The Bushwacker: A Virgin Island Cocktail Delight

This is a great frozen cocktail with it's origins in St. Thomas, but no one seems to know what bar was the originator.     This is a very decadent cocktail with some resemblance to a Pina Colada or a Mudslide.       There is a bar called "Sandshakers" in Pensacola, Florida that claims to be the home of the original Bushwacker, but they admit that the recipe came to them in 1975 when the then owner visited Sapphire Beach on the eastern side of St. Thomas and there he tasted the Bushwacker and brought it back to try out on his customers at "Sandshakers".

  My first introduction to the Bushwacker was at "Flip Flops" the pool bar at Sapphire Beach Resort.      The drink immediately got my attention, but it is one of those cocktails that you don't want to drink too many of because they are so rich and filling.    

     The recipe is a clean and simple one, but there are several variations of it that I have seen in my travels including some of my own.   

 Bushwacker Recipe
 Cream of Coconut
 Dark Rum
 Kahlua Coffee Liqueur
 Dark Creme de Cocoa
 Milk  or Half and Half                                                                               
All of the ingredient are put in the blender with ice and blended until smooth.     I like to put a swirl of chocolate syrup on the sides of the glass before pouring the ingredients into the glass.     I also top it with fresh ground nutmeg, an orange slice and a cherry.    These are optional, but add a nice little appearance  thing that the customers like.     You can float the Bushwacker with a dark rum like Myer's or even the Kraken, another viable option.   No matter how you  make it it's a great cocktail that you and your friends can enjoy.     ;o)    
  

The Rum Runner a Cocktail from the Keys

     The Rum Runner was created in the late 1950's at the Holiday Isle Tiki Bar in Islamorada, Florida.     The story is that the bar had an excess of blackberry and Banana Liqueurs that needed to be sold before a new shipment of liquor could be brought in, so the Rum Runner was a blend of excess liquor the bar needed to get rid of, and the result is a very popular tropical drink that was named for the real rum runners that inhabited the Keys during the prohibition era.

     The recipe calls for one ounce of light rum, dark rum, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur, orange juice, pineapple Juice, and a splash of grenadine.     All the ingredients placed is a shaker with ice, shaken and poured into a highball glass and garnished with an orange slice.     This sweet and fruity cocktail has been a best seller of the tropics and is usually found in some version or another all over the Caribbean and wherever you find a good tropical bar.    

     The next time you are traveling through Islamorada, stop by the Holiday Isle Tiki Bar and experience the original Rum Runner for yourself.     ;o)