The Riptide Bumbo

Courtesy of The Tome and Tankard Inn. 

The Reasoning

The Isle of Gold is a pirate fantasy based in real history, so I felt it fitting to make a cocktail based on a genuine historical recipe. Bumbo was a popular cocktail designed to improve the taste of rum rations. Originally this was made up of rum, water, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Scurvy was typically a bigger problem for the Navy, who would spend many months at a time at sea and with a larger crew than a pirate ship – a pirate’s diet contained more fresh fruit and vegetables than you might expect, so citrus wasn’t necessary in Bumbo. However, for my purposes (and to make my cocktail delicious) I have adapted the recipe to include lime juice and coconut rum, keeping to the spirit of the drink but making it a little tastier. Therefore, this is the Riptide‘s own version.

The Recipe

The Recipe
You will need:

• Cocktail Shaker
• Cocktail Stick
• Ice
• Whiskey Tumbler
• 2 oz Rum (dark, amber or spiced)
• 2 oz Malibu
• 1 lime (1 oz juice, 1 slice)
• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Turbinado/Raw Cane Sugar
• 1 Pineapple Chunk for garnish (optional)

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Take your cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Add rum, malibu, lime juice, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar. Shake vigorously and strain into your tumbler. Spear your slice of lime and pineapple chunk on a cocktail stick and add as garnish.

Enjoy! And when the Charybdis makes the room spin, tell it in no uncertain terms that you will not be taken by the sea.