Mr. Bali Hai
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 16% ABV ∙
Mr. Bali Hai is a tiki cocktail blending Jamaican and white rum with coffee liqueur, pineapple and lemon juice, shaken and served over crushed ice. Cold and slushy from the crushed ice, it balances bright citrus tang against a mellow, faintly bitter coffee undertone, finishing smooth rather than sweet.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Jamaican aged rum 45 mlWhite rum 30 mlCrème de Café liqueur 25 mlPineapple juice 45 mlLemon juice 30 mlSugar syrup 10 ml
- Strain into the glass or tiki mug filled with crushed ice
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge, a mint sprig and three coffee beans
Tips
- Shake hard and long enough to fully chill the mix — the two rums and coffee liqueur need real dilution to soften.
- Pre-chill the glass as instructed; a warm glass melts the crushed ice fast and thins the drink before you can garnish it.
- Squeeze the lemon juice fresh — bottled juice reads flat against the coffee liqueur and pineapple.
History
Mr. Bali Hai takes its name from a tiki statue that stood at the entrance of the Bali Hai restaurant on Shelter Island in San Diego, where the drink served as a house specialty. The restaurant itself began as a location of the Christian's Hut chain, opened in the early 1950s and inspired by the Mutiny on the Bounty film's South Pacific imagery, before struggling owner Tom Ham took it over and renamed it Bali Hai around 1954, after the song from South Pacific.
As is typical of tiki-bar house drinks, the exact recipe was never fixed and shifted over the decades. Tiki historian Jeff "Beachbum" Berry documented a version dating to the 1970s, made with coffee liqueur, which he encountered on visits to the restaurant in the 1980s and later published in his books, including Intoxica! (2002). By contrast, the Mr. Bali Hai served at the restaurant in more recent years has instead used a blackberry liqueur, reflecting how the recipe kept evolving at the source.
FAQ
What is a Bali Hai drink?
Mr. Bali Hai is a tiki cocktail built on Jamaican aged rum, shaken with a coffee liqueur note and strained over crushed ice, served in a Collins glass or tiki mug and garnished with a pineapple wedge, a mint sprig, and coffee beans, its name borrowed from the fictional island in South Pacific.
What is in a Dirty Monkey?
A Dirty Monkey is a different tiki-style drink, typically blending rum, banana, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, and it is not related to Mr. Bali Hai's coffee-and-rum build.
