Rum

Doctor Funk of Tahiti

Name: Doctor Funk of Tahiti
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Highball

Trader Vic's tamer take on the Samoan medicinal limeade, Jamaican rum, absinthe whisper, grenadine.

rum tiki classic mid-century lime shaken

Ingredients

crushed ice
fresh lemon juice (0.5 oz)
lime (1)
sugar (0.25 tsp)
grenadine (0.25 oz)
Pernod (0.25 oz)
dark Jamaican rum (2.5 oz)
club soda (1 oz)
lime wheel (1)
mint sprig (1)

Trader Vic's "Doctor Funk of Tahiti" / "Dr. Funk de Tahiti" version distinguishes itself from Donn Beach's spec by adding rum and slightly taming the absinthe.¹ Dr. Bernard Funk was Robert Louis Stevenson's physician in Samoa and the namesake of the original medicinal limeade.² This file uses 0.25 tsp sugar, matching the ¼ tsp called for in Trader Vic's 1946 Book of Food and Drink.³ Adjust to taste against the lemon and fresh lime.

Brand recommendations. Best: Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican (matches the funky Wray-style profile Vic specified in 1947) or Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black; Pernod Absinthe or Vieux Pontarlier; Small Hand Foods or Liber & Co. grenadine. Economical: Myers's Original Dark or Coruba (per Vic's original era specifications); Herbsaint Original (a faithful and cheaper New Orleans-made absinthe stand-in, also in Vic's era); Rose's grenadine or homemade pomegranate grenadine.

Instructions

In a shaker filled with crushed ice combine fresh lemon juice, the juice of one fresh lime, sugar, grenadine, Pernod, and dark Jamaican rum.

Shake briefly to combine.
Pour unstrained (ice and shells) into a 12 oz chimney glass or highball.
Top with club soda.
Garnish with a lime wheel and a mint sprig.

Sources

Bergeron, Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, Revised (1972), p. 151, Doctor Funk entry, with Vic's own caveat in the head-note ("I didn't originate this drink. But it is as close as I can come to matching the original."). Doctor Funk's Son appears on p. 152 and Vic explicitly claims that one as his own creation. ↩
Berry, Sippin' Safari (2017 ed.), Doctor Funk chapter, documents the Samoan medicinal-limeade origin (Dr. Bernard Funk, R.L. Stevenson's physician) and treats Donn Beach as the originator of the cocktail-bar form circulating in the U.S. by the late 1930s; Vic's published Doctor Funk is an adaptation. (Per the project's Vic self-promotion caveat, the authorship is hedged here.) ↩
"Doctor Funk (Trader Vic)." Kindred Cocktails. https://kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/doctor-funk-trader-vic (accessed 2026-05-03), the source for this file's measurement bill, drawing on Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide (1947). ↩