Three Dots and a Dash Cocktail Recipe
Aged rum, honey, allspice and citrus, garnished with three cherries and a pineapple wedge — Morse code for V, as in victory.
- Category: New Era Drinks
- Glass: Hurricane glass
- ABV: 18%
- Difficulty: Hard
- Prep time: ~6 min
Ingredients
- Aged rum45 ml (1.5 oz)
- Dark rum22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Fresh lime juice22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Fresh orange juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Honey syrup15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Allspice dram10 ml (0.3 oz)
- Angostura bitters1 dash
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a shaker with crushed ice.
- Shake briefly to combine and chill.
- Pour unstrained into a tall glass and top with crushed ice.
- Garnish with three cherries in a row and one pineapple wedge.
Garnish
Three cherries and a pineapple wedge
What it tastes like
It smells of lemon and lime peel, there is pineapple and passion fruit in it, there is a spiced warmth to it and it is layered, giving you something different each sip.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
The curved, tall hurricane glass. Tiki and tropical drinks often run past 200 ml, and this is the shape that holds that volume along with the ice.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Aged rum
- Aged rum. The barrel gives it a tannin and oak character close to whiskey's; it is smooth enough to drink neat, which is why the drinks built on it keep the ingredient list short.
- Dark rum
- Barrel-aged dark rum, with molasses, vanilla and treacle in it. Swap in white rum and the drink loses its body, so reach for gold rum instead.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Fresh orange juice
- Fresh orange juice. Carton juice is sugar-adjusted, so it sweetens the drink and drops its acidity; when you squeeze your own, pull back a little on the syrup.
- Honey syrup
- Three parts honey to one part warm water. Neat honey seizes up in a cold drink, which is why it gets loosened first. Heavier and more aromatic than simple syrup.
- Angostura bitters
- The salt of the cocktail world. Measured in dashes, not millilitres: a few of them cut the sweetness and add spice. One bottle lasts years.
The Story
Don the Beachcomber again, from 1940s wartime Hollywood. The garnish is the recipe: the drink is named after how it is decorated.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Three Dots and a Dash mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a hurricane glass.
- How strong is a Three Dots and a Dash?
- Roughly 18% ABV as served — in fortified-wine territory — plan it as a single drink.
- Can a Three Dots and a Dash be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Three Dots and a Dash hard to make?
- Hard. Either something has to be prepared in advance or a step needs timing; halving the measures on the first attempt is sensible.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.