Dr. Funk was Robert Lewis Stevenson's persona physician. The cocktail, which includes a spicy herbal liqueur, herbsaint, is supposed to cure people of laziness or lack of aspiring to greatness. Trader Vick attributed the recipe to a fictional Dr. Fong, who he credited for all the Trader Vic's restaurant's recipes. Whatever the ailment or the doctor, Dr. Funk is still a great drink. Spicy and fizzy and so tropical.
Smuggler's Cove has very particular ingredients for recipes, so I've included some extra preparation instructions for this one.
First, you'll need demerara syrup, which you can see on my recipe for falernum. Then you will need an unaged black pot still rum. I could only find aged pot still rum, but it wasn't black. So I added 1/4 oz. of black strap molasses to the syrup to achieve the right color and molasses flavor.
The important thing is to use a pot still rum with a funky character. I used Pusser's Navy Rum, because it is really interesting and balances the herbsaint.
For herbsaint, an absinthe substitute made in America, I used French Absinte Refined, which is also an absinthe substitute. Finally, I'm ready to do the recipe.
- 2 1/4 oz. unaged pot still black rum (Goslings is acceptable, but add a little pot still Pusser's for character.)
- 1/2 oz. lemon juice
- 1/2 oz. lime juice
- 1/2 oz. demerara syrup
- 1/4 oz. herbsaint (Absinthe Refined used)
- 1/4 oz. grenadine
- 1 oz. club soda
According to Jeff Beachbum Berry, Don the Beachcomber originated the drink in the 1940s, and others like Trader Vic changed the name and added it to their menus.Berry’s book, Sippin’ Safari, has a ton of great info and recipes!
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