For this week’s Happy Hour, we’re highlighting rhum agricole, a storied but often overlooked member of the cane spirit family. Rhum agricole came about in the early 19th century, when Caribbean sugar cane production faced competition from the growing French sugar beet industry. The spirit is made from freshly pressed cane juice (instead of refining process byproducts like molasses), yielding a somewhat vegetal, grassy flavor profile.
That’s what makes rhum agricole the perfect base for this recipe for the Baie du Galion, courtesy of Martin and Rebecca Cate, the Beard Award winners behind Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki. The cocktail is named for a pristine bay on the east coast of Martinique, and pairs a blanc-style rhum with two other supremely aromatic spirits: Green Chartreuse and Drambuie. Stirred down, served up in a chilled coupe, and garnished with a simple lemon twist, it’s a bracing, herbaceous foray into the world of this distinctive Caribbean spirit. Get the recipe.
Hungry for more? View our entire recipe collection.
--
Frank Guerriero is the media assistant at the Beard Foundation. Find him on Instagram.
