the thirsty doctor

Lisa Kadane is a newspaper and magazine writer who likes to travel and partake in the destination’s preferred tipple, whether it’s rum, wine, a margarita or whisky sour. She’s been sharing her thoughts on spirits and cocktails since 2010.

Taste of the tropics

Caribbean cocktails will take you back to island time

Inside a shady rum shack on Brandons Beach in Barbados, patrons line the bar escaping the heat and quenching their thirst with local Deputy beers and icy glasses of rum punch. I take a sip of the national cocktail and enjoy the taste of dark rum, sugar and lime spiced up with Angostura bitters. It’s good. “Can you tell me your rum punch recipe?” I ask the bartender at Rascals. “We can’t say,” she says in a lilting Bajan accent paired with the hint of a smile. “It’s a secret.”

Every rum shack in Barbados makes their own punch, and each also claims that theirs is the best. On a hot, lazy day, you’ll agree they’re probably right. In fact, on any given Caribbean island, a cocktail with good rum and lots of ice will give you the attitude adjustment you’re looking for, as I discover on a recent holiday. In Castries, St. Lucia, a Bounty and Coke tastes like heaven, while in Puerto Rico—the birthplace of the Piña Colada— local Bacardi white is best blended with pineapple juice, coconut cream and ice. On Antigua, self-proclaimed “drink connoisseur” Cassim Greene introduces me to an Antigua Smile, a happy mix of white rum, crème de banana and pineapple juice that conspires to make me grin. Afterwards, the orange, lime green, turquoise and yellow painted homes and buildings that line the narrow roads of St. John’s appear even brighter. The truth about rum, says Greene, is that it helps beat the heat, and acts as a social lubricant when locals go “liming” after work (translation: hanging out at a rum shack and shooting the breeze, basically). It’s no wonder we want to bring back tropical cocktail recipes to get us through the last days of winter. Back at Rascals in Barbados, I manage to get the coveted recipe from the bartender after ordering a couple more drinks. It pretty much follows the classic rum punch rhyme: One of sour (lime), two of sweet (sugar), three of strong (rum), four of weak (water).

“You just kind of play around with it,” she says. I intend to do just that when I trade powdery sand and jade waters for white snow and blue ice back in Canada. Tropical cocktails for a taste of the C ar ibbean in C anada 3 dr inks to transport you 1

1 Anti gua Smile 1.5 oz white rum 0.75 oz crème de banana 2 oz pineapple juice Squeeze lime Pinch sugar Garnish: Skewered cherry and pineapple wedge Method: Add all ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass over fresh ice. Garnish. — Recipe courtesy Cassim Greene, Antigua

2 Rum Punc h, Barbad os 2 oz Mount Gay Eclipse 1 oz simple syrup 0.5 oz fresh lime juice 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters Pinch nutmeg Garnish: Skewered cherry Method: Add rum, syrup and lime juice into a cocktail shaker with generous ice. Shake until thoroughly chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass over fresh ice, add bitters, nutmeg and garnish. — Recipe courtesy Rascals rum shack, Barbados

3 Piña Colada , Puert o Ric o 2 oz Bacardi white 1 oz coconut cream 1 oz heavy cream 6 oz fresh pineapple juice 1/2 cup crushed ice Garnish: Pineapple wedge and cherry Method: Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a cocktail glass, garnish and serve.

— Recipe courtesy Hilton Caribe, San Juan, Puerto Rico

time for “ liming "

3