Mixing it up at the Reitz: Rum

Rum, yum, yum. Wednesday night was round four of my bartending leisure course at UF, and the the menu tonight called for a whole lotta rum. If you closed your eyes, you might think you were already on Spring Break in the Bahamas. 

The secret behind rum drinks is that all of the juices, more specifically anything with grenadine, mask the flavor of the rum. Before you know it, you had four drinks and you feel fine, that is, until you stand up. Quick tip for you soon-to-be spring breakers: Drink some water in between all of your rum-filled beverages to stay hydrated in the sun. You don’t want to waste all of the money you spent sleeping with your face in the sand because you drank too many rum punches on the first day. 

If you want to stray away from those sugar-filled rum drinks, stick to a Cuba Libre- a simple a rum and coke with a wedge of lime. I challenge you to go to Gator City or Balls this weekend and ask the bartender for a Cuba Libre and see how they react. Chances are they will have no idea what you are talking about. But you will…sneaky sneaky! 

My favorite drinks of the night were the Rum Runner (the first Rum drink ever made) and the Blue Hawaiian. Try this the next time you are out: ½ jigger dark rum, ½ jigger white rum (we used Ron Carlos Rum for both), ½ Blue Curacao (insider info: it is actually identical to Triple Sec), a splash of pineapple juice and a splash of pina colada mix. Shake it all up and enjoy! See you next week for Tequila. 

-Brooke Aronoff