With Aug. 16 designated as National Rum Day, we’ve got the perfect opportunity to explore one of the most diverse spirits available. Rum — made from molasses and then often aged in oak barrels — is incredibly versatile because no single standard defining what it can be exists; instead, rum varies in proof, flavor characteristics and other ways based on the rules and regulations in each country where it’s produced.
These three cocktails, including a classic, a riff on a classic and an original offering, display rum’s versatility and complexity. It’s good with spice, bitterness, bright citrus and other flavor pairings.
Flor Spicy Daiquiri
1 small pinch of salt
3/4 oz. lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup
1 oz Ancho Reyes Ancho Chile Liqueur
1 oz. Flor de Cana 7
Combine all ingredients and half a cup of ice in a cocktail shaker and shake well. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with sliced lime.
— Flor de Caña Rum
East India Negroni
2 oz. Banks 5-Island rum
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. Lustau East India sherry
Orange peel for garnish
Add all the ingredients but the garnish to a mixing glass, then add ice. Stir and strain into a rocks glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with the orange peel.
— Jim Meehan, author of “The PDT Cocktail Book”
Hellfire
1 oz. Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
2 dashes hot sauce
1/4 of a fresh lime
Lime wedge for garnish
Pilsner
Shake Sailor Jerry with lime and hot sauce and strain into a beer glass full of ice. Top with beer and squeeze and drop a lime wedge garnish.
For an extra kick, top half with desired beer and half with ginger beer.
— Sailor Jerry Rum
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