Rum Archives | Page 3 of 3

March 21, 2013October 29, 2020

10 Best Tropical Rum Drinks

Why is it that the taste of a tropical rum drink can sometimes transport us right back to a hammock on a beautiful beach or a great time with friends at one of our favorite beach bars? Still, whenever I taste a Piña Colada, I can close my eyes and almost feel a light sea breeze blowing while lounging on our boat in the evening during our first BVI sail….

We’ve put together a list of 10 Best Tropical Rum Drinks – those that we remember fondly from our past vacations in the sun. What tropical rum drinks would make your list?

1. Piña Colada

Can’t remember the first one I tried, but this is one frozen concoction of pineapple, coconut and rum is one that brings us right back to the islands…This one was enjoyed at The Top Of The Baths, Virgin Gorda.
Piña Colada Recipe
You may also like: The Best Piña Colada Recipe

2. The Painkiller

We sampled out first Painkiller when there was a Pusser’s in Cruz Bay on St. John many years ago… It has become one of our favorites and is available nearly everywhere in the Caribbean now – especially anywhere in the Virgin Islands. And it has a pretty tasty cousin too – The Nilla Killa!
Painkiller Recipe

3. Caribbean Rum Punch

We’ve enjoyed SO many rum punches from tropical locales far and wide that we should be some kind of Rum Punch experts by now. Every place seems to have their own “secret” recipe, but can’t seem to find too many we don’t care for. The difference? The type of rum used and the different fruit juices. One word? YUM!
Caribbean Rum Punch Recipe

4. Frozen Rum Runners

Just plain awesome. Nothing quite cools ya off as well as a Frozen Rum Runner on a hot tropical day. The non frozen variety are great as well, but the frozen ones, well, they’re kinda like a slushee with a REALLY good kick!
Frozen Rum Runners Recipe

5. Bushwhacker

Bushwackers’s. Oh. my. I got a taste of my first Bushwacker atop Paradise Point in St. Thomas many, many years ago and was pretty much hooked. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Chocolate, rum and the amazing overlook of Charlotte Amalie – wow, paradise.
Bushwacker Recipe

6. Bahama Mama

Pretty much tastes like a tropical paradise! Rum, rum and more rum, lemon juice, pineapple juice AND Kahlua. Careful – this one packs one large tropical kick!
Bahama Mama Recipe

7. Mojito

Well, if you’ve been following us long, you already know that we are nuts for mojitos. Pictured here is the Perfect Mojito (our favorite) although we’ve posted a ton of fruity variations that are all quite tasty! Check our post: 10 Mojito Variations for other delicious Mojito Recipes!
Perfect Mojito Recipe

8. Banana Daiquiri

Creamy banana goodness mixed with rum? Ahhh… yes. Here’s one that we really enjoyed at Saba Rock Resort in the BVI (pre-Irma). Maybe the great view had something to do with it??
Banana Daiquiri Recipe

9. Mai Tai

Aloha! First enjoyed on a dinner cruise in Hawaii, this wonderful concoction brings back memories of swaying palm trees and the sound of the ukelele … Requires a few more ingredients than some of the other tropical rum drinks listed, but well worth it!
Mai Tai Recipe

10. Dirty Banana

One of the most searched for recipes on our website, this Jamaican delight must be a favorite with many of you. Dark rum, Tia Maria and rum cream liqueur all mixed in with a tasty banana. Ya mon!
Dirty Banana Recipe

Cheers!

Find more rum recipes here:

Rum Recipe Picture Directory

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Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

December 3, 2011August 12, 2020

Rumbullion! Spiced Rum

We received a small box in the mail yesterday from the UK liquor distributor Master of Malt containing a sample of one of their newest offerings, Rumbullion! Spiced Rum.

Rumbullion! is described on the Master of Malt website as a cockle-warming spiced concoction from Professor Cornelius Ampleforth, based on the kind of rich, full-bodied rums the seafaring fraternity would have enjoyed centuries ago. At the core of this fabulous winter warmer lies a blend of the very finest high proof Caribbean rum, to which was added creamy Madagascan vanilla and a generous helping of zesty orange rind. A secret recipe was followed, and the Professor finished his hearty tipple with a handful of cinnamon and cloves and just a hint of cardamom.

We opened the sample and sniffed, immediately detecting the pleasant aroma of orange, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. Over ice we took a sip, letting the warm spices wash over our tongues. This certainly would be a good sipping rum for the cold winter months. In the Professor’s own words: “’tis a most heart-warming tipple that will surely see off the Winter blues. Whilst this is rum, it’s certainly not a rum thing by any means and I recommend you enjoy it neat, or with ice and squeeze of fresh lime.”

We found the taste to be very pleasant with a nice long finish. We are certainly not rum experts, but we enjoyed it quite a bit and found ourselves wishing we had a much bigger bottle in front of us! Guess you could say our cockles were warmed!!

The full size bottle is really good looking, and in the words of Master of Malt: Rumbullion! proudly flaunts its maritime inspiration with a label that bears a hand-drawn illustration of a Navy grog tub, emblazoned with the words: “The Queen, God Bless Her”, and just like all of the fine spirits in Professor Cornelius Ampleforth’s arsenal, each bottle is wrapped in crinkled brown paper, wound with twine and sealed with black wax. Ordering information

On a side note – Master of Malt is in the UK, so unfortunately the shipping is costly to those of us in the US, but they offer a Premium Rum Tasting Set that would make an excellent gift for anyone wanting to sample different rums before buying full sized bottles. Be sure to check them out!

February 22, 2011August 12, 2020

Bones Rum

As we prepared for a recent USVI adventure, we read about the Bones Rum shops in St. Thomas and St. John and had to add it to the list of places to visit. Little did we know, we would actually end up visiting both Bones Rum locations the same day!
(Note: the Bones Rum Shop closed in St. John in 2013, so be sure to visit Bones at their store in St. Thomas)

We weren’t able to find an address for the Bones Rum Shop in St. Thomas but read that it was located across from Charlotte Amalie, so we started walking. After searching a bit, we ran right into it. It’s located on Waterfront Drive just a little west of where you catch the ferry (from Charlotte Amalie) to St. John. (Find Bones Rum on our St. Thomas Map)

Bones Rum, St. Thomas

The store carries a variety of branded merchandise and features a bar with free rum tasting and “self pour drinks” – excellent concept! We eagerly agreed to the free rum tasting and must agree with the Bones Rum slogan “Smooth Rum for the Rough Seas”…

For $8.00 you can get a glass of one of the featured varieties of frozen drinks (including Painkillers) and then add the rum yourself! For an extra $3.00 you can get it in a Bones Rum glass that you can take home.

We sampled some of their tasty BBQ sauces along with our rum drinks.

At the time of writing, Bones Rum is only available in their store on St. Thomas, so be sure to bring a bottle (or two) home if you like it.

Here’s one of the recipe’s from the Bones Recipe Card

Pirates Grog
(makes one)

2. oz. Bones Rum
2 oz. water
3/4 oz. Lime Juice
1 tsp Brown Sugar
2 cloves
1 Cinnamon Stick

Heat in a saucepan and serve in a mug.

Find the Bones Rum Store on our St. Thomas Map

To see more posts on these and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

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Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

February 10, 2011August 13, 2019

Cruzan Rum Factory Tour

We just returned from enjoying a week of Rum Therapy in St. Croix. We’d never been to St. Croix before, so there were many things we wanted to check out. One of the top things on our list was a tour of the Cruzan Rum Factory.

Finding the Cruzan Rum Factory was an adventure in itself. For those of you who have been on St. Croix, you may know that there aren’t a ton of signs directing you to different sites, and the map didn’t show many of the small roads. We probably could have purchased a more detailed map somewhere, but how lost could we get on an island????….

Anyway, we headed to the west end of the island. John was driving, ’cause they drive on the left side and I volunteered to navigate. He may have ended up with the best end of the deal! We turned on 64 as the map indicated, only to find that 64 was actually a loop and we needed to be clear on the other side of that loop. Finally figuring it out, we saw the factory through the foliage. As we turned in, we could smell a wonderfully sweet aroma…molasses!

We found our way to the building where the tour started and anxiously awaited our guide. Tours at the Cruzan Rum Factory are $5.00 per adult and run continuously from 9:00-11:30a.m. and 1:00-4:15p.m.

Turns out, our tour guide was Karen Nelthropp Low, a member of the Nelthropp Family that has produced Cruzan Rum for 7 generations on St. Croix. She certainly knew her stuff and eagerly answered all of our questions and then some.

St. Croix used to produce quite a bit of sugar cane until the 1960’s and up to that point the Cruzan Distillery used mainly molasses made from local sugar cane. Now a high end molasses from Guatemala is shipped into the local port daily and then delivered by trucks to the distillery.

We began the tour by walking past enormous vats of molasses, tropical rain water and yeast fermenting. It is quite the active process with lots of bubbling and gurgling occurring. The aroma was strong and sweet and it was tempting to just stick your finger in to give it a taste.

When the bubbling and gurgling stop, the molasses has fermented and is ready for the next step.

Karen told us the the Nelthropp family and staff sit down daily to test rum in various stages of production to ensure the quality of the product. Wonder if they’re hiring?

We also learned that Cruzan takes extra time and care to remove the fusels (heads and tails as she explained it) from the rum during distillation. The fusel oil is an impurity that can cause a slightly antiseptic smell and taste and can contribute to hangovers! We inadvertently tested this statement several times during this trip and must say – they may have something here!

The way in which a rum’s age is calculated was a bit confusing, but I found it quite interesting that Cruzan uses one-time use bourbon barrels from Jim Beam Bourbon Distillery to age their rums.

After appropriately aging, the rum is removed from the barrel by tapping out the cork and emptying the rum and allowing it to flow from a cistern to a holding tank.

The rum is sent to Florida to be bottled. Cruzan used to bottle its rums in St. Croix, but due to the increase in demand for their rum, they needed to move that part of the process off island.

The tour concludes with a rum tasting and a cocktail of your choice! We had a good time and learned a bit about rum manufacturing. The tour is well worth it if you get to St. Croix someday! Cruzan Rum website: http://cruzanrum.com/

More posts on St. Croix that you might be interested in:

Rum Therapy On St. Croix

Turtle Beach, Buck Island, St. Croix

Sandy Point, St. Croix

Snorkeling at Buck Island

Glass Bottom Kayaking in a Bioluminescent Bay

Mt. Pellier Domino Club, St. Croix

Copyright©Rum Therapy
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC. All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.