Bankers Hill’s Roman Pipeline

A perfect companion to SoCal clambakes or a beach blanket in Baja, it also harkens to the warmth and whitewashed villas of the Amalfi Coast. That’s the Roman Pipeline.

This Annette Funicello of cocktails, according to its creator Christian Siglin, bar manager at Bankers Hill, was an attempt to fuse tiki culture with his favorite Italian aperitif.

Christian Siglin

“Campari’s a bartenders’ spirit in a lot of ways,” Siglin says. “People that make cocktails for a living often become sweet-averse and so they’ll start drinking things that are more challenging.”

And it doesn’t get more challenging, Siglin acknowledges, than making the subtle red stuff work with the tiki cocktail’s saccharine bombast.

Inspired by the Banzai Pipeline, a favorite Hawaiian surf spot, Siglin says the drink came along like a perfect wave.

“It just happened,” Siglin says. “I can’t explain how. That’s bartending sometimes, though — it just kind of comes to you....

“Every component has its place in the Roman Pipeline,” Siglin says, noting the drink’s bright start coming out of the chute. “It’s very citrus-forward, so you’re getting a lot of fresh juice. But the rum is there, essentially — and the Campari takes over more than the rum, but the rum helps dry the sweet out a little bit. Then you get a little of the creamy orgeat taste, too. And the lemon adds a little extra acidity to help balance out the sweetness.”

HOW TO MAKE IT

Pour ingredients into shaker tin of ice:

• 1½ oz. Flor de Caña white rum
• ¾ oz. passion-fruit-tea-infused Campari*
• 1 oz. fresh pineapple juice
• ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
• ½ oz. Monin orgeat

Shake, strain into Collins glass full of ice, garnish with pineapple wedge, and pimp out with all things tiki.

*Using a Mason jar or other lidded vessel, steep two to three teaspoons of loose-leaf passion-fruit tea into 6 oz. Campari for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally, and strain through a coffee filter.