Now anyone who has read my Cuba Libre post (or seen any of the status updates on my Facebook page) will verify this: I LOVE RUM! My 2 favourite rum cocktails of all time (ever) are; 1) The Cuba Libre, 2) Dark N’ Stormy… I’ve placed the DNS as the number 1 (without a doubt) but the Cuba Libre only made it to number 3… Scroll down to find out why…
10. Twisted Lemon Mojito
60ml White Rum
15ml sugar syrup
1 lime (chunked/quartered)
8 mint leaves
20ml Lemon Juice
Top up Lemonade
Place the mint leaves in the bottom of the serving glass and place the lime pieces on top of the lime (skin-side up). Pour in the sugar syrup and gently muddle the ingredients (be careful not to tear the mint leaves as the drink will become bitter, you just want to loosen the oils from the leaves). Pour in the rum and stir very gently. Fill the glass with crushed ice and top up with the lemon juice and lemonade. Stir to mix up the drink one last time. Garnish with a lime wedge and mint sprig. Serve with 2 straws.
9. Perfect Storm
1 Vanilla Bean
½ cup Caster Sugar
30ml Ginger Ale
45ml Apple Cider
60ml Dark Rum
Mix together the rum, cider and ginger ale and pour into a vanilla sugar rimmed glass (filled with ice). Garnish with half the vanilla bean.
8. (Classic) Mai Tai
30ml Golden (light) Rum
30ml Dark Rum
15ml Orange Curacao (although a clear triple sec will suffice)
10ml sugar syrup
15ml almond (orgeat) syrup
Juice of one medium sized lime
Combine and shake all the above ingredients over ice. Shake until the metal of the shaker is well iced. Strain into a rocks glass (over crushed ice if you prefer) and garnish with a combination of the following: Lime wedges, pineapple wedges, maraschino cherries & Orange twirls.
7. Classic Daiquiri
60ml White Rum
20ml fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar syrup
1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur (optional)
Shake all the ingredients over ice and strain into a cocktail glass (martini). Garnish with a thin slice of lime/lime twirl.
6. Pineapple & Mango Rum Cocktails
Serves 6
2 ½ small ripe mangoes, peeled & cubed (1/2 mango sliced length-ways and with the skin left on),
120ml Appleton estate golden rum
120ml cup fresh mineral water
1L Fresh Pineapple Juice
Fresh tropical/exotic fruit for garnish (Dragon Fruit, Star Fruit, Papaya, Physalis etc)
Puree the mangoes, rum and mineral water and pour 120ml of puree into each glass. Top up the glasses with ice and pour over the pineapple juice (fill the glass). Garnish with the mango slices and tropical/exotic fruit (add some flowers to make the drinks look a bit more tropical).
5. Classic Caribbean Mojito
60ml White rum
15ml sugar syrup
1 Lime (chunked/quartered)
8 Mint leaves
Top up Soda Water
Same preparation as no.10; Use as little or as much mint/lime as you prefer but no less than 1 lime worth of chunks/quarters. Top up with soda water instead of lemonade.
Top tip: for a hit of flavour, add 1-2 pieces (more for small berries) of your chosen fruit into the shaker and shake with the rest of the ingredients (various amounts of fresh juice will also work – although slightly dilute the overall strength of the drink).
4. Classic Pina Colada
500ml Fresh Pineapple Juice
180ml creamed coconut (tinned is ok)
250ml Golden (light) Rum
750ml crushed ice
Garnish: 4 lime twirls & 4 pineapple spears
Blend all of the ingredients (except the garnishes) and blend for about 1 minute. Pour into hurricane glasses and drop in the pineapple spears. Wipe a lime twirl around the rim of each glass and drop it into the drink to finish. Serve immediately with straws.
Top tip: Choose nicely flavoured golden rums; Brugal Anejo or Bacardi Gold are great choices. For an added touch of class use Angostura 1919 rum. Also if you fancy a splash of heat, use a spiced rum and drop in 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger juice just before you blend., It’ll be subtle but worth the underlying heat.
3. A Very Cuban, Cuba Libre (aka the Cuban)
50ml Havana Club 3yo Rum
Top up Coca Cola
Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in the rum and squeeze in half a limes worth of juice (less if you prefer), and top up with coca cola (original – all the others distort the classic taste).
2. Jamaican Mule
50ml Jamaican Rum
Top up Ginger Beer
Lime Wedge
Over crushed ice, pour in the rum and top up with the ginger beer. Garnish with the lime wedge (giving the drinker the choice of adding it to the drink – personally I add 25ml lime juice in, but that’s just me!).
1. Bermudan Dark N’ Stormy
50ml Black Rum
12.5ml Fresh Lime Juice
25ml Falernum (Bermudan alcoholic sugar syrup)
Top up with Ginger Ale
‘Goslings Black Seal’ is the rum normally used in this cocktail, but it is hard to find here in the UK. For an easy to find alternative try my personal favourite: ‘The Kraken Black Spiced Rum’ it’s gentle heat and subtle caramel/molasses flavours work very well with the ginger ale.
To make this delicious cocktail the traditional way, build in an ice filled glass the ginger ale, then add a shaken mix of the falernum syrup, lime juice and rum. Stir if you want but the drink should look like the picture above if you do it right…
Top Tip: For an added hit of fresh heat try adding a couple of teaspoons of fresh pressed ginger juice.
The Fervent Shaker 
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