It’s 1933. Prohibition has just ended and Donn Beach, owner of the newly opened Hollywood bar Don the Beachcomber, didn’t want his bartenders to leave and start making his tiki drinks at another bars across town. But obviously they still needed to know how to make the drinks…so what could he do?

The number system

Donn committed to making all syrups himself and then putting each in identical bottles simply labeled with a number. So his bartenders might know a recipe as rum, some #2, some #4, and a dash of Angostura bitters. They knew how to make the drinks, but were never 100% sure exactly what they were mixing. This also included a syrup known as Don’s Mix, which remained a mystery to nearly everyone. So if a bartender ever left for another bar, they had no idea how to recreated these drinks, and Don’s recipes remained safe.

Just one problem

While this worked great during Donn’s run at the bar, by the time cocktail culture started to pick up again in the 1990s and early 2000s, there was almost no one still alive that actually knew what a lot of these syrups and ingredients were. It was largely through the work of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry that these numbered syrups got decoded, along with Don’s Mix.

Don’s Mix

Turns out it’s a simple mixture of cinnamon simple syrup and grapefruit juice. If you’re interested, the following recipe is quite tasty: