7 Cocktails to Mix Up if you’re a Rum Love
Rum is not a liquor that everyone loves..Its also not a liquor you can have at official parties like champaign and wine. But what rum is, is that it is a liquor on its won with a taste that needs to be developed and nurtured. Once you achieve it, well, you are more or less addicted. That’s the specialty of rum. For all the rum lovers, here are 7 cocktails to mix up using rum:
The classic Daiquiri
This is the oldest Cuban cocktail, having Its very simple recipe for perfection.
How to Make it: Fill crushed ice into a shaker. Add 50ml white rum, 20ml lime juice and 10ml sugar syrup. Shake hard until frothy. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a slice of lime.
You can also blend all the ingredients with a cupful of ice, and blitz until smooth.
The Hemingway Daiquiri
Invented for Mr Ernest Hemingway himself at El Floridita, Havana. Sip whilst wearing a straw fedora and reading For Whom The Bell Tolls…
How to Make it:Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Mix 25ml lime juice, 15ml grapefruit juice, 60ml white rum, and 15ml Maraschino liquor. Shake well Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a slice of lime.
Add double the amount of rum to make the drink a Papa Doble.
The Rum Ranch
One day I had a big idea: run away to California and make rum. A girl can dream…
How to Make it: Pop a sliver of medium hot red chili into the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle gently. Add 60ml aged rum (I like Havana Club 7 year old for this), 10 ml sugar syrup, 20ml of Meyer lemon juice OR 10ml lemon juice and 10ml orange juice and a dash of Pimento Bitters. Shake, shake, shake until arctic. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.
The Mae Nam
A Thai daiquiri variation, this should look like a muddy river and taste fresh and fiery.
How to Make it: Place 200g of palm sugar in a saucepan with 200ml water, 1 bruised chili and 1 bruised stick of lemongrass. Dissolve the sugar over a medium heat, and set aside to cool. Then strain the syrup into a clean jar, discarding the aromatics. To make the drink, fill a shaker with ice, add 60ml Sangsom (Thai spirit) or amber rum, 30ml fresh lime juice and 20ml of the palm sugar syrup. Shake hard, then strain into a lowball glass or tumbler and garnish with a slice of lime.
Havana Club’s Summer Mojito
Hot of the press or, should I say, off the bar, comes this refreshingly different twist on a Mojito from our pals at Havana Club
How to Make it: Place 200ml sugar and 200ml water in a saucepan. Add a handful of fresh basil leaves. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool. When cool, strain into a clean jar, discarding the basil leaves.
Pop 2 large cherry tomatoes and a large chunk of watermelon into the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and a drop of extra virgin olive oil. Add 50ml Havana Club 3 year old rum, 25ml lemon juice and 15ml of the basil infused syrup. Add ice. Shake well and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.
The Piña Colada
By special request, this drink just reeks of teenage summers — coconut sun tan oil, sand between my toes and a crush on that boy with the long blonde hair…
How to Make it: Put a few chunks of fresh pineapple and lots of ice into a blender. Mix 60ml each of white rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream long with a dash of sugar syrup (optional). Mix well and Pour into a chilled glass and garnish with a wedge of pineapple and as many umbrellas as you like.
The Hurricane
BEWARE. They are notoriously strong. Some bars have a 2 drink maximum on Tiki drinks. Don’t be fooled by the sweet fruit juice. It makes this slide down far too easily and hides the punch of Lennox Lewis.
How to Make it: Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add juice of ½ a lime, 50ml white rum, 50ml dark rum, 60ml passion fruit juice, 30 ml orange juice, 1 tablespoon sugar syrup and 1 tablespoon grenadine. Shake to the sound of Elvis singing Hula Hula Baby. Strain into a fancy glass, and garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Or two.
