Rum

Shark's Tooth

Name: Shark's Tooth
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Old-Fashioned

Donn Beach's two-rum cherry-laced sipper, with a side shot of Jamaican rum to add at will.

rum tiki tropical mid-century shaken cherry pineapple

Ingredients

fresh lime juice (0.5 oz)
fresh pineapple juice (0.5 oz)
rich sugar syrup (0.5 oz)
maraschino cherry syrup (1 tsp)
Cherry Heering (1 tsp)
gold Barbados rum (1 oz)
aged Jamaican rum (1 oz)
pineapple wedge (1)
maraschino cherry (1)

Beachbum Berry reconstructed this from Donn Beach's coded recipes.¹ The signature bit of theater is the second rum: a small shot of aged Jamaican is presented alongside the finished drink so the guest can pour it in themselves, layering the funky high-ester rum on top of the cherry-and-pineapple base just before the first sip.²

Spec note. Berry's Grog Log p. 75 calls for ½ oz lime, ½ oz unsweetened pineapple juice, ½ oz sugar syrup, 1 tsp maraschino-cherry-jar syrup, 1 oz Barbados rum, and 1 oz 12-year Appleton, no Cherry Heering. PUNCH's modern published spec instead uses Cherry Heering and adds Luxardo maraschino liqueur, but does not use the maraschino-cherry-jar syrup. The spec below blends both sources (cherry-jar syrup AND Cherry Heering) and should be reviewed against either single source for cleaner attribution.

Brand recommendations. Best: Mount Gay XO or Doorly's 12 for the gold Barbados, a high-funk Appleton Estate 12-Year-Old Rare Casks for the side shot, Cherry Heering (no substitute), Luxardo maraschino cherry jar syrup. Economical: Mount Gay Eclipse or Doorly's 5 for the Barbados, Appleton Estate 8-Year-Old Reserve for the side shot, Cherry Heering remains canonical, Filthy Black Cherry jar syrup for the maraschino syrup.

Instructions

Add fresh lime juice, fresh pineapple juice, rich sugar syrup (2:1), maraschino cherry syrup, Cherry Heering, and gold Barbados rum to a cocktail shaker with a small amount of crushed ice.
Shake briefly and strain into a small old fashioned glass or wine glass.
Serve with aged Jamaican rum on the side in a shot glass, to be poured in by the drinker.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry.

Sources

Berry, Beachbum Berry's Grog Log (1998), Shark's Tooth entry (p. 75), and Beachbum Berry Remixed (2010), Shark's Tooth entry, Berry's reconstruction of the Donn Beach 1937 Don the Beachcomber spec from the coded recipe books. ↩
"Shark's Tooth." PUNCH. https://punchdrink.com/recipes/sharks-tooth/ (accessed 2026-05-03), published spec source confirming the side-shot of aged Jamaican rum (Appleton 12 or Plantation Jamaica) presented for the guest to pour over the base just before drinking. ↩