Name: Ancient Mariner
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Aged rum (6-10yr); 30 ml Dark/black rum; 7.5 ml Pimento dram; 22.5 ml Lime juice; 15 ml Pink grapefruit juice; 15 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Ancient Mariner
Jump to

Photographed in a Libbey DOF 14.25oz

Ingredients:
1 oz	Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years
1 oz	Dark/black/blackstrap rum
¹⁄₄ oz	St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₂ oz	Pink grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₂ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Double old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of scored lime wedge and mint sprigs.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into glass filled with crushed ice.
Garnish with scored lime wedge and mint sprigs bouquet.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Characterful and well-aged rums with a blend of citrus and all-important pimento dram. You may swap rums but there's no substitute for the pimento dram.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 1994 by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, Los Angeles, USA, which featured in his 1998 book Grog Log and subsequent 2010 Beachbum Berry Remixed. Jeff's original recipe calls for 30ml Demerara rum and 30ml dark Jamaican rum. He also specifies white grapefruit juice.

Jeff says he created The Ancient Mariner as an early "attempt to re-create the flavour of our favourite Trader Vic's drink, Vic's version of the Navy Grog – which, in turn, used Don The Beachcomber's even earlier version as a starting point..." "We called it the Ancient Mariner because by the time we finished with it, that's how we felt."

More cocktails by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry

Nutrition:

One serving of Ancient Mariner contains 242 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
15.74% alc./vol. (15.74° proof)
18.9 grams of pure alcohol

More Summer cocktails
More Tiki/tropical cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

Join the discussion

Showing 10 of 11 comments for Ancient Mariner.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment

Robert Spain

25th April at 18:24

Very good. I used Appleton Signature, El Dorado 5, and homemade Pimento Dram. Because of that I had to up the latter a tad, and enjoyed it a lot.

John CARR

15th February at 12:50

Wonderful balance of the rums, citrus and pimento. I’m not huge a rum drinker but this is the sort of gear I will turn out for! You know it’s good when you’re only part way through and already thinking about making another one!

John CARR

15th February at 14:19

I bumped up the pimento to 10ml on second iteration, perhaps making up for slightly substandard grapefruit. Appleton 8 and plantation original worked great.

Juan Simon

29th September 2024 at 02:02

Good classic Tiki drink! I used Coruba + El Dorado 12 and The Bitter Truth. In the future want to try with Hamilton Pimento Dram or St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram Liquer to see if there is any difference.

Frederic D.

26th July 2024 at 21:55

I will echo the previous comments, as I found the drink gained some clarity after I added more turbinado simple syrup about 1/3 of the way through. The additional sweetness really brought out the Allspice Dram and grapefruit flavors for me, which previously had been buried under the lime/dark rum combination. I found the version with 1/2 syrup to be better balanced, and quite delicious.

Simon Difford

28th July 2024 at 19:26

Agreed! I've upped the sugar syrup to 15ml (½oz). Many thanks for the feedback.

Annechien

17th May 2024 at 20:38

First thought this was a weird combination of flavours. But I’m now halfway through the cocktail and it’s really growing on me. I did add a bit more sugar syrup for balance. Maybe my lime/grapefruit is just not as sweet. I really like the bitter hint of grapefruit in the background.

Shogi Redbrook

4th May 2024 at 19:22

I'm not the biggest drinker of blackstrap rum, but this is a great way to bring its flavours out in less of a cloying way. Really enjoyed it.

Hunter Newsome

12th August 2023 at 23:24

The grapefruit juice and pimento dram are really working together to make this stand out. I made this with an extra 1/4 shot of syrup cause that seems to be a common recipe online, and it was very balanced, so I suppose this recipe is slightly on the drier side.