Shrunken Skull Tiki Cocktail | Deadly Fun |

Delirious Imbibers Drink Of the Week

The Shrunken Skull Cocktail is this weeks home work for the Delirious Imbibers cocktail society. Mike submitted this one.  The Shrunken Skull is a full classic tiki, over the top presentation, fruit, rums, its down right fantastic deadly fun.  The history of this gem is a bit dodgy, Jeff “Beach bum” Barry attributes it to other cocktail riffs centered around the popular 1950’s cannibal theme in tiki bars.  Still others believe its from the Mai Kai bar in Ft Lauderdale. You will notice the Shrunken Skull, uses grenadine.  Actually lots of grenadine if you don’t have any make some, you will find the recipe is here Tiki Potions & Elixirs | Secret of Tiki Cocktails |

This is a very simple cocktail, so the rums will be very important.  Therefore, if you choose a poorly made rum the Shrunken Skull will shrink from its true form.  Basically you need a really good and uncomplex gold, ideally lightly aged.  In other words, you want the rum here not the booze or the funk.  Two that come to mind, Cruzan Single Barrel Select from St Croix, (If you look closely  in the picture below then you may notice I killed the bottle on this shrunken skull recipe!)  or Havana Club Anejo Clasico Rum from Puerto Rico.  While the gold rum sets this up, the second rum knocks it down!  The second rum needs to carry the cocktail, in this case you want a richer more molasses forward rum, Demerara from Guyana is the logical choice, I personally adore El Dorado 12 Year Old Demerara Rum.  ADORE IT!  Of course, the DI encourages experimentation, so try some things out.  It goes without saying we will, but those two are the ones to beat.  Enough chit chat, let’s get imbibing!

Here Are the Basic Cocktail Deets

Cocktail: Shrunken Skull
Source: Beach Bum Barry’s Grog Log

Ingredients: 1 oz Gold Rum. (Cruzan Single Barrel Select) 1 oz Demerara Rum. (El Dorado 12 Year Old Demerara Rum) 1 oz Lime Juice. 1 oz Grenadine.

Shrunken Skull Tasting Notes and Feedback

This was Mikes pick.  What surprised us was the sheer amount of grenadine in this cocktail, however it was really balanced.  Over all this is a really simple tiki in a land of very juicy complex offerings.  We all really enjoyed it.

Mike

“Shrunken Skull is a great simple tiki. So used to having various citrus juices or pineapple in them.  Nice change with the grenadine. It’s great.  I don’t think I’ve made a cocktail with this much grenadine.  I used the Liber & Co grenadine.”

If you like Mikes cook mug get it from Amazon!

Rick

“Great, way more balanced than that much grenadine should be.” Do you like my cool tiki skulls?  they are actually mason jars, get some!

Will

“Very good, reminds me of a Jack Rose.” (This is a great call out, the Shrunken Skull is pretty close to a jack Rose, which is basically this made with Apple Jack brandy.)

Join us next week and share your thoughts around the incredible tiki drink the Merciless Virgin!

Try our other Delirious Imbiber Society cocktails:

Artichoke Hold | Delirious Imbibers Drink of the Week |

Zombie | The Dangerous Tiki Cocktail |

Corn ‘n Oil | Barbados Classic Cocktail |

Print Recipe

Shrunken Skull Tiki Cocktail

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The Shrunken Skull is a full classic tiki, over the top presentation, fruit, rums, its down right fantastic fun. 

Ingredients

• 1 oz Gold Rum (Cruzan Single Barrel Select)
• 1 oz Demerara Rum (El Dorado 12 Year Demerara Rum)
• 1 oz Lime Juice
• 1 oz Grenadine

Instructions

1

Add all to a cocktail shaker.

2

Shake all with enough ice to fill the glass you are serving it in.

3

Dump pour everything into the glass.

4

Garnish (see below)

Notes

Pick an interesting glass, I have these cool skull glasses from amazon. Sprig of mint or two. Skewer with lemon wheel and a cherry. Skewer with lime and two cherries. Straw.