There are certain cocktails that can evoke memories of a favorite vacation spot. Whether it’s the streets of New Orleans or the white sands of the Florida Keys, one sip can transport you to the destination your heart has been lingering for. Let’s take a trip together through the history and recipes of these beachy rum cocktails that can take you on a vacation anytime. 

Daiquiri 

The first written recipe for the daiquiri that we know today was created by Jennings Cox, an American engineer that had moved to Cuba in the late 1800s. The drink gets its name after a small village that Cox lived near, at the southern tip of Cuba. The story is that Cox, wanting to make a popular gin punch recipe of the time, had to replace the gin and lemons, with rum and limes which were more plentiful in the area. He loved the drink so much that he brought the recipe back with him to the States and it became a fast hit. The drink rose to even greater heights during World War II because spirits like whiskey and vodka were rationed. Conversely, rum was widely available due to Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy, which opened greater trade relations with the Caribbean. A classic daiquiri has just 3 ingredients and requires very little preparation so it’s easy to see why it’s a bar classic. 

Ingredients 

• 2 ounces light rum 
• 1 ½ ounce  fresh lime juice 
• ½ ounce simple syrup 

Recipe 

Add rum, lime juice and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake vigorously until chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  

Hurricane  

The Hurricane cocktail has a long history in the United States, but it is a far cry from its original recipe in the 1930s when it debuted at New York’s World’s fair. It originally resembled lemonade in both taste and color whereas, today it is a much more vibrant red with more of a tropical flare.  The version known today was first created in the 1940s at the famous Pat O’Brien’s bar in New Orleans.  During World War II manufacturing shifted away from distilling, making whiskey scarce. Bar owners were forced to place large orders of Caribbean rum to get even a single case of whiskey, creating an overstock of rum. Pat O’Brien crafted the Hurricane in response to this abundance of rum, which has since become an American staple.  

Ingredients 

• 2 ounces light rum  
• 2 ounces dark rum  
• 2 ounces passion fruit juice 
• 1 ounce orange juice  
• ½ ounce fresh lime juice  
• ½ ounce simple syrup  
• ½ ounce grenadine  
• Garnish: an orange slice and cocktail cherry  

Recipe

Add all the ingredients except for the garnish into a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and then strain into a hurricane glass filled with ice.  Garnish with an orange slice and a cocktail cherry.

Piña colada 

Piña colada is Spanish for “strained pineapple” and is a delightful fruity cocktail hailing from Puerto Rico, where it has been the national drink since 1978. The earliest known origin story for the Piña Colada is from a Puerto Rican pirate in the 1800s. According to the legend the pirate Roberto Cofresí gave his crew a concoction of pineapple juice, coconut and rum, to boost their morale to prevent an impending mutiny. Another popular origin story comes from its reinvention by bartender Ramón “Monchito” Marrero in Puerto Rico who was working at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in 1954. He set out to create a drink that embodied Puerto Rico for a competition and so, he made a blended drink with coconut cream, pineapple juice, heavy cream and white rum to perfectly encapsulate the flavors of the island nation. The Pina colada is certainly an escape, you might even like it when you’re caught in the rain. 

Ingredients 

• 2 ounces Bacardi Superior 
• 1 ounce coconut cream  
• 1 ounce heavy cream 
• 6 ounces pineapple juice  
• ½ cup crushed ice 
• Garnish: pineapple wedge 

Recipe 

Add rum, coconut cream, heavy cream and pineapple juice into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a Hurricane glass and garnish with a pineapple wedge or add an umbrella for some extra beachy vibes.  

Mojito 

The Mojito is a fantastic beach drink that hails from Cuba. Its origin is more muddled than the actual drink itself, with several different accounts of its creation spanning over hundreds of years. The most popular version comes from a tale about Drake the Pirate, but the first printed recipe for the Mojito appears under the name “Mojo Criollo” from “El Arte De Hacer un Coktail y Algo Más” published in Cuba, in 1927. Today mojitos are often a busy bartender’s nightmare, yet it’s hard to resist this refreshing mint and lime concoction. 

Ingredients 

• 1 ½ ounce Havana Club 3-year rum  
• ≈ 10 fresh mint leaves  
• 2 tablespoons white sugar, or to taste 
• ½ medium lime, cut into 3 wedges 
• 3-4 ounces club soda, or as needed 

Recipe 

Add the mint and 1 wedge of lime into a highball glass and muddle together to release the oils of the mint. Next, add the sugar and remaining lime wedges and continue to muddle until sugar is dissolved into the lime juice. Add ice and rum and top the glass off with club soda.  

Rum runner 

Rum-Running is a term used for illegal bootlegging during the Prohibition era in the United States (1920–1933); when ships from the Caribbean transported cheap rum to Florida for speakeasies. The people who did this smuggling were appropriately called rum-runners and commonly inhabited the Florida Keys. However, the drink that shares its name with these Caribbean bootleggers of the bygone era was created decades later in the 1950s at “Holiday Isle Tiki Bar” in Islamorada, Florida. Supposedly, the bar had a surplus of rum and other liqueurs that needed to be moved to make room for more inventory that was arriving. So, the head bartender took different rums, juices and liqueurs and mixed them together like a mad scientist, to make this now famous signature drink of the Florida Keys. 

Ingredients 

• 1 ounce light rum 
• 1 ounce dark rum 
• 1 ounce banana liqueur  
• ½ ounce blackberry liqueur  
• 2 ounces pineapple juice 
• 1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed 
• ½ ounce grenadine 
• Garnish: cocktail cherry 
• Garnish: pineapple wedge 

Recipe 

Add the light rum, dark rum, banana liqueur, blackberry liqueur, pineapple juice, lime juice and grenadine into a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a hurricane glass filled with ice. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and cocktail cherry.

 

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