The last days of summer cocktails

Though the summer is almost behind us, it’s not too late to ‘wow’ your friends and family with your killer bartending skills. With the help of Worthy Park Estate Rum and Alexander Kong, Worthy Park Estate’s commercial manager in charge of spirits, here are four signature cocktails that are sure to have even the staunchest rum haters coming back for a refill.

WORTHY PARK SWIZZLE

For this summer take on the Queen’s Park Swizzle you will need:

8 oz fresh mint leaves

2 oz Worthy Park Select Jamaica Rum

0.75 oz lime juice

1 oz cane sugar syrup

2 drops cocktail bitters

Much like the locally popular Mojito, the Worthy Swizzle requires the mixologist to lightly press mint into a glass with a spoon. Once those leaves are muddled to your liking, add the remaining lime juice, syrup, bitters and your rum. Then fill your glass to 3/4 with crushed ice. Now like the drink’s name your swizzle (or as non-professionals say, mix) until stirred well. Garnish with mints prig, lime and enjoy.

Speaking on the drink, Kong said, “It’s very similar to a Mojito, in terms of the ingredients, but with a Swizzle, it’s drier, its more complex and using the Jamaican rum actually emphasises a lot of this flavours.”

The summer cocktail pairs well a dish that has complex yet muted flavours, like seafood. While instinctual a seafood pasta comes to mind, something more unconventional like shrimp ceviche should definitely be your first choice.

POMEGRANATE PUNCH

This Caribbean favourite requires:

1.5 oz Worthy Park 109 Rum

0.75 oz triple sec

0.75 oz lime juice

0.5 oz grenadine

Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker and fill with to 3/4 with crushed ice. Once combined, shake for at least 45 seconds and strain into a rock glass. Explaining the process Kong said, “We shake the cocktail to chill it, and it’s the fastest way to chill the cocktail for limited dilution but it also aerates it a lot.”

To enhance the sweetness of the punch, this drink pair well with roasted beets with goat cheese and toasted pumpkin seed. The meal, which is texturally the same, acts as a palate cleanser so every sip of the punch feels like the first, blowing you away all over again.

WORTHY’S OLD FASHIONED

This is not your father’s Old Fashioned. To make this drink you will need:

2 oz Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve Rum

½ oz simple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

All this drink requires is the mixologist to stir the ingredients together in a rock glass. Though the Old Fashioned is traditionally made with Bourbon, Kong explained that this version is truer to form than many of the bastardisations that began to pop up in the 1800 across the Americas. “The Old Fashioned started to get bastardised when they were putting [things] like pineapples and melons and all sorts of different stuff in it,” he explained. “And a lot of the serious whisky drinkers were getting a little upset with it. So they went and they said ‘give me the whisky drink, but the old fashioned way of making it’. So that’s how the Old Fashioned gained the name because they just wanted a spirit, sugar and bitters.”

Nothing brings out the flavours of an aged rum like meat. Served alongside pork tenderloin with bacon jam, breadfruit purée and green beans. This is sure to bring out the dark sweet flavours of the Worthy Park Reserve Rum. This is not an everyday pairing, best to save this one for the special occasions.

CHOCOLATINI

This ode to the Espresso Martini requires:

2 oz Worthy Park Rum Cream

2 oz Rum-Bar Vodka Classic

2 oz chocolate liqueur

1 tbsp chocolate syrup, plus more for drizzling

Ice

Shaved chocolate (optional)

The most difficult part of making this concoction is decorating the Martini glass to perfection with chocolate syrup. Once that hurdle is crossed, pour the remaining ingredients into a shaker and shake well. Pour into your freshly designed glass and garnish with shaved chocolate.

While very few things could be better than chocolate on chocolate, this dessert drink benefits from stepping away from the monotony of sameness. Paired with a rustic raspberry almond tart, the acidity of the pastry really helps the nutty bitter noted in the rum cream to flourish.

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com