Rum, spiced syrup, pineapple juice and ginger beer, finished with bitters and cinnamon. A tall tropical drink with heat in the back of it — closer to a Dark and Stormy than a tiki punch, but with more going on.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Bombarda Culverin or Drake
- 1 oz spiced simple syrup
- 1 oz pineapple juice
- Ginger beer, to top
- Pineapple wedge, a dash of Angostura bitters and ground cinnamon, to garnish
Method of Attack:
- Combine the rum, spiced syrup and pineapple juice in a shaker with ice. Hold back the ginger beer.
- Shake until well chilled.
- Strain into a tall glass over fresh ice and top with ginger beer.
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge, one dash of bitters over the top, and a dusting of cinnamon.
Spiced syrup:
Equal parts sugar and water, warmed with a cinnamon stick, four cloves and a star anise. Simmer five minutes, cool, strain. Keeps two weeks refrigerated.
About This Recipe:
Edward Teach took a captured French slaver in 1717, mounted forty guns on her and renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge. For two years Blackbeard was the most feared name in the Caribbean and along the American coast — largely through reputation. He lit slow-match in his beard before boarding so he came through the smoke wreathed in it.
He ran the Revenge aground off North Carolina in 1718 and died in a boarding action later that year. The wreck was found near Beaufort Inlet in 1996.
Why this rum:
Count what is already sweet: the spiced syrup, the pineapple juice, and the ginger beer. Three sweet elements before the spirit arrives. This is precisely the drink a sweetened rum ruins — it goes flat and candied, and the ginger heat disappears.
Culverin is dry and peppery, which keeps it upright. Drake brings more molasses weight. Neither carries added sugar, no caramel colorant and no chill filtration.
Battle Notes:
Use a fiery ginger beer, not a mild one. If the drink tastes sweet rather than hot, the ginger beer is the culprit, not the recipe.
For the spiced-rum version, try Revenge, or see our rum punch guide.
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