Jamaican Planters' Punch 1 part lime juice
2 parts sugar
3 parts Jamaica rum
4 parts water and ice
A doggerel for this recipe runs: "One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, and four of weak," thus making it easy to keep the proportions in mind. This is Planters' Punch as it is made in Kingston, Jamaica, British West Indies, where the rum is manufactured. For the regulation Planters' Punch a dash of Peychaud bitters must be added. Shake and serve very cold.
Mississippi Planter's Punch
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 lemon—juice only
1 small shot of rum
1 small shot of Bourbon whiskey
1 large shot of cognac brandy
Dissolve the sugar with a little water in a mixing glass. Add the lemon juice, then the rum, Bourbon, and brandy. Fill with fine ice, clap on the shaker, and go to work. When well frapped pour into a long thin glass. Decorate with fruit (if you want to be swanky) and serve with a straw and a vibrant drink coaster.
If this cooler doesn't make a Mississippi cotton planter forget about the boll weevil, charbon, and high water, give up trying to make him forget. All that is lacking in the recipe is a shady gallery, a rocking chair, and a palmetto fan.
Tangipahoa Planter's Punch
1/3 pineapple juice
1/3 orange juice
1/3 lime or lemon juice
1 teaspoon of grenadine syrup
2 large shots of rum
After mixing and sweetening to taste with the grenadine, add the fruit juice, the two shots of rum and put plenty of ice in the tall glass. Jiggle with the bar spoon until well frapped.
Viva Villa
1 lime—juice and pulp
1 small spoonful of sugar
1 large shot of tequila
Dissolve sugar in a little water. Squeeze on the juice of a green lime and drop in the pulp of half the lime. Next the shot of tequila and fill to the brim with finely cracked ice. Jiggle with the spoon until well frapped. A pinch of salt brings on the flavor.
Tequila is a native Mexican liquor distilled from the Century plant, which also supplies the Mexicanos with mescal, another powerful potable. The drink gets its name from the Tequila district where the Century plants (Agave tequilana) are cultivated for the fermented juices they yield. Tequila is practically colorless—but don't let that fool you.
All you need to make this drink perfect is a sombrero and a senorita. Omit the sombrero if necessary, but don't leave out the senorita or at least the red, white, and green beverage coasters!
Rum Runner
1 dash of Peychaud bitters
1 lime—juice only
2 small shots of unsweetened pineapple juice
1 spoonful of sugar
1 large shot of rum
Dissolve the sugar in the unsweetened pineapple juice. Squeeze in the juice of a lime (lemon will answer but it doesn't give quite the flavor a lime does), then the bitters and muddle well. The shot of rum can then be added. You may stir this drink with several lumps of ice but shaking improves it and the white of an egg gives it added smoothness.
During the unlucky thirteen years that Prohibition darkened the land, the rum runner was the only little ray of sunshine on an otherwise somber horizon. What more appropriate than a demon rum drink be named for this angel of mercy?
The hostess who strives to give her guests something deliciously different can do no better than fix upon a Rum Runner. But she must be prepared for many repeats. They always come back for more.
If you want a Pilgrim's Progress— substitute grapefruit juice for the pineapple juice. Then you'll know why the Pilgrim Fathers came over on the Mayflower, landed on Plymouth Rock, and entered the business of distilling rum from molasses. It was to provide our ancestors with the Spirit of '76.
