The first cocktail of my Tiki in December week is one I’ve heard mentioned many times, but I’ve never had the opportunity to try, Planter’s Punch. Thankfully I decided I make a change to that. This drink is a lovely pink with an interesting brown cap of dark rum. The look of this drink alone screams out to me that it should be featured front and center in an ad for some tropical locale. The tastes is best summed with that same word, tropical. There is a ton of citrus flavor, not surprisingly, and the rum and grenadine flavors accent in the background.
This is definitely a drink that goes down very easy. Although the tartness from the lemon juice does slow you down at least a little bit. When you go to make this drink make sure you get a nice sweet orange juice. If you don’t you may need to tone down the lemon juice a bit so it isn’t overly sour. Experiment and see what you like.
I think this drink could also be a great party drink mixed up in advance, but still on the same day to preserve the fresh taste of the juice. Put it all in a big pitcher and let people pour their own with some cracked ice. Were you to take this route I’d go ahead and mix in the dark rum from the start. The visual appearance won’t be as striking but your guests won’t have the trouble of trying to float the rum on top of their own drinks.
Planter's Punch (Beachbum Berry's Grog Log)
1 1/4 oz Orange Juice 1 1/4 oz Lemon Juice 1/2 oz Grenadine 1 1/4 oz Light Rum 1/2 oz Dark Rum Orange Slice Maraschino Cherry Pineapple Chunk
1) Combine all but the dark rum in a shaker 2) Add crushed ice 3) Shake until well chilled 4) Pour into a tall glass 5) Float dark rum on top 6) Garnish with orange, cherry and pineapple