Jet Pilot
A potent tiki classic featuring three rums with cinnamon, citrus, and falernum, delivering complex tropical flavors with serious aviation-themed swagger.
- 1 ozjamaican rum
- ¾ ozgold rum
- ¾ ozoverproof rum
- ½ ozfresh lime juice
- ½ ozgrapefruit juice
- ½ ozcinnamon syrup
- ½ ozfalernum
- 1 dashangostura bitters
- 6 dropsabsinthe
- Lime wheel, cinnamon stick, cherrygarnish
- 1Add all ingredients to a blender with 1 cup of crushed ice.
- 2Blend on high speed for 5 seconds - just enough to combine without over-diluting.
- 3Pour unstrained into a double old fashioned glass.
- 4Add more crushed ice to fill if needed.
- 5Garnish with a lime wheel, cinnamon stick, and cherry.
- 6Serve immediately.
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The Jet Pilot emerged around 1958 at Steve Crane's Polynesian-themed Luau Restaurant in Beverly Hills. It evolved from Don the Beachcomber's 1941 Test Pilot cocktail, with Crane's bartenders enhancing the original by adding grapefruit juice and cinnamon syrup. The result was a more complex, spicier drink that many tiki enthusiasts consider superior to its predecessor. The cocktail captures the jet age excitement of the late 1950s, when commercial aviation was transforming travel into glamorous adventure. Like its aviation-themed namesakes, the Jet Pilot packs serious power from its trio of rums while maintaining remarkable balance through careful layering of citrus, spice, and the mystical Caribbean flavors of falernum.
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