…..Ultra cool Caribbean thremed restaurant Bahama Breeze has decided to step up their authenticity this summer by offering a premium line of tropical drinks they call “Legendary Island Cocktails. If you’re not familiar with Bahama Breeze then shame on you. Their 30 location chain is spread across 14 states, with 1/3rd of those locations being here in Florida (sorry to brag). If you can’t make it to a private island/beach in the islands or on the coast, Bahama Breeze does their best to make you feel like you’re there, even when you’re not.
“Bahama Breeze is known for its hand-crafted tropical drinks and adding Legendary Island Cocktails to our extensive bar menu is a great next step in the Caribbean escape experience,” says Peter Olsacher, Executive Chef for Bahama Breeze. “I personally visited many of these exotic locations to learn more about their storied histories. Bahama Breeze was among the first restaurants to introduce the Mojito Cubano and Brazilian Caipirinha cocktails to mainstream America, and now we can’t wait to continue that tradition by introducing new Legendary Island Cocktails and their stories each quarter.”
Their new legendary island cocktail menu is just the latest step towards taking you to the island. The cocktails will include 8 custom made drinks using recipes from world famous local bars located throughout the Caribbean. The cocktails are created with the same techniques and ingredients that made them famous. Check them out, and their story below.
The Original Daiquiri was named after a small beach on the East Coast of Cuba. Legend has it that The Original Daiquiri was developed in the late 1800s as a medical treatment for tropical ailments but quickly found other fame and became a favorite in old Havana, especially of Hemingway, who’d sip on the drink at Cuba’s famed La Floridita bar. Created with a blend of Bacardi Superior Rum, fresh lime, two types of ice, and fresh squeezed sugar cane pressed daily in house, The Original Daiquiri is hand-shaken (not blended as is common today) and served in a tall glass.
The Painkiller was invented at the famed Soggy Dollar Bar against the beautiful setting of White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands, where guests swim in from their boats to the dockless island just for a taste of this drink. The Soggy Dollar Bar has only six bar seats and uses a clothesline to hang-dry wet dollars that patrons use to pay for their drinks. With a smooth mix of Cream of Coconut, pineapple, orange and finished with freshly ground nutmeg, the Painkiller can only truly be called a Painkiller when made with Pusser’s Dark Rum.
Legend for the origin of the Dark ‘N Stormy has it that a bartender poured a sailor a glass of ginger beer, but left out the rum and then added the rum afterwards. With the rum floating on top, the sailor remarked it resembled a storm cloud over the ocean—thus coining the name. Now often referred to as Bermuda’s National Drink, the Dark ‘N Stormy is a distinctive mix of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum and ginger beer. A Dark ‘N Stormy must be made with local Bermuda favorite Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, known for its rich, flavors of butterscotch, vanilla and caramel.
The Goombay Smash, known as the Bahamian National Drink, was initially created in the 1960s by Miss Emily at the Blue Bee Bar in Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay. Legend has it that the grandmotherly Miss Emily, who passed away in 1997, never drank and therefore never actually tasted the creation that made her bar famous as a watering hole for the local community in the Abacos—the group of Bahamian islands touted as the sailing capital of the world. The drink is named after the Goombay, a form of music in the Bahamas and the goatskin-covered drum used to create it. It’s made with the combination of Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum and Meyer’s Original Dark Rum, mixed with fresh orange and pineapple juice.
Batida de Coco is Brazil’s answer to the classic pina colada. This quintessential coconut cocktail is made with Leblon Cachaca Rum, Cream of Coconut and pineapple juice. An indispensable part of Brazilian bar culture, Batida cocktails, pronounced “ba-chi-da” in Portuguese, means shaken, and in addition to fruit juices and sugar, often contain condensed milk which is why they are sometimes referred to as milkshakes.
The official welcome drink at the famed Sandy Lane resort and other luxury hotspots in Barbados, Barbados Rum Punch is touted as the best rum punch in the region, made with Mount Gay Eclipse Rum, sweet and sour mix, fresh lime juice with Grenadine and Angostura bitters, finished with freshly ground nutmeg. Mount Gay Rum was created in Barbados in 1703 and is known as locally as “the rum that invented rum.”
The Havana Hotel Special is the signature drink at the famed five-star Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba. For more than 80 years, Hotel Nacional has been “the destination” in Havana to see and be seen, with fans from Winston Churchill to Marlon Brando to Frank Sinatra. The refreshing pineapple punch is made with the tantalizing trio of Bacardi Superior Rum, pineapple and fresh lemon juice rounded out with splash of DeKuyper apricot brandy.
Parrot Passion is the premiere cocktail at the world-renowned Parrot Club in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Parrot is actually one of the world’s rarest birds with only 30-40 still in existence. Puerto Rico’s tribute to these famous icons is the Parrot Passion, a blend of passion fruit juice, orange juice, Cointreau and Bacardi Limon.
