The History of the Bushwacker Cocktail

The Bushwacker is one of the few cocktails that Florida can claim as its own … with a little island inspiration and imitation. The original Bushwacker was invented by bartender Angie Conigliaro and bar manager Tom Brokamp in 1975 at the Ship’s Store Pub on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands as a tropical take on the White Russian. It was named after a very large dog called Bushwack, who spent a couple of days in the bar while its owners drank the cocktail. That same year, after drinking multiple Bushwackers in St. Thomas, Linda Murphy, the owner of the Sandshaker bar in Pensacola Beach, decided to develop her own version to serve at her bar back in Florida.

Murphy’s version of the Bushwacker was an immediate hit at the Sandshaker, so much so that the bartenders couldn’t keep up with the demand using blenders. In 1980, the Sandshaker traded in their blenders for a frozen drink machine. Others in the Panhandle noticed the success of the cocktail and the Bushwacker started appearing on menus at other bars and restaurants throughout the area. Even the owner of the infamous Flora-Bama in Pensacola admits to spending many late nights at the Sandshaker trying to decipher the secret recipe while the owner was preparing the next day’s batches. The Bushwacker recipe spread throughout the state and beyond to cities like Nashville, where it has been prevalent throughout the city's bars for the past decade.

What’s in a Bushwacker? Therein lies the confusion, because this is the jazz of cocktails where everyone’s version is different, yet each is considered a Bushwacker. The original drink from St. Thomas contained vodka, Kahlua, crème de cacao, whole milk or half & half, Coco Lopez and a splash of triple sec. But this isn’t the Bushwacker we know in Florida. The Sandshaker version swapped the vodka for dark rum, dropped the triple sec and likely started adding amaretto liqueur. This is the archetype of the Florida-style Bushwacker – dark rum, coffee liqueur, crème de cacao liqueur, amaretto liqueur, coconut cream and milk. As the temperatures spike in the Sunshine State, you can hear the buzz of blenders spinning endless iterations of the Bushwacker. This is Florida’s gift to the cocktail world.