Avast ye, mateys! It’s my birthday month and it’s cocktail time! Both are two very good things. This month’s drink is tropical and delicious. I desperately need it because Massachusetts is getting buckets of rain just as we start to get a glimpse of spring. It also includes one of my favorite things: boozy fruit.
The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life by Sharon Pywell is my inspiration for this tasty drink and it required doing more research than normal. The book takes place in the fifties, features two sisters, and includes a pirate romance novel! So naturally, the latter means I needed to include rum. I also wanted to make a drink that was around at the time. Though there’s some debate on when the Mai Tai was invented, it’s rumored to have shown up in the mid-forties.
The cover has a lovely orange hue, which perfectly matches the color of the drink. Plus, there are some surprisingly darker elements in the novel, leading to the inclusion of both light and dark rums. The drink is light and fruity, perfect for a sunny day with the ocean waves in the background. But the added underlying spice of the dark rum gives the drink some complexity. It’s not just a bunch of sugary sweetness.
Oh, and I’m calling it “The Castaway.”
Shopping list:
White rum
Dark, spiced rum
Fruit juice blend
Pineapple juice
Pineapple (optional)
Proportions:
2 oz. white rum
2 oz. fruit juice
1 oz. dark rum
1 oz. pineapple juice
Directions:
- Combine all elements in a shaker full of ice.
- Shake it, sister!
- Pour into a glass with ice.
- Garnish with a pineapple slice.
Modifications and notes:
- For the pineapple juice, I just bought a can of pineapple slices and used the juice from that. A garnish and ingredient in one can! I also love munching on pineapple. But the slices aren’t necessary if you’d rather use the juice without the fruit.
- Use a flavored light rum. A coconut rum would be a nice addition and would add another element of flavor.
- I used a tropical juice blend from V8, but there were other flavors that probably could have worked with this recipe as well. There was a citrus-centric one that I was tempted to buy instead.
- Add a spritz of seltzer water for some extra bubbles!
Drink up and imagine yourself on a seafaring adventure with a roguish, swashbuckling pirate.
…
This post was sponsored by Flatiron Books and by The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life by Sharon Pywell ( A | BN | K | AB | WorldCat ), on sale wherever books are sold. Thank you!
There was a place called Pinky’s PuPu Bar and Grill in Kailua, Hawaii, right outside the Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Oahu. They are known for their HUGE Mai Tai’s. One Pinky’s Mai Tai is so delicious you have another because they taste just like fruit juice with a teeny bit of alcohol in them. HA! Then you stand up and hope to God you don’t stagger out of the restaurant. We were stationed in Hawaii for five years and the Mai Tai was my drink of choice. I have never had another since moving from there. I sure do miss those Mai Tais and Tropic Itches.
Also…
Happy birthday month, Amanda! Mine falls on Easter this year.
@KellyM: Thank you! Mine’s the 18th! My mom, biological dad, and even my boyfriend are all April babies.
@ Amanda:
Same here! My dad, mom, two nieces and a nephew are all in April.
Amanda, gurl, MAY YOUR BIRTHDAY BE FAN-DAMN-TASTIC! May you deal with no flaming assholes, have at least 1 fangirl feel moment over A Thing, and may you eat ALLLL OF THE THINGS without any food-consuming consequences! 🙂
I always use passionfruit run in Mai Tais; it would be good in your Castaway, too.
Happy Birthday to all us April Bitches-I’m celebrating on Easter this year, as are two of my cousins!