Big Bamboo is a 1960 original cocktail from the Fort Lauderdale Mai Kai restaurant.
Big Bamboo Tiki Drink
By Bill Lau | Potable Pastime
Greetings Tiki fans! This is one I tried recently when we had extra white grapefruit juice after making a Volcano Bowl.
Used to be you could find white grapefruit easily. These days it seems the pink and red varieties dominate the market. So when I can get the white ones, I juice up a bunch for making Tiki drinks. You can sub the other kind, but obviously it affects the color, and the flavors vary a bit as well.
The fruit juices in this play nicely with the passion fruit syrup and rums.
I increased the amounts 50% from the source recipe (mainly because I wanted a bigger drink, eh?). The original called for Cuban rum, but I specify Puerto Rican since we can’t get Cuban products here in the States. If you have access, then I suggest going that route.
My tasting notes include an idea to try a variation using Hawaiian agricole-style rum instead of the Jamaican. I thought the grassy notes in the agricole would shine with the fruit flavors. Let me know if you try it that way in the comments!
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Big Bamboo
Ingredients
⦁ 3/4 ounce fresh white grapefruit juice
⦁ 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
⦁ 3/4 ounce fresh orange juice
⦁ 3/4 ounce passion fruit syrup
⦁ 3/4 ounce Jamaican dark rum (I used Appleton Estate Signature)
⦁ 1 & 1/2 ounces gold Puerto Rican rum (Cuban rum if you can get it) (I used Bacardi 8)
⦁ 2 & 1/2 dashes Angostura bitters (I used Elemukale Tiki bitters)
⦁ 3/4 cup crushed ice
Method
- Put all ingredients in blender and blend on high speed for 5 seconds.
- Pour into a bamboo Tiki mug or tall glass and serve.
Disclosure: The author has received no reimbursement or compensation for this article. All opinions, remarks and specific brand suggestions are those of the author alone.
A Potable Pastime 
