Simplicity and perfection – there’s no other way to describe a daiquiri. We’re talking three ingredients: rum, sugar and lime juice. A drink so much greater than the sum of its parts…

60ml (2fl oz) white rum
30ml (1fl oz) lime juice
15ml (½fl oz) sugar syrup ice

You’ll need

1. Put a martini glass or champagne coupe in the freezer to chill.

2. In a cocktail shaker, combine the three ingredients with a handful of ice.

method

3. Shake until it’s icy cold.

4. Pour into your chilled glass.

5. Make a cut into your lime slice to the centre of the circle and hang it on the rim of the glass.

The pleasure of a daiquiri begins with making it. The measuring of rum, sugar syrup (trust us) and lime juice, the shaker full of ice. Preparing a perfect slice of lime.

Chilling a martini glass. It’s all easy and you know you’re building up to something great. Your mouth will water.

A tempest in a teapot? Certainly not! The sweet flavours of this rum-based ginger cocktail need to be shouted about. Indulge in them, rain or shine.

120–150ml (4–5fl oz) ginger
beer

40–60ml (1½–2fl oz) dark rum ice

wedge of lime

You’ll need

1. Pour the ginger beer into an ice-filled glass. Follow with dark rum.

2. Garnish your Dark and Stormy with a wedge of lime.

method

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the Dark and Stormy is the national drink of Bermuda – it crushes thirst, puts smiles on faces and slows the pace of life to a pedestrian affair.

Thankfully it has a similar effect wherever it is enjoyed, and whatever the weather (though Bermuda shorts are never mandatory).

Sultry and refreshing, a mojito is the rare island drink that is both sugary and herbaceous, an organic experience that takes the edge off a humid, tropical day wonderfully.

1 tsp sugar

1 lime, cut into wedges 1 sprig mint

4 oz crushed ice

60–120ml (2–4fl oz)
white rum

240ml (8fl oz) club soda

You’ll need

1. Put the sugar into a 12–ounce glass.

2. Squeeze around 30-60ml of juice from the lime into the glass, then add a lime wedge.

3. Place the sprig of mint into the glass..

method

4. Use a muddler or spoon to mash everything together.

5. Add the crushed ice to the glass.

6. Add the rum to the glass.

7. Fill the glass with club soda, stir and serve.

You can order a mojito in the midst of a snowstorm in Bergen these days, but the Platonic ideal is served in Cuba, or Miami.

Be it sweaty bar accompanied by the sound of song on a scratchy radio or a flash lounge, in any location, a good mojito is a wonderful twist on the tropical drink.

After hiking endless miles through frozen knee-deep mud at the end of the earth, nothing has a more soul-thawing effect than a steaming mug of hot chocolate laced with rum.

1 billy of water (a billy is a
cylindrical pot used to boil water on a stove or fire)

You’ll need

3 sporks premium Italian chocolate powder (a spork is a popular bushwalking utensil combining both spoon and fork, equivalent to approx. 1 tbsp)

3 sporks (3 tbsp) milk powder.
1 capful dark, underproof rum.

1. Boil the billy of water over a stove or open fire.

2. Add equal measures of chocolate and milk powders to your mug. You may need to adjust quantities depending on mug size.

method

3. Add boiled water and mix thoroughly with your spork to avoid clumping.

4. Add the rum and adjust to taste – a second capful may be be added, for medicinal reasons of course.

5. Hold mug in both hands close to face and sip.

6. Ignore rain on roof of hut or tent.

Sipped neat or on the rocks, or used as the foundation stone for myriad cocktails, rum is arguably the world’s favourite spirit, and certainly its most versatile.