This Is Exactly What an Exotic Cocktail Should Be

Ah, morse code. Remember when the concept of American freedom as we knew it depended on morse code? When we had to interpret a series of tones, lights or clicks of varying lengths in order to communicate with someone across the Atlantic?

Of course you don't. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you don't even remember using phones with cords attached to them.

But if you did know morse code, then you'd know that three dots and a dash represents "victory". And the sweetest victory happens to taste like three cherries ("dots") and a pineapple chunk (the "dash"). At least that's the way WWII veteran and founding father of tiki Donn Beach saw it when he invented the three dots and a dash cocktail, a rum-based drink garnished with the aforementioned cherries and pineapple, and if you're lucky, served in a Polynesian mug that looks like shrunken head.

Like most tiki drinks, the three dots and dash calls for a ridiculous amount of ingredients—nine to be exact, at least in the version Martin Cate serves at highly regarded San Francisco tiki bar Smuggler's Cove.

Cate uses two kinds of citrus, a couple different sweeteners, two baking spices, two kinds of rum, and bitters.

Nine ingredients might seem like a lot, but as far as tiki drinks go, it's on the simple side. Especially if you compare it to learning morse code.