Watch out for the Crusty Juggler and the Juggler’s Revenge, in the cocktail form of 50ml Tom and Sam Hanson’s St Ives Crusty Juggler Black Spiced Rum, 50ml Passionfruit Puree, 25ml Vanilla Syrup, 15ml Lime juice, 25ml egg white and a few dashes of bitters. Then add all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and top with ice. Shake hard for 10 seconds and then double strain the contents into a short tiki glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with passionfruit.
Cornish sailors and smugglers feared the Crusty Juggler. If you saw a man in rags on the clifftop juggling flaming driftwood, your number was up, your ship would flounder, be wrecked on the rocks and all on board would perish. And he would take possession of the illicit rum.
The Caribbean islands have their Dark ‘n’ Stormy cocktail, but Cornwall has its Cursed and Stormy, pairing ginger beer and lime with Mooncurser Spiced Rum.
And then there is Squalls in the Bay, the ideal cocktail for any seafarer. Created to celebrate its independence, Cuba has the Cuba Libre (rum and coke), while Cornwall has Kernow Libre, which is created by filling a highball glass with lots of ice, squeeze and drop two lime wedges into the glass, coating the ice well with the juices. Then pour in 60ml of Mounts Bay Spiced Rum and top up with chilled cola and stir gently.
Mounts Bay Distillery in Penzance is the only wood-fired distillery in England. Founded by distiller and former chef Ben Roberts and Swede, Lisa Anglesjo, it produces Ebba gin as well as Rum Dhu Gold, White and Black Spiced and Mariner Tea Rum (a celebration of two British passions) made with tea from Tregothnan Gardens on Cornwall’s Roseland peninsula.
Keynvor is a multi-award winning honey spiced rum and is crafted with local cliff honey, dulse seaweed and the warmth of the Cornish coast. Drunk neat, the spiced honey rum makes a Dashed on the Rocks.
To make The Sailor’s Cup you’ll need 50ml Mariners, 20ml fresh apple juice, 10ml ginger syrup, 10ml of lemon, a dash of Angostura and top with sparkling cider.
British rum is receiving an increasing number of plaudits, especially West Country rum. Notable Cornish spicers and rumsters include George and Angela Malde’s Wadebridge Rock Rum. Its range includes Perfect Plum, Coconut Paradise and Chocolate Orange. The Cornish Distilling Co in Norton Barton, Bude which produces Mooncurser (smuggler) and Morvenna (sea maiden or mermaid), thanks to biochemistry PhD-turned-lifeguard-turned-spirit-maker, Tom Read, the Haigh family’s Mainbrace, Greville and Wendy Roberts’ Saint Sithney Distillery near Portleven, David McWilliam’s Padstow Distilling who make Padstow Rum and Bora Botanical Rum, made by Peter March and Willoughby Werner’s Falmouth-based Penryn Spirits.
Penzance also boasts Pocketful of Stones who make Dr Squid Gin made from squid ink, as well as King of Prussia rum.
To make a Cornwall Meets Havana Hemingway you need 50ml Rum Dhu White Cornish Rum, 20ml fresh pink grapefruit juice, 15ml fresh lime juice, 10ml Maraschino Liqueur and some ice. Then add all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Give it a quick, confident shake for 10 to 15 seconds until it’s well chilled. Strain and pour into a chilled glass and watch that pale golden haze settle. Finally, garnish with a dehydrated lime wheel for a premium finish or a thin grapefruit twist.
Rum Dhu White is distilled using Atlantic coastal water and as co-founder Ben Roberts, who is based at Germoe, Praa Sands, near Penzance, says:
“No sugar syrup is needed. Hemingway was diabetic and preferred his drinks dry and this Cornish rum daiquiri honours that tradition perfectly.”
For A Squalls in the Bay, you will need 60ml Mounts Bay honey rum, 50ml ginger ale, 1 lime wedge, or a jalapeno or both.
For a Splice the Mainbrace you’ll need 50ml Mainbrace Rum, 25ml lime juice and some ice, garnishing it with a slice of Lime.
Finally, a CCFM (Cornish Coastal Footpath Mojito) requires 50ml Saint Sithney Cape Cornwall White, fresh lime juice and half a lime cut into wedges, 10ml white sugar or sugar syrup, 8 to 10 large fresh mint leaves, two handfuls of crushed ice and some soda.
Author Bio:
Kevin Pilley is a former professional cricketer and chief staff writer of PUNCH magazine. His humour, travel, food and drink work appear worldwide, and he has been published in over 800 titles.
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