Jet Pilot
A Jet Pilot is 30ml of Jamaican dark rum, 22.5ml of gold Puerto Rican rum and 22.5ml of demerara overproof rum, with 15ml each of fresh lime juice, grapefruit juice, cinnamon syrup and falernum, a dash of Angostura and six drops of Pernod. Blend it with crushed ice for no more than five seconds, or shake it hard over crushed ice, and pour it unstrained into a double rocks glass. About 4.0 UK units, with the demerara overproof at 75.5% ABV. It comes from the Luau, Steve Crane’s tiki restaurant in Beverly Hills, and is dated to about 1958, by Difford’s Guide’s account. It is a stronger, spicier relative of the Test Pilot, which Jeff Berry’s Remixed dates to Don the Beachcomber around 1941, as Distiller’s reprint records. Jeff Berry printed the Luau recipe in his book Sippin’ Safari, as the Cold Glass blog’s reprint records, and the measures here are his. Most falernum contains almond; read the bottle if anyone avoids nuts.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: None, as in Berry’s recipe
Ingredients
30ml
A dark Jamaican rum at 40% ABV. It brings the heavy, fruity character that sits under the cinnamon and grapefruit.
22.5ml
A lightly aged gold rum at 40% ABV. It fills out the middle without adding weight; a clean aged rum from Puerto Rico or Cuba does the job.
22.5ml
A demerara rum at 75.5% ABV, as in Berry’s recipe; the units on this page assume that strength. It brings smoke and burnt sugar as well as strength, and over a third of the alcohol in the glass.
15ml
Squeezed the same day. With the grapefruit it is the only acid against three rums and two sweeteners.
15ml
Fresh white or pink grapefruit. Its bitterness makes the cinnamon taste spicy rather than sweet; together the two are Donn’s Mix.
15ml
Sugar syrup steeped with cracked cassia sticks. It takes about twenty minutes to make plus steeping time, and we keep it about a week in the fridge.
15ml
Velvet Falernum, the common bottle, is 11% ABV on LWC’s UK listing: rum and cane syrup flavoured with lime, clove and almond. A non-alcoholic falernum syrup also works and makes the drink slightly weaker. Check the label if anyone avoids nuts.
6 drops
Six drops, as Berry gives it, for a trace of anise; absinthe works in the same drops. Any more and the anise leads the drink.
Instructions
Squeeze the lime and grapefruit juice the same day.
Add the three rums, both juices, the cinnamon syrup, falernum, Angostura and Pernod to a blender, then half a cup of crushed ice.
Blend at high speed for no more than 5 seconds.
Without a blender, shake hard with a small scoop of crushed ice for 10 to 12 seconds instead.
Pour everything, ice included, into a double rocks glass and serve with a straw.
Source: Beachbum Berry's reconstructions (Sippin’ Safari (2007), the Luau recipe of about 1958; the shaken alternative ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Count the Pernod in drops. Six drops, about an eighth of a teaspoon, leave a faint anise note behind the cinnamon. A full dash makes the whole drink taste of aniseed. Keep the blend short. Berry’s method is a blender at high speed for no more than five seconds with about half a cup of crushed ice; any longer and the drink turns to slush and thins. Without a blender, shake hard with a small scoop of crushed ice for 10 to 12 seconds. Falernum is a lime and clove liqueur or syrup, with ginger and most often almond; the common bottle, Velvet Falernum, is 11% ABV on LWC’s UK listing. If nuts are a concern, read the label or make a falernum without almond.
Behind the Jet Pilot
Flavour Profile
The Luau, Around 1958
The Luau was Steve Crane’s tiki restaurant, and the Jet Pilot is dated there to about 1958, by Difford’s Guide’s account; the Cold Glass blog, reprinting Jeff Berry’s Sippin’ Safari recipe, places the Luau in Beverly Hills. It rebuilds an older drink, the Test Pilot, which Berry’s Remixed attributes to Don the Beachcomber around 1941, as Distiller’s reprint records, adding grapefruit, cinnamon syrup and overproof rum and dropping the Cointreau.
The recipe survived because Berry went looking for it. It appears in his Sippin’ Safari of 2007: an ounce of dark Jamaican rum, three quarters of an ounce each of gold Puerto Rican and overproof demerara, and half an ounce each of lime, grapefruit, cinnamon syrup and falernum, flash-blended. Our measures are those, converted to millilitres.
Cinnamon Against Grapefruit
At the centre is a pairing Don the Beachcomber used often: grapefruit juice with cinnamon syrup, later named Donn’s Mix. Grapefruit’s bitterness stops the cinnamon tasting like a sweet shop, and the cinnamon rounds off the grapefruit’s edge.
Falernum adds clove and lime on top, the Angostura darkens the finish, and the Pernod sits right at the back. Each sweetener carries a spice as well as sugar, which is why the drink reads as spiced rather than sweet.
Three Rums, Three Jobs
The dark Jamaican rum supplies weight and funk. The gold Puerto Rican is lighter and fills the middle. The demerara overproof is the smallest pour by flavour and the largest by alcohol, bringing smoke and burnt sugar along with most of the strength. No single bottle covers all three, and a double measure of one rum makes a flatter drink.
The Test Pilot, the Jet Pilot and the Zombie
The Jet Pilot beside the drink it rebuilt and its larger relative
Rum
- Test Pilot (Berry, c. 1941)
- 45ml Jamaican dark, 22.5ml Puerto Rican light
- Jet Pilot (Luau, c. 1958)
- 30ml Jamaican dark, 22.5ml gold Puerto Rican, 22.5ml demerara overproof
- Zombie (IBA)
- 45ml Jamaican dark, 45ml gold Puerto Rican, 30ml demerara
Citrus
- Test Pilot (Berry, c. 1941)
- 15ml lime
- Jet Pilot (Luau, c. 1958)
- 15ml lime, 15ml grapefruit
- Zombie (IBA)
- 20ml lime, with grapefruit in the Donn’s Mix
Sweeteners
- Test Pilot (Berry, c. 1941)
- 15ml Cointreau, 15ml falernum
- Jet Pilot (Luau, c. 1958)
- 15ml cinnamon syrup, 15ml falernum
- Zombie (IBA)
- 15ml falernum, 15ml Donn’s Mix, a teaspoon of grenadine
Bitters and anise
- Test Pilot (Berry, c. 1941)
- A dash of bitters, a little Pernod
- Jet Pilot (Luau, c. 1958)
- A dash of Angostura, six drops of Pernod
- Zombie (IBA)
- A dash of Angostura, six drops of Pernod
UK units
- Test Pilot (Berry, c. 1941)
- About 3.5
- Jet Pilot (Luau, c. 1958)
- About 4.0
- Zombie (IBA)
- About 5.0
| Element | Test Pilot (Berry, c. 1941) | Jet Pilot (Luau, c. 1958) | Zombie (IBA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rum | 45ml Jamaican dark, 22.5ml Puerto Rican light | 30ml Jamaican dark, 22.5ml gold Puerto Rican, 22.5ml demerara overproof | 45ml Jamaican dark, 45ml gold Puerto Rican, 30ml demerara |
| Citrus | 15ml lime | 15ml lime, 15ml grapefruit | 20ml lime, with grapefruit in the Donn’s Mix |
| Sweeteners | 15ml Cointreau, 15ml falernum | 15ml cinnamon syrup, 15ml falernum | 15ml falernum, 15ml Donn’s Mix, a teaspoon of grenadine |
| Bitters and anise | A dash of bitters, a little Pernod | A dash of Angostura, six drops of Pernod | A dash of Angostura, six drops of Pernod |
| UK units | About 3.5 | About 4.0 | About 5.0 |
How to Serve It
Unstrained into a double rocks glass, crushed ice and all, with a straw and no garnish; Berry’s recipe gives none. At about four units it is a drink for one round, not several, with water alongside.
For the bigger three-rum drink of the same family, a Zombie; for three rums over honey, lime and grapefruit, a Navy Grog.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Dark RumDark rum is a heavy, deep-coloured rum, counted at 40% ABV in our recipes, whose colour may come from years in oak, from blending or from added caramel, which Regulation (EC) 110/2008 allows. It brings weight and a burnt-sugar note to punches, hot drinks and tiki builds: the Rum Runner, the Hurricane and the Planter’s Punch.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Jet Pilot?
Who created the Jet Pilot?
How is it different from a Test Pilot?
Does a Jet Pilot contain nuts?
What is Donn’s Mix?
Can I make it without a blender?
How strong is a Jet Pilot?
Sources.
Correct as of 18 October 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “Jet Pilot” (secondary source: “Created circa 1958 by socialite, Steven Crane at his Polynesian-themed Luau Restaurant”; a riff on Donn Beach’s 1941 Test Pilot).
- Cold Glass, “Classic Tiki: the Jet Pilot” (secondary source: Berry’s Sippin’ Safari recipe from the Beverly Hills Luau Restaurant, 1958).
- Distiller, “Jet Age Cocktails: the Test Pilot and Jet Pilot” (secondary source: “1941 Don the Beachcomber Test Pilot, from Beachbum Berry’s Remixed”).
- LWC, “Taylor’s Velvet Falernum 70cl” (UK trade listing: 11%).
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 18 October 2026