The Real Rum Diary: Sampling Puerto Rico's Favorite Spirit
(Above) Crazy Berries and Eternal Punch, served at the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza.
It’s a Friday night at Oceano, the chic new open-air bar and lounge on San Juan’s Condado Beach, and the drinks are flowing freely as the well-dressed patrons sway to the beat of the resident DJ. This is Puerto Rico, so rum is working its way into a lot of the clinking glasses here.
Of course, the best-known rum-based libation to be born in Puerto Rico is the piña colada (let’s not get started about whether it was invented at the Caribe Hilton hotel or Barrachina restaurant; that argument will never be settled). But you shouldn’t stop your experimenting with this legendarily frothy creation. As one of the region’s biggest producers of the spirit, Puerto Rico is a hotbed of creativity when it comes to devising new ways to enjoy rum-based cocktails.
Considering that Bacardí is the highest-profile producer of rum in Puerto Rico, it’s no surprise that the brand’s many flavors grace many of the island’s best bars. One of the rum-based treats that gets the most smiles at Oceano is the Beach-O, which, when pronounced in Spanish, is a slang term that in Puerto Rico refers to a part of the male anatomy. The drink itself produces pleasure as well; it’s a strong, pinkish blend of Bacardi Superior, Bacardi 8, cranberry juice and coconut cream.
Funny how mixed drinks are often named after sexual terms, isn’t it? Also popular throughout the island is the Chichaíto; a small drink named after a decidedly short-term adult encounter. In this case, size truly doesn’t matter; consisting of just half an ounce of light rum, one ounce of anisette and two drops of lemon juice, it is so strong that I need to add ice.
At the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza, a sleek hotel on the ocean, patrons can sink into a glass of Crazy Berries, which combines Bacardi Dragon Berry with Grey Goose raspberry vodka, Chambord and cranberry juice for a smooth and sweet escape, or perhaps the promisingly dubbed Eternal Punch, which works in peach, lemon and coconut-flavored rums, 151 rum (which has an alcohol content of 75.5%), and pineapple, orange and cranberry juices.
At the bottom of the line in terms of cache — but certainly up there in terms of popularity — is Gasolina, a line of pre-mixed cocktails named, most likely, after a reggaeton song by Daddy Yankee from a few years back. Packaged in colorful pouches complete with straw — not unlike those kid-friendly juice boxes — Gasolina has become a favorite for beach outings and other homespun parties where convenience is a selling point. You can choose from six flavors, including mojito, sea breeze, pink martini, original and the enthusiastically named “Tu Madras” and “Sangriiia.” And while the experience is far from top-shelf, it sure is authentically local.
Image by LatinFlyer.com
