It’s gotten warm here and our lime tree had a couple of limes ready for picking (yah, this is a really good place to start hating us. Especially if your car is still buried under six inches of snow. and ice). To this end, B said she wanted something 1) with lime and 2) up. A couple of previous cocktails came to mind, but I decided to give the cocktail library a quick peruse. I stumbled upon today’s entry in Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan’s book In the Land of Cocktails: Recipes and Adventures from the Cocktail Chicks. They claim the cocktail is the house drink of the Royal Bermuda Yatch Club that dates from the mid-1800s (1844 according the club’s website). They also mention it being in an early edition of Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide (1947). Even the claim that Trader Vic invented seems ambiguous as Doug Ford of Cold Glass give credit to the 1941 edition of Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion. Whatever the provenance of the Royal Bermuda Yatch Club, it’s a interesting cocktail in that it’s like a daiquiri with the Caribbean turned up just a little (not all with way to 11, a.k.a. Tiki).
Royal Bermuda Yatch Club
- 2 oz. Bermuda rum (I actually used Havana Club añejo)
- 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
- 2 tsp. Falernum
- 2 dashes Cointreau
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.
The slightly Caribbean flavors your get from the Falernum make this a really nice cocktail on warm weekend afternoon.
Cheers.