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Cocktail History
The Siboney is a vintage tiki cocktail that was created by Victor Bergeron at his bar Trader Vic’s in San Francisco, California. The recipe first appeared in Victor’s book Rum Cookery & Drinkery in 1974, and it was made using a lot more fruit juice than rum, but this modernized variation, from Antonio Martinez of Bootlegger Tiki in Palm Springs, California, balances out the fruitiness with more rum spice and rich Demerara syrup.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Dark Rum: This is a type of rum made with sugarcane, spices, and water that has been barrel aged for an extended period of time. We used Ron Cihuatán 8 Year Indigo Rum because it has sweet notes of vanilla, dark chocolate, coffee, hazelnut, and artisanal dulce de leche. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Caleño Non-Alcoholic Dark & Spicy Tropical Spirit in place of the rum.
Pineapple Rum: This is a type of rum made with pineapple, molasses or sugar cane juice, and alcohol. We used Plantation Stiggin’s Fancy Pineapple Rum because it has a rich rum taste with notes of tropical fruits, citrus, and cloves. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Caleño Non-Alcoholic Dark & Spicy Tropical Spirit in place of the pineapple rum.
Pineapple Juice: This is the liquid juice of a pineapple. We used fresh pineapple juice.
Lime Juice: This is the liquid juice of a lime. We used freshly squeezed lime juice.
Passion Fruit Syrup: This is a sweetener made with passion fruit juice, cane sugar, gum Arabic powder, and benzoic acid. We used Liber & Co. Tropical Passion Fruit Syrup for its tangy and lush taste.
Rich Demerara Syrup: This is a sweetener made with Demerara sugar and water. We made ours at home using Alex’s stovetop recipe.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Boston Shaker: This is used to shake ingredients. We used the Boston shaker from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Hawthorne Strainer: This is used to strain out ice and solid ingredients after the cocktail is shaken. We used the A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer.
Chef’s Knife: This is used to cut larger fruits and vegetables into slices for the garnish. We used the OXO Good Grips 8-Inch Chef’s Knife.
Pineapple Corer: This is used to remove the core of the pineapple before it’s juiced. We used the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Pineapple Corer.
Paring Knife: This is used to cut ingredients. We used the OXO Good Grips 3.5 Inch Paring Knife.
Juicer: This is used to juice citrus, fruits, and vegetables. We used the ALEEHAI Manual Fruit Juicer for the citrus and the Hamilton Beach Large Juicer for the pineapple.
Tasting Notes
The Siboney features sweetened pineapple, passionfruit, and funky rum aromas and has a sweet pineapple-forward taste that evolves into a combination of rum and passionfruit and leaves some extra rum notes on the finish.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: We both thought this fairly inoffensive cocktail was just that—pleasing to just about any palate but lacking the flair that is typical of tiki’s usual spices and exotic flavors. That said, the Siboney would do well for beginners who want a gateway to the finer things about rum.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐
“This recipe had a lot of potential but ended up falling a bit flat on my palate mostly because it featured too much one-note sweetness and not enough variety. The combination of pineapple and passion fruit is fantastic obviously, but when combined with lime and rum, it just doesn’t leave much to the imagination; the fact that the creator swapped out some passion fruit for some Demerara probably improved the specifications a bit, I’ll admit, but it still ended up being overly sweet for me, though it may fit the bill for a less seasoned drinker who prefers the more sugary end of the spectrum.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐
“In taste alone, this is a pretty good drink, but it’s not complex at all, in my opinion. That’s why I ended up rating it a little lower. I’d mostly just call this a sweet-tart pineapple and passion fruit drink that offers a hint of rum. There are other pineapple tiki cocktails I like quite a bit more than this one, so I’ll be sticking to those, but this one is certainly tasty. And this updated version of the Siboney is definitely an improvement on Trader Vic’s original from what we could tell. The original was even less complex.”
Recipe
This cocktail recipe was adapted from Easy Tiki: A Modern Revival with 60 Recipes by Chloe Frechette.
Add dark rum, pineapple rum, pineapple juice, lime juice, passion fruit syrup, rich Demerara syrup, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into a tiki or highball glass.
Ingredients
Directions
Add dark rum, pineapple rum, pineapple juice, lime juice, passion fruit syrup, rich Demerara syrup, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into a tiki or highball glass.
Make It a Mocktail: Use Caleño Non-Alcoholic Dark & Spicy Tropical Spirit in place of the rum to try a booze-free version of this drink.
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More Tiki Cocktails
If you like this tiki-inspired cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
Junior Colada: A pineapple rum cocktail made with coconut liqueur, pineapple juice, lime juice, coconut soda, and pineapple fronds
Caribe Daiquiri: A rum cocktail made with pineapple juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and a lime slice
Wishful Thinking: A sloe gin and rhum agricole cocktail made with ginger syrup, lime juice, absinthe, Angostura aromatic bitters, and a mint sprig
Tia Mia: A mezcal and rum cocktail made with lime juice, orange curaçao, orgeat syrup, a lime wheel, a mint sprig, and an orchid blossom
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