Rum

Aku-Aku Lapu

Name: Aku-Aku Lapu
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Tiki Barrel Mug

A three-rum Las Vegas tiki blender drink from the Stardust Aku-Aku, falernum, four citrus juices, and Lemon Hart 151.

rum tiki tropical mid-century polynesian-pop blended falernum group-serve

Ingredients

fresh lemon juice (1 oz)
fresh pineapple juice (1 oz)
fresh grapefruit juice (1 oz)
falernum (1 oz)
gold Puerto Rican rum (1 oz)
dark Jamaican rum (1 oz)
151-proof Demerara rum (1 oz)
crushed ice (2 cup)
parasol (1)
pineapple frond (1)

The Aku-Aku at the Stardust opened in January 1960 as one of the largest Polynesian-Pop showrooms in Las Vegas, with towering A-frame moai facades, custom carved barrel mugs, and a cocktail menu often associated with Donn Beach in tiki-revival lore (the consultation claim is widely repeated but not confirmed in primary documentation).¹ The Aku-Aku Lapu (distinct from the Stardust's lighter peach-and-mint Aku-Aku house drink, #37, and from Stephen Crane's communal Lapu Lapu, #65) is a triple-rum heavyweight: 1 oz each of gold Puerto Rican, dark Jamaican, and 151-proof Demerara, balanced by 1 oz each of lemon, pineapple, and grapefruit juice plus an ounce of falernum to tie the citrus battery to the rum.² Berry's Remixed reconstruction notes the original menu listed it as a "double" sized for the Stardust's gambler audience but the proportions hold up at single-serve in a tiki barrel mug.³

Brand recommendations. Best: Hamilton 86 Demerara or El Dorado 8 for the gold rum; Smith & Cross or Hamilton Pot Still Black for the dark Jamaican; Hamilton 151 or Lemon Hart 151 for the Demerara overproof; B.G. Reynolds or John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum. Economical: Bacardi 8 or Don Q Añejo for the gold rum; Appleton Estate Signature or Coruba for the dark Jamaican; Cruzan 151; Velvet Falernum.

Instructions

In a blender combine fresh lemon juice, fresh pineapple juice, fresh grapefruit juice, falernum, gold Puerto Rican rum, dark Jamaican rum, and 151-proof Demerara rum.
Add crushed ice and flash-blend on high for .
Pour unstrained into a tiki barrel mug or split between two old-fashioned glasses.
Garnish with a paper parasol and a pineapple frond.

Sources

"Stardust Resort and Casino." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_Resort_and_Casino (accessed 2026-05-03), confirms Aku-Aku opened on the Stardust property in January 1960 with a moai-marked entrance and tiki bar; closed in 1980. ↩
Berry, Beachbum Berry Remixed (2010), Aku-Aku Stardust entries, published the canonical reconstruction of the triple-rum-plus-three-juice spec from the original Aku-Aku menu material. ↩
Beachbum Berry / Mouthful of Tiki, "Aku-Aku Lapu." https://mouthfuloftiki.tumblr.com/post/12183835237/aku-aku-lapu (accessed 2026-05-03; URL currently returns 403), the previously published web version of Berry's Remixed reconstruction; this file's measurement bill follows Berry's Remixed spec rather than this URL. Distinguishes the Aku-Aku Lapu from corpus #37 (Aku-Aku house drink, peach-and-mint) and corpus #65 (Crane Lapu Lapu, communal serve). ↩