Rum

Coral Reef

Name: Coral Reef
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Double Old-Fashioned

Donn Beach catalog rum sour with grapefruit, lime, and a touch of grenadine, a structural cousin to the Beachcomber's Punch.

rum tiki mid-century shaken lime jamaican tropical

Ingredients

fresh lime juice (0.5 oz)
fresh grapefruit juice (1 oz)
rich Demerara syrup (0.5 oz)
grenadine (0.25 oz)
Angostura bitters (1 dash)
light Puerto Rican rum (1 oz)
aged pot-still Jamaican rum (1 oz)
mint sprig (1)
pineapple wedge (1)

The Coral Reef is attributed by Cate & Cate's Smuggler's Cove (2016) to the Kon-Tiki venue (Stephen Crane's chain).¹ Structurally it is a citrus-and-grapefruit rum sour built on a light Puerto Rican / aged Jamaican split, with a touch of grenadine to bring the "coral" tint and a dash of Angostura to anchor the palate. Sourcing for this specific spec is thin, the SC attribution gives the venue but not a complete published spec accessible in available sources; the measurement bill below is a reading consistent with Kon-Tiki-era grapefruit-rum-sour vocabulary rather than a direct lift from a primary spec.²

Brand recommendations. Best: Don Q Cristal or Probitas for the light Puerto Rican; Appleton Estate 12 or Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve for the aged Jamaican; BG Reynolds or Small Hand Foods grenadine; freshly juiced pink grapefruit. Economical: Bacardi Superior; Appleton Estate Signature or Coruba; Liber & Co. or Jack Rudy grenadine; bottled fresh-pressed grapefruit juice (avoid shelf-stable canned).

Instructions

In a shaker combine fresh lime juice, fresh grapefruit juice, rich Demerara syrup, grenadine, Angostura bitters, light Puerto Rican rum, and aged pot-still Jamaican rum.
Shake hard with crushed ice and pour unstrained into a double old-fashioned glass.
Garnish with a mint sprig and a pineapple wedge.

Sources

Cate & Cate, Smuggler's Cove (2016), Coral Reef entry, attributes the drink to the Kon-Tiki venue (Stephen Crane's chain). ↩
Beachbum Berry, https://beachbumberry.com/publication-sippin-safari.html (accessed 2026-05-03), publication source; the file's leading note flags the thinner sourcing transparently as a Donn-style reading rather than a primary spec. ↩