Most people probably just toss their overripe bananas. A few people turn theirs into banana bread. Me? I smash mine into cocktails. Nothing beats fresh fruit in a cocktail, and I hate to see food go to waste, but bananas aren’t an ingredient that most people would think of for cocktails. Except Tiki! Throw in some rum, some lime, some exotic spices, and you’ve got a perfect vehicle for saving those bananas from the compost bin: a Tiki Banana-Lime Smash. –Andrew
Tiki Banana Smash
1 oz Silver Rhum Agricole
1 oz Gold Demerara Rum
1/2 oz Allspice Dram
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1 Lime, Quartered
1/2 an Overripe Banana
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Muddle together the rums, banana, and lime in a cocktail shaker, then add together the rest of the ingredients and shake well with ice. Finely strain – with a sieve or tea strainer – into a highball glass or Tiki mug filled with fresh crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wheel and a bouquet of fresh mint and enjoy!
This is a very tasty, refreshing drink, with bright fresh lime and earthy, fruity banana as the first two flavors that pop out, followed by some layers of warm tropical spices: the allspice, the cinnamon, and everything going on in the Angostura bitters.
We used two rums here to give the drink that extra Tiki layer of complexity, starting with a dry, grassy silver rhum agricole from Haiti to balance out the sweetness of the banana. We paired that with a golden Demerara rum, made on the banks of the Demerara River in Guyana, to give it backbone. If you don’t have two rums handy, don’t worry that you can’t make this drink or that you need to go straight to the liquor store–this drink would be plenty good with a single rum, probably something dark and rich like the Demerara. But if you do have some rhum agricole on hand or want to give it a try, this is a great way to see how mixing rums together to create new flavor profiles works as the foundation of Tiki.
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Glassware by Liquorary
Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper