I’ve never been sailing, never been to Bermuda and, at least to my knowledge, am not the slightest bit royal. What I am is deeply enamored with this cocktail. As I’ve said before I can always tell when I really like a cocktail because I keep wanting to make it for myself. The wanting part of that sentence being the key. I’ll try recipe after recipe for cocktails I don’t much like, just in case there might be a diamond in the rough. This one, like a few of my other favorites before it, I mix willingly and with a great sense of eagerness.
I didn’t stray far from the proverbial cocktail nest with this drink. The recipe I found in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails but it originally dates back to the Bartenders Guide by Trader Vic. Whom, you’ll likely note, is the very same who’s known for a host of delightful Tiki drinks. Dr. Cocktail notes that this is an “early example of Trader Vic’s burgeoning tropics-oriented (but yet to be Tiki) repertoire.” I would agree whole-heartedly. This drink includes falernum, a classic Tiki syrup, but keeps it simple and elegant. There are a couple other recipes that I found, but they really only vary slightly. For example, the Difford’s recipe ups the rum to 2 1/2 oz but leaves everything else the same.
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail (Cocktail Hacker)
2 oz Barbados Rum 3/4 oz Lime Juice 1 tsp Cointreau 2 tsp Falernum 1) Combine in a shaker with ice 2) Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass
Despite the other slight variations I found, this recipe really doesn’t need modification at all. I only changed the original a tiny bit, altering 2 dashes to 1 tsp for the Cointreau simply to make it easier to mix. For the rum, I find it a bit odd that a cocktail for the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club uses Barbados rum but, hey whatever. I personally opted for Montanya Platino. It’s a white rum made here in Colorado that I really like. The resulting cocktail is lightly sweet with awesome spiciness from the Falernum. Here’s a quote from my tasting notes that really sums it up nicely. “I just want to keep drinking.”
To see how a Barbados rum would change the cocktail I used the only one I have on hand. Namely, Mount Gay Extra Old. This rum is fantastic, but the cocktail it produces is more focused on the flavors of the rum . I didn’t like this version as much as the white rum version, but I certainly wouldn’t refuse to drink it either.
Finally, falernum. I used my homemade stuff, but you could easily use commercial offerings as well. The only caveat to keep in mind is that each Falernum will have a slightly different flavor profile so you may need to tweak the ratio a bit to get it to your liking.