Dana's Recipes

This may be a Cuban drink, but we use our favourite rum, Barbados Mount Gay Eclipse when making it. You could substitute Mount Gay XO, but stay away from spiced or flavoured rum as it will throw off the flavours that this drink is known for. Ingredients: 1/2 a lime 3-5 sprigs of mint 1 tsp coconut or superfine sugar 2 oz Mount Gay Eclipse Rum Soda Water Pull the mint leaves off the sprigs and drop into the bottom of the glass. Add sugar. Use a muddler  or a close approximation to gently mash the mint leaves and the sugar together. This process should just bruise the leaves, releasing the mint oil. Squeeze the juice from a half lime into the glass. drop the shell into the glass. Crush or shave some ice (I drop about 4-5 cubes in the blender) and add to the glass. Pour your rum in and top with soda water. Add a straw and enjoy!  

This is a recipe I discovered in Barbados while on vacation with the Grant Clan. Sadly, one of our favourite restaurants, The Ship Inn located in St Lawrence Gap, closed down last year, cutting off our supply of Rum Raisin Ice Cream. Faced with this calamity, I set forth to find a replacement. Barbados is home to Mount Gay Rum , the oldest distillery in the Caribbean and they make what is to my mind, the finest rum in the world.   James Bond ordered an Eclipse & soda in Casino Royale. Sadly he switched drinks shortly afterwards and got rather ill, proving that you shouldn't switch drinks. Ingredients 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup Mount Gay Eclipse or Extra Old rum (or Dark Rum) 1 cup Brown, Turbinado or similar sugar 1/2 cup whipping cream (Not that spray rubbish!) 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg* 1/2 tsp fresh grated cinnamon* * only if you are not using spiced rum. Take a small bowl or mug, add rum, stir in spices until fully dissolved ...