While gin has had a dramatic rise in popularity over the past five years, bartenders have been quietly getting excited about rum. It offers huge cocktail variety, depending on the style; from the unaged white variety to those aged in the tropics, it’s as complex and nuanced as any other spirit. I spoke to some top mixologists about their favourite cocktails.
Jack Wallis and Chris Tanner at the Vault
Rum cocktails range from the super-simple to concoctions worthy of Michelin stars. Jack Wallis, operations manager at the Vault in Soho, is proud of the simplicity of their Captain’s Blood – a twist on a daiquiri, made with rum, fresh lime, sugar syrup and bitters that’s perfect to serve at home. For something a little more complex, Chris Tanner, also of the Vault, makes a version of Planter’s Punch with orange, pineapple, lime juice, grenadine, sugar syrup and Lugger Rum. Unlike some varieties, Lugger Rum is not dominated by vanilla, aiming instead to deliver a full profile of spices, including nutmeg, orange peel and cloves.
Liam Cotter of Heads, Hearts and Tails
Barman Liam Cotter, of events and consultancy firm Heads, Hearts and Tails, warns not to take shortcuts in rum-based cocktails: “Inexperienced bartenders may swap out a quality rum with an inferior one and wonder why their grog isn’t quite the same.” Cotter’s all-time favourite cocktail is a Jungle Bird; not the original 1970s version, created in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, but the reimagined New York classic, created by way of Giuseppe Gonzales (formerly of New York’s Suffolk Arms and long-standing patron of Milk & Honey). He reworked it to become infinitely more balanced and appealing to a refined contemporary palate. It’s part all-night-fun negroni, part complex bitter daiquiri. He thinks this would be great with Lugger Rum.
He also has a soft spot for something more straightforward: “There is something lovely about a simple rum and coke.”
Mia Johansson at Swift
London bar Swift is known for its elegant and inventive cocktails, and one of managing partner Mia Johansson’s favourites is a Praline Flip. First, they make their own hazelnut orgeat – by heating the nuts in water, cooling and re-blending them – then combine with Angostura bitters, egg, Guinness and spiced rum. Their second cocktail is a little less complicated, but still one I wouldn’t try at home. It’s an espresso martini using Mr Black cold-brew coffee liqueur, coffee, vodka, rich demerara sugar and spiced rum.
Thom Solberg at Black Rock
Black Rock’s bar manager Thom Solberg loves a Mai Tai. Although this award-winning Shoreditch bar primarily focuses on whisky, it also works with rum. Solberg’s take on his retro favourite uses three rums – Jamaican, Lugger spiced and over-proof – along with triple sec and lime juice. All it needs is shaking up, pouring over ice and a garnish of orange and mint. He says spiced rum goes well with anything apple-y, and that a particular favourite rum modifier is pomegranate molasses. He incorporates this mix into a rum punch alongside dry cider, lime, allspice dram and a little vanilla syrup, garnished with cinnamon, nutmeg and apple slices.
Kurt Maitland, cocktail author
Kurt Maitland, author of Drink, can recommend something simple and something more showy. A Devil’s Kiss won’t tax you: shake up equal parts coffee liqueur, Grand Marnier and Lugger Rum with ice and strain into small glasses.
The Kama’aina is a completely different kettle of fish, however. It starts with ginger syrup, almond paste and pimento liqueur, stirred to create a #9. Next add Rhum agricole, Lugger Rum, guava nectar, real cream of coconut, and fresh lime; then shake with crushed ice and strain into a tiki glass, adding Angostura bitters and an orange blossom garnish at the end. Maitland describes a Devil’s Kiss as like an aperitif at home before the main drama of a complicated Kama’aina in a specialist bar. The former can easily be made in quantity for parties and the spiced rum balances beautifully with the bitter coffee and sweet Grand Marnier.
Even Maitland has to go shopping to make a Kama’aina: “I don’t know about you, but those [ingredients], don’t tend to be lying around my house.” But it’s worth it he says; on the greyest of days and the darkest of nights it tastes of the tropics. Who doesn’t need a little of that now and again?
Do try this at home: a Spicy Lugger cocktail
Featuring fruit, spice and a genuinely fiery twist – careful with those matches
Ingredients/measurements per serve:
Lugger rum 50ml
Strawberry and lime syrup 20ml*
Angostura bitters, 2 dashes
Finishing touches
West country cider 30ml
Sprig of rosemary
Spiced powder**
Matches
Straw
*Strawberry syrup
Sugar 50g
Strawberries x10
Peeled lime skins (x2 whole limes)
Juice of 1 whole lime
In a bowl, muddle all ingredients and leave for 10-30 minutes in fridge, then strain through a sieve.
**Spiced powder
Mix equal parts of icing sugar, cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder.
Cocktail steps
Fill cocktail mixer or tumbler with all main ingredients and stir.
Fill glass with crushed ice and stir 5-10 times to chill drink.
Top up with more crushed ice, then add cider, rosemary and straw.
Light a match and hold this over the cocktail; with your other hand, dust the top of the cocktail with spiced powder, to create a fire-pit effect.
Lugger Rum is a Caribbean rum aged in Devon, featuring sophisticated notes of orange peel, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. Pick up a bottle at Waitrose today
