To Serve Man
Rum

Demerara Dry Float

Glass
Double Old-Fashioned

Donn Beach's tart, dry, passion-fruit-driven Demerara sour, finished with a high-proof rum float, the canonical Demerara Float.

rum tiki classic mid-century shaken sour passion-fruit demerara
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Ingredients

  • fresh lime juice (2.5 oz)
  • fresh lemon juice (1 tsp)
  • sugar syrup (0.25 oz)
  • passion fruit syrup (1.5 oz)
  • maraschino liqueur (0.25 oz)
  • Demerara rum (1 oz)
  • 151 proof Demerara rum (0.25 oz)
  • mint sprig (1)

Instructions

  1. In a shaker combine fresh lime juice, fresh lemon juice, sugar syrup, passion fruit syrup, maraschino liqueur, and Demerara rum.
  2. Shake with ice cubes, then strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice.
  3. Carefully float 151 proof Demerara rum on top; do not stir.
  4. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Sources

  1. Berry, Intoxica! (2002), Demerara Dry Float entry, Berry's reconstruction from Donn Beach-era documentation, naming the drink and its passion-fruit / 151-float architecture. ↩
  2. Atomic Grog (Hurricane Hayward), "Lost Cocktails of the Mai-Kai: The Classic Demerara Float Rises Again." https://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/2012/09/07/lost-cocktails-of-the-mai-kai-the-classic-demerara-float-rises-again/ (accessed 2026-05-03), documents the Demerara Float / Demerara Dry Float dual naming and the c. 1941 dating. ↩