Rum

Don's Special Daiquiri

Name: Don's Special Daiquiri
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Coupe

Donn Beach's 1970s honey-and-passion-fruit reformulation of his 1934 Mona Daiquiri, a Hollywood riff on the Cuban daiquiri template.

rum tiki classic mid-century shaken daiquiri-variant passion-fruit

Ingredients

honey mix (0.5 oz)
fresh lime juice (0.5 oz)
passion fruit syrup (0.5 oz)
light Puerto Rican rum (0.5 oz)
gold Jamaican rum (1 oz)

The Daiquiri itself is Cuban (Jennings Cox, 1898, Daiquirí; refined by Constantino Ribalaigua at El Floridita);¹ Donn Beach's 1934 Mona Daiquiri and this 1970s reformulation are Hollywood riffs on that template, Donn stood on Cuban shoulders, he didn't invent the form. The original Mona used 30-year Myers's Mona rum; after Mona was discontinued in 1947, Beach reformulated with the gold Jamaican / light Puerto Rican blend below.²^,³

Brand recommendations. Best: Don Q Cristal or Bacardi Heritage Limited Edition for the light Puerto Rican; Appleton Estate 12 or Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve for the gold Jamaican; BG Reynolds or Small Hand Foods passion fruit syrup; raw wildflower honey. Economical: Plantation 3 Stars or Bacardi Superior; Appleton Estate 8 or Coruba; Liber & Co. passion fruit syrup; supermarket honey.

Instructions

First make honey mix by combining equal parts honey and water; chill.
In a shaker combine fresh lime juice, honey mix, passion fruit syrup, light Puerto Rican rum, and gold Jamaican rum.
Shake hard with ice cubes and strain into a chilled coupe glass.
No garnish.

Sources

Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum (2006), Daiquiri chapter, documents the Cuban origin of the Daiquiri (Jennings Cox at the Daiquirí mine, 1898) and Constantino Ribalaigua's refinement at El Floridita. ↩
Berry, Sippin' Safari (2017 ed.), Don the Beachcomber chapter, documents the 1934 Mona Daiquiri's reliance on 30-year Myers's Mona rum, the 1947 discontinuation, and Donn's reformulation as Don's Special Daiquiri with the gold-Jamaican-plus-light-Puerto-Rican blend. ↩
Beachbum Berry, "Don's Special Daiquiri." https://ultimatemaitai.com/2021/05/14/dons-special-daiquiri/ (accessed 2026-05-03), published reconstruction of Berry's Remixed / Total Tiki app spec; the source for this file's measurement bill. ↩