and is seen as the ‘Father or Tiki Culture’. It is probably not by accident the Trader Vic named a cocktail ‘Beachcomber’, perhaps as brand confusion, a statement, or turf-war, it was unlikely to have been in honour of ‘Don the Beachcomber’.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Beachcomber’ does not appear on any of the International Bartender Association’s (IBA) official lists. The official recipe is really the original in Victor Jules Bergeron (Trader Vic)’s 1947 ‘Bartender’s Guide’, it called for 60ml White Rum, 22.5ml Cointreau, 22.5ml fresh lime juice, 7.5ml Maraschino and 7.5ml simple syrup, blended with half-a-cup (125ml) of ice until smooth and poured into a chilled coupe glass.

TASTING NOTES – Reminiscent of a ‘Frozen Margarita’, with the Tequila swapped out for Rum and hints of Maraschino. It is a pleasant warm-weather drink, especially if you prefer Rum to Tequila. The issue, if there is one, with the drink is that the Margarita just suits the the frozen lime and Cointreau frappé better.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – No significant changes, this is an exploration of how Trader Vic made the cocktail in the 1940’s. The only significant change is slightly less ice, proportional to the other ingredients, using chilled spirits and other ingredients to create the effect without the additional dilution of a further 45ml of ice. A Lock-down rediscovery of a relatively unseen cocktail on contemporary lists.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is sixth cocktail from the 1941-1950 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. Full list in the index.