The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail

One of the few benefits of a slow night in the bar is the ability to test out cocktails. At Union, I'm lucky enough to have a kitchen crew who is as equally curious about trying out drinks as I am in making them. Sundays are usually the day I get to experiment, though this usually happens during service and they can only have a few sips. A recent Saturday night, however, gave me a rare opportunity to help the kitchen crew get their buzz on (ok, that part is not so rare) with some new drinks, at a time when they're ready to party (again, not so rare for Saturday night).

I'd been making Jason Stoneburner, our extraordinarily talented chef de cuisine, Ganesvoort Fizzes during their cleanup. By the time he was done, I'd run out of Drambuie, and a new cocktail needed to be whipped up. He'd had his first Ganesvoort Fizz the previous night and had been so excited he did some research to a) find out how to pronounce it and b) find another drink I could make him. Somehow, he landed on the Bermuda Rum Swizzle, a drink I'd never made but had the general idea. I mistakenly thought it contained Cointreau. I threw one together and Jason loved it, as did the rest of the table, so I made four more. Then I began to have second thoughts about the Cointreau. Sure enough, a gander at the recipe revealed no Cointreau.

I got home around 4 a.m. and dived into my new Jones Complete Bar Guide (review on this beautiful monster forthcoming) and sure enough, discovered The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, a Bermuda Rum Swizzle with Cointreau.

1 3/4 oz Barbados Rum
1/2 oz lime juice
1/4 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz Falernum (I always jump at the chance to show my Falernum off)
Shake, strain into cocktail glass

I made this with both Barbados rum and Bermuda rum with equal success. If you enjoy richer flavor, go with the Goslings Black Seal Bermuda. Personally, I thought it was funny not using Bermuda rum given the name of the drink, then again Barbados rum allows the other ingredients more of the spotlight.

Three days later, I snapped the above picture of Christine enjoying one in the sun on our back porch. No yacht, no Bermuda, but she's got the drink so she's at least one step closer...