National Rum Day on Aug. 16 may have come and gone, but August is Rum Month so let’s keep on celebrating the cane spirit. Not that there’s ever a wrong time to enjoy rum, but it’s a particularly great spirit to ease the transition from summer to early fall.
What’s more, rum cocktails can be highly creative, versatile and tasty. Here are seven that we like for 2023. (For more recipes, check out this rum roundup in the summer issue of Cheers.)
Wipeout
Ingredients
- 1 oz. Plantation OFTD rum
- ½ oz. Smith and Cross Jamaican rum
- ½ oz. Cruzan Blackstrap rum
- 1 ½ oz. Pineapple juice
- ½ oz. Cold brew concentrate
- ½ oz. Demerara syrup
- ½ oz. Lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a tin and whip shake.
- Strain into a Ginza highball glass crushed ice.
- Garnish with pineapple fronds and nutmeg.
Notes
Feels Like Summer
Ingredients
- 1 oz. Flor de Caña 7 rum
- 1 oz. Mastiha Skinos
- ½ oz. Orgeat
- 1 ½ oz. Mandarin
- 1 oz. Lemon
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients into a shaker.
- Shake and strain into a Collins glass over crushed ice.
- Garnish with mint spring and 2 Mandarin orange slices.
- Top with 3 dashes of Angostura bitters.
Notes
POG Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 oz. KōHana white rum
- ½ oz. Laird’s Apple Brandy
- ½ oz. Beefeater London Dry Gin
- ½ oz. The Perfect Purée pink guava puree thawed
- ½ oz. The Perfect Purée passion fruit concentrate thawed
- ¾ oz. Orgeat
- ¾ oz. Fresh lemon juice
- 1 oz. Fresh orange juice
- ½ oz. Cream sherry
Instructions
- Add ingredients except sherry into a shaker tin with ice.
- Shake hard for about 5 to 10 seconds.
- Dump everything into a Tiki mug.
- Fill the mug with ice and float cream sherry on top.
- Garnish with mint sprigs and serve with a straw.
Notes
Little Queenie
Ingredients
- 3 oz. The Perfect Purée Yuzu Luxe Sour Blend thawed
- 1 ½ oz. Breckenridge Spiced Rum
- 1 oz. Fresh lime juice
- ½ oz. Honey simple syrup
- ⅛ oz. Apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake.
- Strain in classic 10-oz. Martini glass.
- Garnish with pineapple leaf and lime wheel.
- Bil
Notes
Passionfruit Coconut Mai Tai
Ingredients
- 1 ½ oz. Kōloa Kaua`i Coconut Rum
- 2 oz. Pineapple juice
- 1 oz. Fresh-squeezed lime juice
- Seeds and pulp from a passionfruit
- ½ oz. Kōloa Kaua`i dark rum
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker, combine coconut rum, pineapple juice, lime juice and passionfruit.
- Shake well with ice.
- Pour into a chilled glass through a strainer coarse enough to allow the passionfruit pulp to pass through.
- Add dark rum floater.
- Garnish with tropical fruit and a toasted coconut chip.
Notes
Golden City Piña Colada
Ingredients
- ½ oz. Fresh lime juice
- 1 oz. Fresh pineapple juice
- 1 oz. Liquid Alchemist coconut syrup
- 1 oz. Bacardi Reserva Ocho rum
- 1 oz. El Dorado 12yr rum
Instructions
- Add ingredients to mixing tin.
- Shake briefly with crushed ice.
- Pour into pineapple glass.
- Top off with more crushed ice.
- Garnish with mint bouquet and dehydrated pineapple wheel
Notes
Hemingway En Nica
Ingredients
- 2 oz. Papa’s Pilar Blonde rum
- 1 oz. Naranja agria-grapefruit syrup
- ¾ oz. Lime juice
- 12 drops Pimento bitters
- 1 Lime wheel
Instructions
- Add ice and all liquid ingredients to a shaker.
- Shake vigorously for 15–30 seconds.
- Double strain the shaker’s contents into a chilled coupe.
- Garnish with floating lime wheel on the surface of the drink.