Make the Perfect Tiki-Inspired Coconut Cocktail

Even if you can’t spend all summer on the beach, this coconut cocktail will transport you to soft sands and sparkling blue waters every time you take a sip.

Los Angeles-based bartender Rosie Ruiz, a Margarita of the Year finalist, took inspiration from classic tiki cocktails to create the recipe for Silky, Smooth, which debuted at our Secret Dining Society San Francisco event.

“Everyone loves a good tiki drink,” Ruiz says. “They’re fun, they taste good when you make them right and they pair well with food.”

The summery cocktail strikes a balance between herbaceous, thanks to a backbone of Roca Patrón Silver, and sweet, thanks to a coconut syrup made from toasted coconut and cane sugar. A garnish of a walnut shell filled with toasted coconut complements the concoction and, as Ruiz points out, will help cut through the spicy food we so often crave during the warmer months. In all, she says, it’s “a little party in a glass.”