Step right up, right this way, gentlefolk, the big tent is up and the stage is set to house thirty days of thrills, four weeks of fantasy, a month of marvels! It’s imaginative. It’s incontrovertible. It’s The Rum-Believable Box!

Prepare as three unheard-of and personality-packed cocktails slide their way onto your doorstep, all pulsing with the satisfying summer-enhancing powers of aged rum. An amazing shade of amber from years spent maturing in oak, this particular style of spirit—like both its lighter and more heavily aged siblings—can often feature differences in method and offer flavor experiences that vary by country of origin or particular distillery. But, either in beach blends or the meticulously crafted cocktails at the world’s best bars, the end result is the same record-breakingly rich, smooth, and slightly spiced sensation. After all, you can take the bottles out of the islands, but . . . you know the rest!

Get your tickets and grab your popcorn, because, golly, have we got a show for you! Aged rum’s got the character that basically begs for the boldest and brightest of big swings and, lucky for us, our mixologists—some of the mightiest the world over—are up to the task! Drop your jaw at their flavor-balancing acts, aromatic acrobatics, and fearless feats of strength . . . of imagination!

Have we all gotten dizzy on the carousel and grabbed the wrong bottle? How else to explain this twisted mix that prolific cocktail writer and podcaster Greg Benson put together, pairing aged rum with Q Mixers Spicy Mango Margarita Mix? Resolving these questions while defying all conventions, Go, Man, Go! shoots out of the gate, rounding out its tarted-up take on a rum punch with islandy and almondy falernum syrup and a fruity note of cherry bitters. Take all the time you need—there’s no long line between you and this cascading cavalcade of flavor!

Greg is a Brooklyn-based writer, bartender, educator, and cohost of The Speakeasy on Heritage Radio Network. He has run bar programs in Washington, DC; NYC; and Glasgow, Scotland; and his work has appeared in The Knot, the Washington City Paper, and The Washington Post.

Sother Teague will see you now, and his Doctor’s Orders are bringing many, many milligrams of bright flavor to the party. Forget the fire emojis—his cocktail of rum, super lemon-lime juice, and smoked ginger-lemongrass syrup is finished with the real thing: a crowd-dazzling but not quite death-defying burst of flame, which envelops the pepped-up Penicillin-esque potion in a mist of caramelized orange oil. We predict your second opinion will echo the first, third, and fourth: delish!

Sother is the beverage director at New York’s Amor y Amargo and cohost of The Speakeasy on Heritage Radio Network. In 2018, he was honored with Wine Enthusiast’s Mixologist of the Year Award, and he has authored two books, I’m Just Here for the Drinks and Let’s Get Blitzen, and created Driftwood Bitters and Garden Party Bitters. Catch up on all the Sother favorites in the S&S catalog, including The Weekender, Rye-napple Express, Dragon Tears, Fruitcake Weather, and the Parched Madness 2024 ultimate champion Ash and Elm.

You eat and drink with your eyes first, so it makes sense that Randeen Thomas has reached for a quiet culinary go-to whose purpose is to boost color and visual texture: browning sauce. Its effect on soups, stews, and sauces could never leave you guessing—from mom’s famous pot roast to the delectably darkened dishes of Jamaica, it ties simmering efforts together in a jiffy with richness and depth. Much to our surprise, its cocktail game can be remarked upon similarly—it’s all gravy, baby! Especially in the tightly focused Brown Fashion, where it sets a perfectly seasoned stage for rum, cinnamon, clove, and vanilla.   

Randeen is an award-winning mixologist and bar supervisor. Hailing from Kingston, Jamaica, he fell in love with the skill at a young age after watching the Tom Cruise movie Cocktail.

Stop clowning around and take home a prize: three amazing rum-thrumming cocktails that no summer should ever be without!

🥭🔥🍹,
The Shaker & Spoon Team

*not vegan: nothing
*potential allergens: falernum syrup contains almond.