Please bear with me for just one more cocktail recipe.  I must share this with you!  Who knew that having no kitchen for a few weeks would turn me into a “mixologist”?  Well, not really.  I’m just following recipes, but it gives me the same satisfaction that I get after creating a delicious dish…only with an extra “kick,” if you get my gist.

I love the way this recipe for rum punch came to me.  I was in my writer’s workshop class, and my classmate began to read her piece on St. Kitts island and her family’s rum business, Brinley Gold Shipwreck Rum.  I was immediately carried away by the beauty of her description of what sounds like an absolutely magical island.  I was mentally making plans to visit this paradise, as it sounded irresistible.  Then, in the middle of her piece, she included a recipe for Leeland’s rum punch, and gave us each a glass of this nectar from the St. Kitts gods.   One sip and I had to have the recipe.  We all asked her to repeat the recipe , and I furiously wrote it down.  I knew right there and then that I was headed to the liquor store after class to buy the necessary ingredients for my dinner guests that evening.  They would love this!  Well, actually this was a bit off a gamble as no one was a rum drinker.  But neither was I until I was introduced to this brand of rum, and the creative recipes provided by the owners on their website.  I’ve converted many a “non-rum drinker” this summer, so this punch would certainly do the trick for this crew.  I was certain of it.

It was a perfect night for this indoctrination.  The sun was out, and there was a delightfully cool breeze, so sitting on the deck made it feel like you were on vacation.  I had the pitchers of punch chilling in my (new and shiny) refrigerator (I had just polished it).  Everyone was game for “just one drink.”  They looked skeptically at the pitcher, but only I knew what would transform this pitcher of what looked like plain fruit juice, into something so heavenly that they wouldn’t have just one drink.  What is that special ingredient?  Freshly grated nutmeg, atop each individual drink, is the key to this delicious, tropical libation.

Everyone loved it.  Everyone had one more. Everyone wanted to know when I would start using my ovens.  I told them “next week for sure.”  Cheers!

Recipe:  makes a lot

2 cups Shipwreck White Rum  (1/2 bottle)

1 cup Shipwreck Coconut Rum (1/4 bottle)

1 cup fresh lime juice

4 cups orange juice (I used less….maybe 3 1/2)

4 dashes of bitters

freshly grated nutmeg ( on each glass)

Combine all the ingredients except the nutmeg in a large pitcher and keep chilled in the refrigerator.  Serve over ice.  Grate fresh nutmeg on top of each individual glass.