Tiki & TropicalFall

Shrunken Skull

Mariano Licudine, the Mai-Kai, Fort Lauderdale, 1956

The Shrunken Skull is dark rum, gold rum, lime and grenadine, shaken and served in a tiki mug over crushed ice. Blood red and strong, it is simple, bold and a little spooky. Halloween weekend's drink.

  • GlassTiki mug
  • MethodShaken
  • Ingredients4
Shrunken Skull

Ingredients

Making a batch?
Servings
Lime wheel and a mint sprigGarnish
Total volume—

Directions

  1. Shake all ingredients with ice.
  2. Strain into a tiki mug packed with crushed ice.
  3. Top with more crushed ice.

ToolsJiggerShakerHawthorne strainerTiki mug

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History

The Shrunken Skull has been on the menu at the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale since the restaurant opened in 1956. Its head bartender, Mariano Licudine, came from Don the Beachcomber, and the drink descends from Donn Beach's Skull & Bones. The simple formula of two rums, lime and grenadine made it a tiki classic.

Making a batch? Scale it for a crowd, add dilution water, and see how many bottles to buy.
Quick sizes
How are you making it? ⓘ Batching includes dilution water. Pre-batched cocktails need added water to replace the melt from stirring or shaking. We use Jeffrey Morgenthaler's standard: 18% for spirit-forward drinks, 25% for shaken.

What you'll need to buy

Based on 750ml bottles (25.4 oz), rounded up.

Bottle math, generally

750ml bottle25.4 oz
2 oz pours per bottle12 cocktails
1.5 oz pours per bottle16 cocktails
1 oz =29.6 ml
This recipe per 750ml of spirit—

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