The Florida Keys are home water for us. Bombarda is a South Florida company, our Capitana is named for a galleon that went down on these reefs, and the idea for the whole brand arrived on an island seventy miles west of Key West.
So if you are driving down US-1 with time to stop, here is how we would spend it.
Key West
Tiki House, 430 Greene St — a short walk from Mallory Square, and the crew behind the bar make some of the best tiki cocktails in the Keys. If you want to see what a Mai Tai looks like when someone who cares is building it, start here. More on Tiki House.
Old Town generally rewards wandering. The good bars are not the ones with the loudest sign.
Plantation Key
Worth a stop for a reason most people driving past do not know.
The Capitana El Rubí, flagship of the 1733 Nueva España treasure fleet, sailed from Havana on a Friday the 13th carrying silver pesos and gold. A hurricane caught the fleet the next day and drove twenty-two ships onto these reefs. She rests today on a sandbar in about twenty feet of water off Plantation Key, and the site is popular with divers and snorkellers.
Our Capitana is named for her, and Captain James designed her bottle to tell that story. The full wreck story is here.
The Dry Tortugas
Seventy miles west of Key West, reachable only by ferry or seaplane. Fort Jefferson — sixteen million bricks on an island with no fresh water — and the guns still sitting on the walls.
This is where Bombarda started. A 2019 family trip, those cannons, and the realisation that the rums should carry their names. The Cannons of Fort Jefferson.
Take more water than you think you need. There is none on the island, which is how it got the name.
What to drink while you are down here
Heat and humidity argue for long drinks. A Cuba Libre with real lime. A Mojito built with Plunder, our silver blend and Gold for Best Silver Rum of the Year at WSWA 2024. A Painkiller if you have found shade.
In the evening, when it cools, Maravilla 8 neat over one large cube.
Finding a bottle
Bombarda is stocked by retailers and bars across Florida. See Find Bombarda for the nearest, or we ship direct from South Florida.
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