Last updated on May 14, 2006 at 1645
Rum, Rhum & Ron
If you can't drink in style, why drink at all?
"You can't lay on the beach and drink
rum all day if you don't start in the morning."
Ministry of Rum site
Toasts & Quotes
(personal ranking indicated by 
)
5/11/06
- This paqe is now in the process of updating; expect several changes
to it daily for the next few days/weeks/months/whatever!
These pages are of my own observations about some of the various concoctions that I have enjoyed and some of the rums of the Caribbean that I've tried. Also included will be some of the rum shops and beach bars that we've run across. If you have any suggestions for additions, send 'em to me here.
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Hey, they got rum, but that's about the best I can say for this place. |
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If it's on your way, stop in. |
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Good, basic bar. |
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One of the finer spots. Give it a try! |
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Worth a special effort to get to this one! |
Grenada 12 07 N, 61 40 W
St. Georges
Tropicana Inn
- Ain't a "beach
bar", but excellent nonetheless! The Inn is a good place to stay,
right on the main bus line to Grand Anse Beach and a short walk to the
Carenage. If you've got the guts for it, try
some "Under the Counter" - G'wan, I dare you!
Nutmeg - St. Georges on the Carenage - good
rum punch, cold Carib beer. Used to be the hangout before boarding for Windjammer passengers.
Nimrod's - Woburn Bay - I keep planning to check it! Will let you know.
Carriacou - 12 30 N, 61 27 W -One gas station and 200 rum shops!
- Snagg's Place -
Damn!!! This place is
FANTASTIC!!!
Best lobster I ever had!!! Yes, that includes Sunshine's on Nevis! Rum punch is also incredible! It's about 200 yards to the right of the dock on Hillsboro, just across from the DollarMan's store, behind the old water tank on the right side of the road. Just go through the bamboo door and make your reservations with Jenny or Cuthbert. If you're on the Yankee Clipper, get Sylvester to call ahead for you, he's a friend of theirs. Here's a pic of their lobster supper in the works, and another pic of them ready to serve!
Hardwood Bar
- At Tyrell Bay. One half of one of their rum punches knocked my
wife,Sandra, on her ***. Really a nice beach here, just catch a
bus from Hillsborough. Callaloo
by the Sea - sort of an upscale beach bar in Hillsborough, good food.
Hillsborough Bar - aka: Eddies - sadly, now
defunct - made an fantastic Jack Iron Rum Punch. Seems Eddie and his
"friend" had a breaking-up and split everything down the middle
(including the sailboat - with a chainsaw!). Eddie headed to England!Alva's
Restaurant and Bar
- Sadly, now defunct! Had a good time there for supper with Capt.
Neil and the Chief Engineer of the Clipper. After supper, a bunch
of other passengers stopped by and Neil talked them into doing shots of
Jack Iron with us - we knew what was coming, they didn't. NICE!
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Union Island-
Palm Island
-
Mayreau 12° 39' 0 N, 61° 22' 60 W
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Tobago Cays
Better take a portable beach bar!
Canouan
-
Mustique
Basil's
- grossly overrated "place for the rich and famous", pretentious as
hell! Not worth the trip.Bequia
Whaleboner - 
St. Lucia
Martinique
Dominica
B&C Bar - not
truly a "beach bar" but Bernadette can still provide cold beers and
warm hospitality. Off to the right about a half mile from the Windjammer
dock, on the right. Wee, tiny place. It's a four-stooler with a
great Tarzan mural on the wall in the back. See if you can talk
Bernadette into giving you a shot of Dominican Rum, aka white lightning! Never
let 'em see you sweat! We
looked for it the last time we were there; sadly, it appears to be no more.
St. Kitts & Nevis
Sunshine's - This used to be the standard
against which beach bars were measured.
Gotten a wee “foo-foo” these days,
still the best place on Nevis that I’ve been though.
The multi-megabuck Four Seasons Resort tried to get rid of Sunshine's for years and lost. Now it's in their ads! Improves greatly after every hurricane. Get there early and order the lobster dinner.
I almost had the record on
Killer Bees there awhile back; Capt. Casey was the relief captain of S/V
Polynesia, and had announced that we were going to be on Nevis until midnight,
beach barbecue and the whole bit. Noel Porter and I had started working
on Killer Bee's at about 11am. By 5pm I had downed 15 of these libations
and was within 1 of the record. At that time, our magnificent captain decided
that it looked like rain and that we should return to the ship. I've
since forgiven, since he’s been pretty cool everytime we’ve sailed with him
since then – even introduced me to the “Get Wet” on St. Martin!!
Next morning, on St. Kitt's, I
decided to wander up to the fort. Couldn't find my )*^%$Q shoes, seems
that they'd abandonded me on Nevis! Had to hunt up a shoe store wandering
around in AquaSox - no fun.
Antigua
Guadeloupe
16 15 N, 61 35 W
Guadeloupe
St. Barthélemy/St. Barths
Le Select - No beach; but a "gotta-go-there" anyhoo. Site of Buffett's "Cheesburger In Paradise". Bar on Shell Beach in Gustavia - Can't remember it's name, you can't miss it, it's the only one!Iles des Saintes
St. Martin (French Side)
All of Orient Beach - wall-to-wall upscale beach bars
- lots of "nekiddity"!
St. Maarten (Dutch Side)
Phillipsburg
GET WET BAR -
on the "Boardwalk" between the Holland House and the Pasanggrahan.
$1 for a Hieneken! Band on Friday night's. Phil and his
wife are GREAT - just watch out for Karaoke Night. Phil's son, Jason, is now running the place.
Greenhouse-
Twofer Happy hour from 4:30 - 7pm!! Right at the Bobby's Marina
dock where you meet the launches for the S/V Polynesia Reggae Cafe -
Used to be right next to the dock where you boarded the Poly. Great place to sit on
the balcony and pick out "Poly people vs. polyester people". It has now moved near the new foo-foo terminal. George's
- Heard that it's now closed, due to complaints from neighbors about
loudness. - Right on the Boardwalk between the Pasanggrahan and the
Greenhouse.
It's a hole-in-the-wall type place where the Poly crew hangs out on
Saturday nights! Extremely loud on Saturday nights!Rick's
Sports Bar -DEFUNCT! it's a sports bar, I'm not a sports fan. 
Anguilla
18 15 N, 63 10 W
Roy's
Bar - One of Capt. Neil's haunts. Try the "Dollar Beer". Uncle
Ernie's - round to Shoal Bay. Legendary!
British Virgin Islands
Foxy's
Tamarind Bar - supposedly one of the "5 Best Places to spend New
Year's" according to Time magazine awhile back. When we were there
for FART II, the gift shop next door closed at 5pm and the only way to get a
Foxy's souvenier was to hump over the hill from White Bay in the afternoon. Rudy's
Mariner Inn - great lobster dinner (get yourorder in early)! 
Soggy
Dollar Bar - Just lie in the hammock and sip your rum - AHHH!!! This
is the place that invented the "PainKiller".
Tortola
Pusser's - They've even got webcams. Our first experience with decent
rum. Get a Painkiller #4 in a giant mug if you dare.Rhymer's
- Great live music from Quito Rhymer.
Aruba
Carlos
'n Charlie's - Rocking!!! Do-it-yourself beach bar - idea stolen from RailBait at "Dangerous Beach" on Isle de Saintes - just a portable cooler filled with cold Carib beer, or whatever.
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Ahhhh!, now this is sippin' rum! Use as a mixer is strictly VERBOTTEN!! |
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Sipping recommended, but not mandatory |
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Sip, mixing's OK with this one |
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Good for mixing |
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Mandatory for mixing - pure firewater! |
Grenada 12 07 N, 61 40 W
River Rum -
River Antoine Rum Distillery -- and here - Watch out for their "Slightly Over
Proof" rum!! It's an 'agricultural' rum,. made from sugar cane juice
as opposed to molasses. Distinct flavor of the sugar cane and VERY
over-proof! A "sipping rum", NOT!!!
Westerhall Rum - - this
is the one that got me started on good rums.
Old
Grog - -Got a couple of bottles in July '03. Very good
stuff!
Canne Royale - This is the "top-of-the-line" rum from the new Eastern Caribbean Rum Company. I haven't tried their any of their Cannes
Brûlées Overproof rums yet; but love their billboards
featuring a scantily clad gal and the slogan "Before you ding-go-lay,
be sure to drink your Cannes Brûlées!"
Clarke's
Court Rum - Grenada Sugar Factory, Ltd. - Their "Old Grog" is
excellent and the explanation of the term "Grog" is new to me -
accurate? whoinell knows?
Jack Iron Strong Rum -
-(NOT A SIPPIN" RUM!!! - OVERPROOF!!!) AWESOME!!! This stuff is actually made in Trinidad by Trinidad Distilleries, Ltd (TDL), which is owned by Bacardi; and bottled on Carriacou and Grenada. Each rum shop and grocery store may have it's own label, or none at all! The first that I got came in several different bottles (scavanged from foo-foo ships) and bearing the original labels of "congnac", "brandy" or whatever. The "tourist version" sold in Grenada, with the label shown at left is bought from TDL and bottled by Westerhall Distillery on Grenada and watered down to 140 proof to comply with airline regulations. Note: we spent a week on Grenada and this is the straight skinny from the bartender at the Tropicana, Richard at the Westerhall Distillery (where it's bottled and Linky (taxi driver on Carriacou!). There is no rum legally distilled on Carriacou!
This is the same stuff that you get in "Swizzles" every afternoon on the Windjammers, they buy it from TDL in the barrels on deck. My neighbor loves this stuff, says it's "kinda buttery". It is reputed to be the only booze in which ice will sink!-it does, I checked. (Actually, ice will sink in anything over about 120 proof.). If you're really feeling wild, try "shots" with this stuff-makes tequila seem like kid's play!!
Mary Mack and I sorta overindulged in Eddie's (of the Hillsborough Bar on Carriacou - now defunct) Rum Punch made with this stuff on the 50th Anniversery Cruise and ended up walking back to the Poly late that night. Hmmm! PY was anchored offshore, wasn't she?
Martinique
Clemént Rum - - We
went to the distillery on an island tour. At the "tasting", I
was the only one of our group who wanted mine "straight" (no lime,
sugar or water). After the tour, the fellow in charge of the tasting room
motioned for me to come back in, where he said that he wanted me to try the
"second best rum" that they made. Truly great, although I
couldn't figure out why he didn't trot out the "first best".
Found out when we got to the store there to buy some rum to take home -
"second best" was $150/btl! Best was $1500!!! Needless to
say, I decided that "third best" at $15 was good enough.
Puerto Rico
Ron del Barrilito
- - Aged in old wine casks from Spain
which gives it and unusual flavor. Two star=3+years, three star=6-10 years,
unique smoky flavor. Drink the Three Star straight, or with a little
water! Too good for mixing! Only about 11,000 cases of both are
made each year, hard to find outside of Puerto Rico.
Bacardi - -HoHum, I like the small
distilleries better. Their Bacardi Gold makes a fairly good substitute for Mount Gay with Coke.
Guyana
El Dorado - -
The absolute BEST finestkind sippin'
rum. Very aptly named, this stuff is pure gold! I got
turned on to this by Ingrid, Chief Steward on the S/V Polynesia.
Last I got was in
the grocery store in Phillipsburg. It ain't cheap, but WELL worth
it.
Haiti
Barbancourt
- Excellent!
British Virgin Islands
Pusser's
- -
Supposedly, it's named for the Royal Navy pursers of Nelson's day.
Kinda funny since the pursers were known for their propensity for
getting the cheapest possible stuff and pocketing the difference.
Also, the Royal Navy rum ration was 4 ounces (twice a day) of overproof rum mixed with 8 ounces water. (the Pusser's site is wrong on this)
This was known as "grog". Sometimes a sailor would clandestinely
stash his morning rum ration and drink it at the same time as his
evening ration, which might make him a bit "groggy".
Callwood's Arundel Rum
-Oldest (400yrs) distillery in the Eastern Caribbean,
200 yrs by the Callwood family-some of the barrels are older than anyone on
Tortola - The white rum is not aged and is mainly for local consumption, the
dark is aged 3-5 years . Made in the only licensed distillery in the
Caribbean that uses a single "Pot Still" at Cane Garden Bay a few
hundred yards west of the Post Office. One of only a few distilleries in
the English speaking Caribbean that uses the raw sugar cane juice instead of
molasses.
U. S. Virgin Islands
Cruzan Rum - St. Croix
Venezuela
Anniversario - - pure gold!
Selecto - - excellent
Cuba
Havana Club -
Barbados
Mount Gay
- a great one for my favorite "Rum 'n Coke". On Grand Anse Beach
in Grenada, during the Jan. - Feb. "Workboat Races", it's $5EC for a fairly large Mount Gay and Coke, plus you get a Mt. Gay Bandanna thrown in!
Black Label - haven't tried this one., hear that it's pretty good.
Killer Bees
Swizzles
CinneMon Spiced Rum
"Ninnie"
- Rosemary spiced rum
Nutmeg's Rum
Punch
"Mad Mike" Anacki's Ti Punch
Grog
Killer Bees
- or at least a reasonable facsimilie!
I got this formulation after numerous visitations and conversations with the legendary Sunshine, and the BeeMan over the years.
Rum = 1/3 overproof (151º or
higher) and 2/3 "normal" rum
Passion Fruit juice = we have found Looza from
Belgium to be pretty good. Don't use the crap with apple or grape juice!
Mix ahead of time:
1/3 rum
(above)
1/3 Passion Fruit juice (above)
1/3 club soda
honey to taste - Sunshine's says he doesn't use
honey, the BeeMan says that he supplies the honey - who ya gonna believe?
lime juice
At time of serving, add:
bitters
to taste
nutmeg to taste
1 Quart Meyers 96-Proof Rum (from Jamaica)
7 48-ounce cans orange juice
7 48-ounce cans pineapple juice
12 1/2-dashes Grenadine (not the island chain)
Mix well and add lots of ice. Serves 80!
If that's a little too much for one night at your house, here's a conversion:
6 ounces 151-Proof Rum
2 ounces Meyers Rum
10 ounces orange Juice
10 ounces pineapple Juice
1/2 shot Grenadine
Add Ice and shake well.
Serves 4 (or one person 4 times).
CinneMon Spiced Rum - my own concoction!
to 750 ml. of cheap rum, add 3-4 sticks cinnemon, 5-6 cloves, 5-6 peppercorns, 1/2 nutmeg, bit of fresh ginger the size of the tip of your little finger, 1/2 - 1" vanilla bean. Don't be afraid to vary the ingredients to suit your taste! Almost every bottle that I've made has been different. I've used vanilla extract in place of the bean, bois bande wood, tonka bean, god knows what else. Heard from one of the Grenadian "spice ladies" that I shouldn't use cloves, since "it's too bitter", just do your own thing!
Let sit for a few weeks or whenever. Good for rum and cokes, or just sippin'. I've sent some of this stuff to some of my Windjamming friends, and most of them like it better than Captain Morgan (at 1/3 the $$$!!!). Even Captain Neil and Country liked it!!
"Nannie" - Rosemary spiced rum - makes a great rum 'n coke - from the "Rum & Dominica" website
just stick a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in a bottle of cheap rum and let it sit.
Serves 1
1 oz. lime
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. grenadine
2 oz. light rum
3 or 4 ice cubes
grated nutmeg
Combine the juices, grenadine, rum and ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and shake
vigorously. Strain into a small
glass. Sprinkle plenty of nutmeg to
taste on top. Serves 1
"Mad Mike" Anacki's Ti Punch - by email 5/13/06
"When I was on Martinique I had a great drink called a Ti Punch (short for
Petite Punch). There's no set formula, you can play with the recipe. It's truly
a simple rum/sugar/lime drink that's very popular with the locals.
Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon is known as the father of grog. Vernon was a noted seaman, and victorious at Porto Bello. He was also a constant critic of the Admiralty and a supporter of better conditions aboard ships. He derided pressment and advocated better treatment of sailors. His sailors gave him the name of "Old Grog" because of a waterproof boat cloak he wore. The boat cloak was made of grogam, a thick material which was a combination of silk, mohair and wool. Grogam was often stiffened with gum.
By Vernon's time straight rum was commonly issued to sailors aboard ship - and drunkenness and lack of discipline were common problems. On August 21, 1740, Vernon issued an order that rum would thereafter be mixed with water. A quart of water was mixed with a half-pint of rum on deck and in the presence of the Lieutenant of the Watch. Sailors were given two servings a day; one between 10 and 12 AM and the other between 4 and 6 PM. To make it more palatable it was suggested sugar and lime be added. In 1756 the mixture of water and rum became part of the regulations, and the call to "Up Spirits" sounded aboard Royal Navy ships for more than two centuries thereafter.Tuck's Personal Notes
On July 31, 1970, the last Royal Navy rum ration was served on board HMS Endymion
Peter's Rum Pages - This
fellow from the Czech Republic has a fantastic collection of
rum bottle labels(over 6300 from 97 different countries as of Sept. 2003)! Good information and lots of links!
Ministry of Rum - Lotsa
information! The book "Rums of the Eastern Caribbean" has lots
of good info.
Short History of Grog - just what it says.
Rum and Dominica -
Royal British Navy/U.S.
Navy Rum Cup - the official rum tot! I had a helluva
time finding this beastie!
The Rum Portal - Here you will find information about 180 distilleries, blenders and bottlers from the present and the past, producing 733 brands of rum.
Bacardi Rum Cakes - Purity Bakery in The Bahamas is the only bakers of Bacardi Rum Cake.
The
Webtender - even more recipes.
Links about Rum - The main site is in German, but, there are a lot of interesting links here.
Rum -
photomicrograph of the molecular structure of rum, weird. The
"Cocktail Collection" link has recipes, as well as pictures.
Carib Beer - O.K. it ain't rum, but it sure is
good! Their website is also being reconstructed..
Contributors (in the order received)
Linda Goodell
(Pear8head)
Frank Gleberman
(Captain Ahab)
Jill
Dougherty
Bob Dreyer
(winefrog)
Adele Smith (Dellie)
Sue (Safaree)
Steven R. Becker (SRBCPA)
Fishking
Dale Andrews
Photo below Copyright (C) 1999, Jim St. Leger
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