Happy Hour: Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

by Diana Vilibert

It’s officially summer! When I was a kid, summer was marked by spending days at the pool in my best friend’s apartment building, writing in my diary about how I was pretty sure the lifeguard was in love with me too, and spending $18 a day on the ice cream truck (vanilla with the crunchy chocolate shell).

Nowadays, I mark summer by turning on the AC, putting on a muumuu, and making myself a refreshing alcoholic beverage. And, like with my future offspring, I do have a favorite for hot summer days, and its name is rum. Did you know that the Royal Navy used to give sailors daily rum rations? Right in the middle of the day, too. This is not that different from my normal drinking habits, but what a clever idea to call mid-day drinking an official ration. You have my blessing to use it at work today.

Anyway, you’re already familiar with piña coladas (…and getting caught in the rain), so let’s try something new. This one comes from Jackson Cannon, a bartender at Eastern Standard in Boston (oh, and recently named the Best Bartender in America by Nightclub & Bar Magazine. BRB, finding out if he’s single), and combines the best of both worlds — the refreshing quench of beer and lime, plus that sweet rum flavor that makes you feel like you’re sitting on the beach with sand in your toes instead of sitting on your ergonomic office chair with potato chip crumbs in your bra (seriously, I think I have enough to reconstruct an entire potato here).

Turbinado
2 oz of Brugal Añejo rum
1 oz Fresh squeezed lime
 .75 oz demerara syrup
Dash of Angostura bitters
1.5 oz ginger beer

Directions: Shake ingredients and serve in a highball glass filled with crushed ice, top with 1.5 oz ginger beer. Garnish with bitters and a mint sprig. (Note: to make demerara syrup, combine two parts demerara sugar with one part water in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir until sugar dissolves.)

Previously: Sparkling Rosé on the Cheap (You Really Can Have It All).

Diana Vilibert is a freelance drinker and writer in Brooklyn.

Image courtesy of Brugal