Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The most American drink on the menu

Making something from nothing with the Rum Runner.

The Salty Frog’s Rum Runner
The Salty Frog’s Rum Runner
Place

Salty Frog

992 Palm Avenue, Imperial Beach

"A disaster in a glass.”

So says Kanai Williams, the Salty Dog’s front man behind the bar, about this Imperial Beach joint’s premiere chockablock chug-a-lug — the Rum Runner.

“And that’s probably the only reason you’d order it,” he adds with a laugh. “It’s a college frat thank-you-very-much-and-have-a-good-day rum punch.”

Actually, if truth be known, this Category 5 imbroglio of juices and spirits, Williams admits, originated on a back shelf of booze on a slow day in Key West.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Kanai Williams

“There’s a bar I worked at once down in the Keys that always ended up with a lot of dusty bottles in the off-season,” he explains. “So we’d always have to find a way to mix them together and make them taste good because otherwise your money is locked up. You got to get the money out of the bottles.”

As part of the Salty Frog’s “Drink the World” international cocktail menu, Williams says, the Rum Runner is by far the standout Yankee representative.

“It’s definitely the most American drink on the menu,” he says. “And it makes sense. The Rum Runner is a matter of making something from nothing. It’s a melting pot of whatever you got; it’s a rum stew.”

It’s also the menu’s class clown, Williams says, noting the Rum Runner’s affinity for eliciting laughs among patrons — both before and after consumption.

“Look, it’s colorful and not taking itself too seriously,” he says. “It’s not a hoity-toity cocktail. You got banana. You got raspberry. You slip on a banana and you give someone a raspberry — that’s a clown.”

As for taste, it’s exactly what you’d expect, Williams says.

“It’s very sweet; you can’t get away from the sweetness of it,” he says, “but it’s also got a little kick to it, and the dark rum float takes some of the edge off that sugar buzz, that initial, ‘Good God, that’s a lot of sugar!’”


HOW TO MAKE IT

  • • 1 oz. white rum
  • • ½ oz. crème de banana liqueur
  • • ½ oz. blackberry
  • • 1 ½ oz. orange juice
  • • 1 ½ oz. pineapple juice
  • • 3/4 oz. dark rum

In a Collins glass or pint glass filled with ice, pour white rum, banana liqueur, and orange and pineapple juices, top with a float of dark rum, garnish with orange slice.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

The Salty Frog’s Rum Runner
The Salty Frog’s Rum Runner
Place

Salty Frog

992 Palm Avenue, Imperial Beach

"A disaster in a glass.”

So says Kanai Williams, the Salty Dog’s front man behind the bar, about this Imperial Beach joint’s premiere chockablock chug-a-lug — the Rum Runner.

“And that’s probably the only reason you’d order it,” he adds with a laugh. “It’s a college frat thank-you-very-much-and-have-a-good-day rum punch.”

Actually, if truth be known, this Category 5 imbroglio of juices and spirits, Williams admits, originated on a back shelf of booze on a slow day in Key West.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Kanai Williams

“There’s a bar I worked at once down in the Keys that always ended up with a lot of dusty bottles in the off-season,” he explains. “So we’d always have to find a way to mix them together and make them taste good because otherwise your money is locked up. You got to get the money out of the bottles.”

As part of the Salty Frog’s “Drink the World” international cocktail menu, Williams says, the Rum Runner is by far the standout Yankee representative.

“It’s definitely the most American drink on the menu,” he says. “And it makes sense. The Rum Runner is a matter of making something from nothing. It’s a melting pot of whatever you got; it’s a rum stew.”

It’s also the menu’s class clown, Williams says, noting the Rum Runner’s affinity for eliciting laughs among patrons — both before and after consumption.

“Look, it’s colorful and not taking itself too seriously,” he says. “It’s not a hoity-toity cocktail. You got banana. You got raspberry. You slip on a banana and you give someone a raspberry — that’s a clown.”

As for taste, it’s exactly what you’d expect, Williams says.

“It’s very sweet; you can’t get away from the sweetness of it,” he says, “but it’s also got a little kick to it, and the dark rum float takes some of the edge off that sugar buzz, that initial, ‘Good God, that’s a lot of sugar!’”


HOW TO MAKE IT

  • • 1 oz. white rum
  • • ½ oz. crème de banana liqueur
  • • ½ oz. blackberry
  • • 1 ½ oz. orange juice
  • • 1 ½ oz. pineapple juice
  • • 3/4 oz. dark rum

In a Collins glass or pint glass filled with ice, pour white rum, banana liqueur, and orange and pineapple juices, top with a float of dark rum, garnish with orange slice.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Next Article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.