Rum Runner
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 13.4% ABV ∙
The Rum Runner is a shaken tropical cocktail of two rums, banana liqueur, blackberry liqueur, pineapple juice, lime, and grenadine, served over crushed ice. Layered and juicy with a soft, fruity sweetness up front, sharp lime cutting through before a lingering, mellow rum-warmed finish over crushed ice.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Jamaican aged rum 30 mlLight gold rum 30 mlBanana liqueur 30 mlCrème de Mûre liqueur 15 mlPineapple juice 60 mlLime juice 30 mlGrenadine syrup 10 ml
- Strain into the glass filled with crushed ice
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry
Tips
- Pre-chill the glass so the crushed ice doesn't melt into the drink before it's garnished and served.
- Shake hard and strain over freshly packed crushed ice so the ice stays firm rather than slushy in the glass.
- Measure the grenadine carefully — at 10 ml it colours and sweetens the whole shake, and a heavier pour tips the drink candied.
History
The Rum Runner is a tiki-style cocktail credited to "Tiki John" Ebert, a bartender at the Holiday Isle Tiki Bar in Islamorada, in the Florida Keys. Most popular accounts place its creation in the 1950s, though tiki historian Jeff "Beachbum" Berry dates it more specifically to 1972. By most tellings, Ebert was asked to invent a beach cocktail that would use up the bar's surplus and slow-moving stock of rum, banana liqueur, blackberry liqueur, and grenadine, and the resulting frozen blend became the bar's signature drink before spreading to other bars across Key West and the wider Keys.
The name nods to Prohibition-era rum smugglers who ran illicit Caribbean liquor into Florida through waters known as Rum Row. Some drink historians note that a cocktail called the Rum Runner had already appeared decades earlier, in Stanley Arthur's 1937 book Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em, though that earlier version was built with a single rum, pineapple and lime juice, bitters, and sugar, making it closer to a Daiquiri than to the fruit-and-liqueur-laden drink later popularized in the Keys.
FAQ
What is a Rum Runner made of?
This build combines Jamaican aged rum, light gold rum, banana liqueur, and Crème de Mûre (blackberry) liqueur with pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, and grenadine. It is shaken with ice, then strained into a hurricane glass packed with crushed ice and garnished with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry.
What is the difference between a Rum Runner and a Hurricane?
A Hurricane is typically rum, passion fruit, and lime built around a simpler two-ingredient fruit mix, while this Rum Runner adds banana liqueur, blackberry liqueur, and pineapple juice alongside two rums, giving it a sweeter, more layered fruit profile. Both are served in a hurricane glass, but the Rum Runner leans further into banana and berry notes rather than passion fruit.
How do you make the best Rum Runner?
Shake the full mix of rums, banana and blackberry liqueurs, pineapple juice, lime juice, and grenadine hard with ice, then strain into a pre-chilled hurricane glass over crushed ice. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry, and use fresh lime juice rather than bottled for a cleaner, less cloying balance.
Is a Rum Runner a strong drink?
No, it stays moderate at around 13.4% ABV, since the pineapple and lime juice dilute the two rums and banana liqueur into an easy-drinking tropical sipper rather than a spirit-forward one.
What is in a Dirty Monkey?
A Dirty Monkey is a different, blended drink built from rum, banana, cream, and chocolate liqueur rather than a variation on the Rum Runner, so its ingredients are not part of this recipe.
