Featured Recipe: Siboney (Easy Tiki)

Aloha fellow tiki enthusiasts!  John here, finally getting back to the swing of things and sharing some of our favorite drink recipes from our week away in Palm Springs!

We dabbled with over 20 recipes on our trip, and the Siboney from Easy Tiki was one our favorites.  It’s relatively simple to make, and contains heavy flavors of pineapple, passion fruit, and lime.  This was especially refreshing in the 115-degree weather we were having on our trip.

The following feature will provide the history of the drink, necessary ingredients, and steps for making it at home.  Cheers!

Siboney - Brief History:

The Siboney first appeared in Rum Cookery & Drinkery, published by Trader Vic’s in 1974.  Easy Tiki features an adaptation of the drink created by Antonio Martinez from Bootlegger Tiki in Palm Springs (one of the reasons we chose this recipe for our trip – see our guide to Palm Springs here).

This adaptation of the Siboney is a bit more rum-forward than the original recipe and amplifies the pineapple flavors through the use of Plantation Stiggins’ Fancy pineapple rum.

Recipe/ Instructions:

Glassware:  Collins or Double Old Fashioned (but the Easy Tiki recipe calls for a coupe glass)

Ingredients:

• ¾ oz fresh lime juice
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• ½ oz passion fruit syrup (we used Torani)
• ½ oz Demerara syrup (see below for Demerara syrup recipe)
• 1½ oz aged Jamaican rum (we used Smith & Cross)
• ½ oz Plantation Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum

Demerara syrup recipe (if needed):

1. 2 cups water, 1 cup Demerara sugar, 3 cups granulated sugar
2. Bring water to boil in a saucepan over high heat.
3. Add Demerara sugar and stir with whisk until dissolved (about 1 minute)
4. Add granulated sugar and stir with whisk until dissolved (about 1 minute)
5. Remove from heat and let cool – store in a sealed contain in the refrigerator for up to several weeks

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Cocktail Steps:
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake over ice for 10 seconds.  Strain into a glass over crushed ice and garnish.

Garnish:
Garnish with a half-lime “island” and cocktail umbrella.
 
Wayward Spirits Rating:
Overall Score – 5

The Siboney is a delicious and well-rounded cocktail.  Nice and boozy, while bursting with tropical flavors of pineapple and passion fruit.  It is especially refreshing for hot days, and very easy to make.

Try adding El Guapo Polynesian Kiss bitters to give it a small bit of “spice” that is lacking.  Otherwise, this drink is close to perfect as-is.  Cheers!