I'm starting to get behind if I am going to achieve 52 exotic cocktails and blog posts in 52 weeks. Guess I need to make more drinks ...
This week we have a cocktail from Jeff Berry's brilliant Potions of the Caribbean book - Cesar's Rum Punch. This cocktail hails from the Grand Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince Haiti, c. 1947/1973*. Slightly coincidentally, I happen to currently be reading Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana - the coincidence being that Greene was somewhat of a regular at the Oloffson, and after a number of vists which began in the 50s, was a big fan of Oloffson barman Joseph Cesar's rum punches. Apparently Greene talked Cesar into giving him the recipe for his famous rum punch, based around Rhum Barbancourt.
*There's some contention about what the "real" rum punch recipe is; Trader Vic published a recipe purporting to be Cesar's rum punch recipe in his Bar Guide. However, in a 1973 issue of Playboy Oloffson owner Al Seitz "dismissed Vic's recipe ... and revealed Joseph's actual recipe" which I present below, per Jeff Berry:
2.00 oz. Rhum Barbancourt**
2.00 oz. fresh lime juice
1.00 oz. grenadine
3 drops Angustura bitters (you'll be hapier with 3 full dashes)
Teaspoon / two cubes white sugar
Dissolve sugar in lime juice. Add to other ingredients and shake well with ice cubes. Strain into a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a pineapple wedge, speared to a cocktail cherry, and lime and orange wheels. Finish with a sprig of mint.
** Berry advises, "you cannot substitute another brand of rum for Joseph's punch." Luckily Rhum Barbancourt is fairly easy to find at your better liquor stores.
To be quite honest, I found this cocktail to be fairly mediocre. Not bad, not great. Certainly refreshing. Given the relative ease in putting one together, I can certainly recommend it if you have the Barbancourt on hand. Not bad to keep one in one hand with Our Man in Havana in the other on a hot summer day.
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| Cocktail with my summer reading list - Our Man in Havana and Tales of the South Pacific |
I haven't seen the film yet, but here's a fabulous Tropicana scene from the film version of Our Man in Havana:
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