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Hide the car keys. I mean it. Right this minute. This rum punch, straw sip-able as it is, will land you on your…well, you know. However, it is all worth it for the feeling of being transported to a Caribbean island, face kissed by the sun and hair gently blown by a salty breeze. My mum, who grew up in Jamaica, is a fan of rum punches. It wasn’t until I started doing a little research on these tropical cocktails, however, that I learned the formula for making the perfect punch. It goes something like this: “One part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong and four parts weak.” Is this the Jamaican idea of a nursery rhyme? I must ask my mum the next time I talk to her. It seems equal to the little ditty my dad used to sing to my eldest son to soothe him when he was a baby: “Noilly Prat and Beefeater make the best martinis.” Important grandfatherly advice.
After looking through many rum punch recipes, it seems as though the common ingredients to use for the “sweet” part of the formula are a simple syrup (sugar and water) or grenadine syrup. I made a little departure from the standard and cracked open some bottles of ginger beer (like ginger ale, but with more of a gingery kick), which is a drink my mum introduced to me when I was a kid. I replaced the usual pineapple and orange juice mixture with straight pineapple juice for the “weak” part.
Now, if you like rum punch, but prefer to sip on something a little tamer, decrease the amount of rum and increase the pineapple juice. Sit on a sunny patio, crank the Bob Marley tunes and pretend you are in paradise…even if just for an hour.
The recipe:
In a pitcher, combine fresh lime juice…
ginger beer, dark Jamaican rum and pineapple juice. Stir well to combine.
Fill glasses with ice and pour in the punch.
If you prefer to make the punch in advance, mix together all of the ingredients except the ginger beer. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Stir in the ginger beer immediately before serving.
Other drink recipes with rum:
Cookin’ Canuck’s Frozen Strawberry and Lime Daiquiri
Cookin’ Canuck’s Watermelon Mojitos
White on Rice Couple’s Island Taxi Curacao Cocktail
Once a Chef’s Rhubarb Rum Cocktail
From the kitchen of Cookin Canuck.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 cup ginger beer
- 1 1/2 cups Jamaican dark rum
- 2 cups pineapple juice
- Ice
Instructions
- In a pitcher, combine lime juice, ginger beer, rum and pineapple juice. Stir well to combine.
- Fill glasses with ice and pour in the punch.
- If you prefer to make the punch in advance, mix together all of the ingredients except the ginger beer. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Stir in the ginger beer immediately before serving.
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
With a glass of this all my yearnings for the beach can be halted…at least for a few minutes! haha
This looks like a wonderful summer cocktail! A quick vacation in a glass
Dark rum, ginger beef and pineapple. Take me away island breezes.
Delightful combo. Thanks.
I love a good rum punch and this looks so simple and delicious!
Thanks for giving me my weekend plans!
oh.my.gosh. i want this like you wouldn’t believe! totally normal before 6am, right?
This looks like the perfect drink for a summery Friday evening! Yum!
“One part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong and four parts weak.” <– Love this little rhyme! Alright, you've got me sold. I want… No, need, to make this this weekend. But I think I'll have to drink it after baby is down for the night otherwise he is going to be putting me to bed!
Does it make me an alcoholic to want this at 8am ? I will pretend I am on a cruise ship and on vacation! Love this one!
I’m on my way. Then I’ll drop the keys. Once I’m there. Sipping. Uh, huh.
Yes, please. I”ll take two.
This sounds like the perfect thing to beat this heat wave we’re having. I love ginger beer!
I’m all about being transported to a tropical island and I’m all about this fabulous cocktail! Sounds amazing Darla! The perfect summer drink on a hot summer day too.
Sounds like perfection to me!
Your recipes never disappoint Dara! Have you ever been to a True Food Kitchen? They have a ginger soda that is awesome!
Great drink for summer time!
This drink sounds deliciously dangerous!!
A great drink for the upcoming weekend. Count me in!
WOO HOO!! I can hear those steel drums now!!
Need to whip up a batch of these right now – cuz it’s 5 o’clock SOMEWHERE, right??
Dara, I think you’ve started a party!
When I lived in Barbados (yeah, it was pretty awesome), I drank my fair share of Bajan Rum Punch. And I heard that same rhyme! I really love your take on this, it sounds amazing.
I love summer cocktails and I’ve had a thing for caribbean rum punches since my friend’s dad showed me how to make one back in university. His recipe is similiar to yours, except he adds Angostura Bitters. No matter what, the version here looks fantastic and I love ginger beer mixed into cocktails. Thanks Dara for sharing.
I like your parents, they sound like a hoot, so much like my family who always managed to find a reason to open the bar, long before cocktail hour…. and that hour was a long one………. very nice refresher, well, don’t know about the next day…
Looks like a perfect summertime drink. Loved the photos of your boys with Kalyn’s nephews!
You had me at “Hide the car keys”! This sounds like paradise!
Haha. I love this post, great intro. Your parents sound like a wonderful bunch.
This recipe is so simple and delicious looking. I will definitely be trying this, this weekend. Paradise, here I come!
Sounds wonderful. Refreshing.
What a fabulous summer cocktail! With this awful summer heat, I’m afraid I would slug one down and pass out…LOL…I’m a bit of a lightweight. But it sound absolutely marvelous! I’d just have to pace myself
That’s a refreshing drink. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, please! So ready to kick back with some of this! I went to a Rumposium recently, where it was suggested (for parties) to make up the rum punch, extra-strength, in one of those giant igloo water coolers you see on the back of road construction trucks for the workers. The day before the party, freeze water in a large mixing bowl (the diameter of which should be smaller than the opening of the cooler), then drop the giant “ice cube) into the cooler about an hour before party time!
Oh I can’t wait to share this drink with my mother in law. The first time I ever heard of Ginger Beer was when we spent our first Christmas with them. That’s one of her holiday traditions. I do believe she needs a cool refreshing summer version now don’t you
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Oh, you lovely woman, you. I had my first rum punch in the “Islands” a couple of months ago, and I was “delighted.” (My husband did have to carry me to bed) but boy was it worth it- delicious! Thanks for the recipe- I am breaking it out at my next party
wow! I’ve been a Reeds drinker for years and was looking for a rum-and-ginger recipe. I will give this a try – sounds delicious! thank you!
Oh, Dara, this punch recipe looks so divine! Drinking it will remind us of all our Caribbean trips plus our time in Bermuda where we first enjoyed ginger beer.
Very, very nice. Definitely going on the “to make” list and will be making it soon–thanks so much!
Shirley
Dara, It reminds me of something I had in the Caribbean called “the killer bee”. I’ve GOT to try this… at home, when I’m not planning on driving.
Oh WOW! I have never tried ginger beer but must search for it now. What a fantastic cocktail, love it!
I too spent a good chunk of my childhood in the Caribbean. And though I was just a kid I recognize this luscious concoction as a super limey “Dark and Stormy”. I recognize that “Nursery Rhyme” too. Ha, what a childhood I had. GREG
Mmm my kind of cocktail!
Oh Yeah!! Give me the pitcher and a straw. Make that two straws I’m willing to share.
Perfect to beat the heat, thanks!
This sounds like a summer drink created just for me – everything I love! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
how i love rum punch! this takes me back to our honeymoon (just a mere 3 months ago) in the caribbean where it seemed like we drank gallons of the stuff. delicious! i’ll be trying out this recipe for sure. =)
Look at you getting all saucy with this rum punch! I don’t drink booze but if I did I would be knocking down your door for a glass of this. Neat that your mom is from Jamaica.
Swoon…what a great way to enjoy a lazy, steamy summer afternoon. I know what I’m doing this weekend!
LOVE this. My favorite flavors in one frosty glass
I must try this! I’m from the Bahamas and I miss these flavors.
I just had a Moscow Mule the other night which is made with Ginger Beer. So refreshing and now…I can ‘almost’ taste this!
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