Today is National Rum Day and what better way to celebrate than with a couple of cocktail recipes from the great and the good in the rum industry?!
Nacional
Mario Sandgren, UK Brand Development Manager at Indie Brands
“Nacional is a cocktail masterpiece. The drink is fruity and tart, full and juicy with a dry finish, and is perfect for every occasion. It can also be made long with ginger ale or soda (or sparkling wine).”
Named after the Havana bar that played host to a notorious set of celebrities back in its heyday, the Hotel Nacional cocktail was the welcome drink given to all who entered and has since become a classic much-loved by bartenders around the globe.
Nacional Cocktail Recipe
50ml lower aged rum (3 to 8-year-old)
25ml fresh lime juice
20ml Apricot Brandy
10ml gomme (1:1 ratio)
1 pineapple ring (1cm thick) muddled
Shake all hard and double strain into coupette. No garnish needed.
Daiquiri
Dawn Davies, Mistress of Wine, Head Buyer at The Whisky Exchange and Co-Founder of Sugarcane & Champagne
“I am super simple; just hand me a daiquiri anytime and I am happy. My partner in crime the other half of Sugarcane & Champagne, Mitch Wilson taught me the one below.”
Dawn’s Daiquiri Cocktail Recipe
20ml funky rum like Hampden 46%
20ml freshly squeezed lime juice
10 ml raw sugar syrup
Shake hard with ice and strain into a coupette.
Dan Dan Tai
Chockie Tom, NYC Brand Ambassador Ming River/ Co-Founder Doom Tiki
“So what we have here is a Mai Tai riff that’s been created using both rum and baijiu. Other than the spirit split I’d like to draw attention to the Orgeat that I’ve created using traditional Chinese ingredients like five spice as well as peanuts instead of almond as a tribute to Dan Dan noodles. One of the most interesting things […] is how what’s considered “Tiki Cuisine” is stolen from Cantonese style food and modified to be less spicy and more syrupy for American pallets. During the 1950’s, a lot of American Chinese restaurants started transforming their lounges and bars into the culturally appropriative aesthetic associated with Tiki. They were forced to as a means of survival and even went as far as selling cocktails in the Fu Manchu mugs that are really just grotesque racist caricatures of themselves. There really was a sense of “Well, you stole this from us; we’re going to take this thing you made with it and we’re going to turn it around and use it to make money for ourselves”. It’s something that I can very much relate to and appreciate. I like to think of this as a history class and a glass.”
Dan Dan Tai Cocktail Recipe
15ml Ming River Baijiu
15ml Clément VSOP Rhum Agricole Vieux
15ml Dry Curacao
30ml Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black Rum
15ml Peanut Five-spice Orgeat (recipe in above image)
15ml Lemon
Garnish with pineapple leaves, orange dusted with chilli & sugar, and basil
Shake all ingredients together, strain and serve over ice.
Millionaire
Gergő Muráth, UK Trade Development Manager at Worthy Park Estate and Bar Manager at the legendary Trailer Happiness
“Beyond the obvious and usual, such as the Mai Tai, I’d like to highlight the Millionaire.”
The Millionaire is a cocktail (or more accurately, a group of cocktails) from the Prohibition era. Little is known about it except that it was a popular name for cocktails of that time – we’ve found five different cocktails carrying the name but with wildly different recipes ranging from whiskey to rum to gin. Naturally, this one of Gergő’s is rum-based.
Gergő’s Millionaire Cocktail Recipe
40 ml Rum-Bar Gold
20 ml Sloe Gin
20 ml Apricot brandy
20 ml fresh lime juice
Half teaspoon sugar syrup
Shake, serve up in a coupette.
Mai Tai
Pete Holland (Rum Guy at That Boutique-y Rum Company, Brand Ambassador at Foursquare Distillery, and owner of FloatingRumShack)
“I have drunk quite a few Mai Tai’s of late – I guess because I’m building up the World Mai Tai Day celebrations on the 30th August. I’ve slightly tweaked the original specification to use an Orange Rhum Shrubb, as oppose to Orange Curaçao and seem to have hit on a spec that has me coming back for more.“
Pete’s Mai Tai Cocktail Recipe
30ml Signature Blend #1 by That Boutique-y Rum Company
30ml Signature Blend #2 by That Boutique-y Rum Company
30ml freshly squeezed lime juice
15ml Orgeat
Combine all in a cocktail shaker with cubed ice (about a dozen cubes). Shake hard until the tin is frosty, and pour everything (dirty dump style) into a double rocks glass.