Discovery Bay

The DISCOVERY BAY is a gold rum, lime & curacao cocktail that produces a citrusy embellishment of your favorite gold rum. Despite the pastoral green color — which is the result of mixing blue curacao with gold rum — the taste is a tart, minimally sweet, and refreshing twist on the usual rum drink. It’s not a Tiki-bar-style drink, but serves the Whiskey Sour/ Negroni crowd well, and is nicely suitable for the summer. It’s also a drink for the rum connoisseur without the usual mix of fruit juices.

Requirements: Gold rum, blue curacao, Angostura bitters, orange bitters (optional) simple syrup, lime juice, orange peel & cherry for garnish

• 3 oz. gold rum
• 1-2 tsp. blue curacao
• 1 tsp. simple syrup
• 1/2 lime, fresh lime juice
• 3 drops Angostura bitters (or 3 drops orange bitters optional)
• 1 orange peel & maraschino cherry for garnish

Combine all liquid ingredients into an ice-filled shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass (or an Old-Fashioned glass filled with ice) and garnish with an orange peel and maraschino cherry.

Comments: Keep the simple syrup nearby in case the mix is too tart for your taste buds. You can experiment with your favored amount of blue curacao (from the standard 1 teaspoon to 1/2 ounce). I prefer orange bitters over Angostura bitters; but Angostura is the standard mix. The Discovery Bay is only about 7 grams sugar, versus rum punches which contains additional sugar from fruit juices.

There is another completely different brandy recipe with this same name (1.5 oz of brandy, 2 oz. lemon sherbet, 2 oz. ginger ale, 1/2 oz. orange liqueur) which can be tried as well.

Happy U.S. Independence Day weekend!