Hey, would you look at that—it’s rum o’clock somewhere! Time crawls when you’re traversing the depths of the standard routine, but nothing moves that minute hand faster than a daily rum-inder that a sunshiny state of mind is just a simple mix of a cocktail away. 

You don’t need a functioning timepiece to realize there are countless rum cocktails you can make to be transported to the most idyllic locales on Earth with a single sip. Maybe it’s a Mai Tai that’ll zap you over to Maui; or the Kingston Negroni, which’ll subtly fill the air with the steel drums of Jamaica. 

This getaway-in-a-glass nature has become a given for the single spirit with multiple branches that extend throughout the diverse islands of the Caribbean and into mainland Latin America. A rule of thumb in the culinary world is that ingredients that grow together go together. Lucky for rum, this means one of the best local gardens in the world, given its origins. Fruit as fresh as can be and spices at the peak of their soul-warming potency are most often called in to provide the perfect bright and well-seasoned counter to the oaky, caramelized flavors and spry body of lightly aged rum. 

As its name suggests, the Here Comes the Rum Box is on its way to signal a fresh new day. One that says you’re always on time to crave a series of high-summer-style chill sessions—especially when the cocktails are clamoring for it! Subscribe now (while supplies last!) to get yours.

It’s not quite a Mai Tai for the black tie crowd, but Greg Benson’s tasty update does see the Hawaiian shirt buttoned to the top. Served up in all its sizzling island glory, his homage to Trader Vic’s creation keeps many of the elements we know and love intact, but streamlines the expedition into a traditional daiquiri format. Rum and lime? Check! Orgeat? Well, not exactly; instead the orange almond syrup captures Mai Tai magic in a bottle, wherein orange, almond, rose, and cardamom are unleashed to ambrosially amble all throughout your senses. Don’t be a skipper of The Three-Hour Tour; you don’t want to miss a single drop!

Greg is a Brooklyn-based writer, bartender, and educator. 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. He is the owner and operator of Quiote Imports, one of the only companies that imports high-quality, 100% pure agave from Mexico to the US. 

The arborists among us will have a leg up in contextualizing this island-hopping cocktail from Dan Watson, which features a syrup made with mauby, the bark of a small tree used to flavor beverages throughout the West Indies. But everyone will delight upon the first taste of Don’t Tell Richard, a richly textured mix of cold brew coffee (made with coconut water!), rum, aromatic bitters, and mauby, which imparts a rootiness to a special syrup flavored further by ginger and cinnamon for an anything-but-pedestrian pick-me-up.

Dan has visited several Caribbean distilleries and loves hearing himself talk about rum. If you’re sitting at his bar—Cleveland’s Never Say Dive—he hopes you’ll love hearing him talk about rum —but if you don’t, at least humor his opinions on the 1997 and 2016 World Series and the Great American Bash ’95.

It’s no easy feat to pull off a proper key lime pie, starting with navigating the short harvesting period to get your hands on the genuine article. But it’s a cinch to stir up Greg Mayer’s Key Lime Pie Old Fashioned, which sidesteps seasonality with its own bounty of citrus: lime bitters and a syrup of limes, lemons, and their peels to mimic the heightened, complex tartness of the Floridian fruit. Right on cue, given such inspirations, here comes rum—crossing the Seven Mile Bridge with some cookie crust–like contributions of vanilla and spice notes. The old fashioned usually isn’t one for the sunshine, but this time the radiance is baked right in!

Greg began his career in the hospitality industry working in kitchens as a line cook and transitioned to roles behind the bars of many hot spots nationwide. Over the past few years, Greg represented the iconic Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey in NYC. Now he’s back in creation mode, working on cocktails for the Shaker & Spoon community.

Save a spot on your home bar for the Here Comes the Rum Box, a sneak preview of the carefree and quite crushable summer fun to come!

🏖️🥥🍰 ,
The Shaker & Spoon Team

*not vegan: nothing
*potential allergens: Coconut water contains coconut. Orange almond syrup contains almonds.