Three Dots and a Dash
ClassicMorse code for victory, mixed into a rum classic.
A layered rum drink where aged rum's warmth meets the grassy funk of agricole. Honey and falernum sweeten it gently while allspice dram threads baking-spice warmth through the citrus, finishing long and aromatic rather than sweet.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Aged Rum
- 0.5 oz Rhum Agricole
- 0.75 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- 0.5 oz Fresh Orange Juice
- 0.5 oz Honey Syrup
- 0.5 oz Falernum
- 0.25 oz Allspice Dram
- 1 dash Angostura Bitters
- Three cherries · optional garnish
- a pineapple chunk · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Add every ingredient to a shaker with crushed ice.
- 2
Shake hard until well chilled.
- 3
Pour unstrained into a tall glass and top with more crushed ice.
- 4
Garnish with three cherries and a pineapple chunk — Morse code for "V," victory.
The Story
Don the Beachcomber built the Three Dots and a Dash in the early 1940s and named it for the Morse code signal for the letter V — three short, one long — the wartime shorthand for victory. Like most of Donn Beach's recipes it was a closely guarded secret, coded on bar cards so his own bartenders couldn't reproduce it. Cocktail archaeologist Jeff "Beachbum" Berry cracked the formula decades later, and it has been a tiki cornerstone ever since.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
