Classic Cocktails: the Rum Curacao Cooler

Can't find many references about this drink other than in the Cocktail Database. Still, a simple but tasty drink.

Rum Curacao Cooler (Adapted)

1 oz aged rum

1 oz curaçao

0.5 oz lime juice

1 oz grapefruit juice

0.25 oz simple syrup

Build over ice in a chilled glass, top with soda water and stir briefly to combine.

The sip begins with a hit of grapefruit, segues into orange, rhum agricole, and lime, then finishes bittersweet-ly.

While not complicated, this was a very pleasant drink. I adjusted the recipe because, while I had grapefruit juice and soda water, I didn't have any grapefruit soda. I think the improvisation worked just fine. But if you do have grapefruit soda around, drop the grapefruit juice and simple syrup. Also, while I used rhum agricole to give this one a bit of a kick, any kind of aged rum should do. Jamaican would be my next choice, but something from Barbados, St. Croix, or Puerto Rico will be even more mellow.

Happy National Mai-Tai Day!

Thanks to Tiare for pointing out that it's National Mai Tai Day today (for a few more hours). 'Cause, you know, we need more reasons to drink the best cocktail in the world.

A quick recap of the history: the Mai Tai paternity battle has raged for decades, but the consensus now seems to be that Trader Vic can be credited with the definitive recipe (even if he may have been trying to copy one of Don the Beachcomber's drinks). The potentially apocryphal story is that Trader Vic invented the cocktail for Tahitian friends in 1944. The name comes from the Tahitian phrase that translates as "the best". Whether or not the story is true, the appellation certainly is.

As I've mentioned before, the Mai Tai is the classic tiki drink. It's a perfect example of how reshaping the basic rum sour recipe with multiple rums, liqueurs, and syrups can create drinks of unimaginable deliciousness. Even better, it's perfectly amenable to use with other base spirits.

However, the rum Mai Tai will always be the best. My current favorite is a combination of Smith & Cross, Appleton V/X, and Rhum J.M. Élevé Sous Bois with homemade orange liqueur and B.G. Reynold's orgeat.

Mai Tai
0.5 oz Smith & Cross
0.5 oz Appleton V/X
1 oz Rhum J.M. gold
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz orange liqueur
0.5 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with cracked ice, and pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass with more cracked ice.

While not quite as burley as Tiare's Mai Tai, this version has plenty of heft. Initially the Smith& Cross is a little too dominant, giving the drink a rough edge, but as the cracked ice does its work, the cocktail smoothes out and becomes simply delicious. All of the rums blend together perfectly. But between the S&C and Rhum J.M. you'd better watch out because it'll sneak up on you.

Rhum Agricole Reviews: Rhum J.M. VSOP

This is a continuation in my series reviewing the Rhum J.M. line of rhum agricole. The VSOP expression has been aged for a minimum of four years in American oak and French Limousin oak casks. This makes is several times older than the élevé sous bois expression and about half as old as the 1997 Vintage above it.

Nose: grassy, mild brown sugar, yeast, light alcohol, a touch of vanilla, gingerbread cookies, which becomes a bit more rum-like with water, gaining toffee and more sweet vanilla

Taste: lightly sweet up front, switching to grass, herbs (anise and fennel), brandy and toffee, which becomes creamier and reveals nutmeg after adding a bit of water

Finish: vegetal brandy, fairly short

This rhum is definitely a step up from the élevé sous bois bottling in terms of refinement and the nuance of the flavors. Age has made it a bit drier and more of the spice characteristics have emerged. Nutmeg seems to be a particularly strong element in the aged J.M. rhums, along with the usual grassy brandy flavors. It's set up well for sipping neat, both because of the extra time in the barrel and because its at a slightly more gentle 90-proof. I got incredibly lucky and was able to find this rhum for ~$35. It usually goes for $55-60, so that was quite a deal. Obviously I stocked up and hopefully I should have enough to last years if not decades. At the regular price it's a little bit hard to justify over either Rhum J.M. Gold, which has a much smaller unit price, or Clément VSOP, which is at least as good and a bit cheaper. And while Rhum J.M. VSOP is an incredibly good sipper, it also makes some rather solid cocktails. Much like the Clément VSOP, it's a shoe-in for a Donga Punch. The balance with Rhum J.M. VSOP is absolutely fantastic, with the rhum, grapefruit, lime and cinnamon syrup in perfect tension, making it hard not to drink it all down in one go. As a side note, white grapefruit, which also gets sold as 'Cocktail Citrus', is in stores right now and makes much better drinks than its pink cousin. There's something almost spicy about white grapefruit juice and it adds quite a bit of vibrancy to tiki drinks.

Macouba Punch
1.5 oz rhum agricole
0.5 oz dark Jamaican rum
1 oz grapefruit juice
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz passionfruit syrup
0.25 oz blackberry brandy
1 dash Angostura bitters
6 drops Herbsaint

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass.

This is a slight tweak on the Don's Beach Planter from Jeff Berry's Sippin' Safari, by replacing the pineapple juice with grapefruit and bumping up the r(h)ums by 50% to keep them from disappearing among the strong fruit flavors. The balance ends up being pretty good. The grapefruit and passionfruit synergize nicely, actually producing a flavor not too far off from pineapple, which confused me a bit when I took the first sip. The r(h)ums are right behind, with the funky notes hooking up with the Angostura bitters and Herbsaint. Overall this is another potent tiki drink that sneaks up on you, but provides a very satisfying experience.

Rhum Agricole Reviews: Rhum J.M. Élevé Sous Bois

Last week I reviewed the youngest member of the Rhum J.M. line. Next up is their Gold or Élevé Sous Bois (rough trans. "raised under wood") expression. This is a lightly aged rhum agricole that spent 12 months in small, new oak barrels before being bottled. That added a golden hue to the rhum and also quite a bit of complexity.

Nose: crême brulée, peanut butter cookies, grass, lemon and lime peel, a tiny wiff of vanilla and mild alcohol, which transforms into brown sugar, molasses, oak and butter after adding a bit of water

Taste: sweet and sour up front, nutmeg, grassy vegetal funk, and brandy further back, followed by a burst of pepper, which becomes a bit creamier after adding water

Finish: grassy brandy with a hint of blackberries and raspberries, which gains a bit of cookie flavor after dilution

For having spent only a year in the barrel, this spirit has gained a lot of flavors that aren't found its younger sibling. While primarily designed for use in cocktails, I'm actually quite happy sipping this rhum, especially after bringing down the strength just a bit. I find it quite interesting how water brings out more traditional molasses-based rum flavors in the nose, while retaining rhum agricole flavors on the palate.

While this rhum can be a little bit on the pricy side, the fact that it usually comes in 1 L rather than 750 mL bottles here in the states helps to keep the unit cost a little bit more manageable level. However you happen to enjoy it, this is an excellent spirit to add to your stash. Especially if you want a single rhum agricole to do double duty as both a sipper and for cocktails, this would be high on my list of recommendations.


Lune de Miel sur Martinique
1.5 oz rhum agricole élevé sous bois

0.5 oz lime juice

0.5 oz orange liqueur

0.25 oz Bénédictine

0.125 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

This drink is based on the Honeymoon Cocktail, which is itself a subtle tweak of the standard Sidecar. On the nose, the drink presents you with subdued herbal grassiness from the rhum and Bénédictine, with a nice dose of orange thrown in from the liqueur. The orange liqueur as leads the charge on the sip, which transitions into somewhat sharper and slightly bitter flavors from the Bénédictine and rhum, while the lime juice can be detected throughout, giving it a bit of snap. Put another way, it begins with a more tropical feel and then switches to something more like a classic cocktail. The high proof of the rhum agricole helps to keep up the backbone of the drink without becoming dominant. Overall I really like this cocktail because of the range of flavors that emerge as the drink crosses your palate and the drier finish that makes it decidedly more-ish.

Rhum Agricole Review: Rhum J.M. Blanc

This is the first in a series of reviews about the Rhum J.M. line of rhum agricole.

The Rhum J.M. distillery is located, as with all A.O.C. marque rhum agricoles, on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. It dates back to 1845, when Jean-Marie Martin, whose initials are still affixed to the distillery, bought the Fonds Préville sugar plantation. The distillery passed through a number of hands over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, finally being bought by Gustave Crassous de Médeuil in 1914. Since then it has stayed in the hands of his descendants and relatives.

The distillery is situated on the northern end of the island in the shadow of Mt. Pelée. This is an active volcano, most notably wiping out the city of St. Pierre in 1902. While its position is risky, this location provides excellent volcanic soils for growing sugar cane as well as bananas and pineapples. All of the steps of rhum agricole production are carried out on the estate. Beginning with growing and harvesting the sugar cane, which is pressed within one hour after it is harvested to produce cane juice, which is then fermented, distilled and aged.

Rhum J.M. Blanc is the youngest rhum agricole in their line. It is rested in stainless steel tanks for four months before being cut down to 100-proof and bottled. This makes for a very fresh rhum that is clearly an agricultural product. While some of its flavors can be a little off-putting for someone who is more used to smooth, mellow, vanilla-tinged white rums, rhum agricole blanc has its own charms. In some respects it is analogous to blanco tequila, which also tends to be be aggressively agricultural with a few rough edges that have not been smoothed by the brief rest before bottling.

Nose: funky apples and pears, alcohol, a wisp of vanilla, citrus, which becomes slightly less intense with water

Taste: light sugar cane sweetness up front, apples and raspberries mid-palate, shifting to citrus and the funky apples and pears near the back, which also becomes a bit softer with water and gains a bit of hogo near the back of the throat

Finish: a replay of the nose in flavors, which lingers with a bit of burn from the alcohol

While this rhum is an interesting experience neat, its real purpose is in cocktails. The classic choice would be the Ti' Punch and, as I mentioned above, it subs in to recipes calling for blanco tequila, like a Margarita, quite nicely. It also makes for an interesting twist on cocktails that call for white rum.

Hemingway Daiquiri
1.5 oz rhum agricole blanc
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.35 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass that has been rinsed with Maraschino liqueur.

This is hands down one of my favorite summertime drinks. The crispness of the rhum meshes with the bitter/spicy sweetness of the Maraschino perfectly while the sour lime and bitter grapefruit give it plenty of snap. For an extra-chilly drink, make it frappé style by blending the ingredients with a handful of crushed ice and pouring the liquid over a chilled glass full of crushed ice. It's like a Slurpy, but infinitely better.

While the recipe originally called for white rum and I like it a lot with Flor de Caña Extra Dry, the rhum agricole blanc adds another dimension to the drink. The funkiness of the rhum syncs with the bitter cherry notes of the Maraschino and just rides over the fruit juices. Surprisingly, the Rhum J.M. doesn't overwhelm the drink even though it's 100-proof. Lastly, it's best to go a little easy on the sugar as the Maraschino rinse will add a bit of sweetness and the drink it meant to be snappy.

Overall, I think Rhum J.M. Blanc is a great choice if you're looking for a blanc rhum agricole. The only downside is that it tends to be on the pricey side. Some of this is simply the fact that agricoles go for more than their molasses-based brethren, but J.M. Blanc is roughly the same price as Neisson and a bit more than La Favorite, the other two standard rhum agricole brands. However, if you happen to live in Washington, J.M. Blanc is currently discounted by ~$10 compared to the more standard price found down here in Oregon. I'd say that it's a good deal in the mid-30s, but a harder sell above $40/L. At that point there will probably only be a few dollars between the blanc and the slightly aged and significantly more complex J.M. Elévé Sous Bois, which will be reviewed in the next post of this series.