10 classic rum cocktails to make you feel like you're on holiday

Rum. Just the idea of it conjures up images of pirates, deserted beaches, buried treasure and beguiling senoritas… So shake up one of these drinks to dream the day away.

The classic Daiquiri

One of the oldest Cuban cocktails, dating from the late 1800s. Its very simplicity is a recipe for perfection.

Fill a shaker with crushed ice, 50ml white rum (I favour 3 year old Havana Club), 20ml lime juice and 10ml sugar syrup. Shake hard – preferably to a cha-cha-cha rhythm – until frothy. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a slice of lime.

If you’d like it frozen, put all the ingredients in a blender with a cupful of ice, and blitz until smooth.

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The Hemingway Daiquiri

Invented for Mr Ernest Hemingway himself at El Floridita, Havana. Sip whilst wearing a straw fedora and reading For Whom The Bell Tolls…

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Add 60ml white rum, 25ml lime juice, 15ml grapefruit juice and 15ml Maraschino liqueur. Shake hard. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lime.

With double the amount of rum, the drink becomes a Papa Doble.

The Rum Ranch

One day I had a big idea: run away to California and make rum. A girl can dream…

Pop a sliver of medium hot red chilli into the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle gently. Add 60ml aged rum (I like Havana Club 7 year old for this), 10 ml sugar syrup, 20ml of Meyer lemon juice OR 10ml lemon juice and 10ml orange juice and a dash of Pimento Bitters. Shake, shake, shake until arctic. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

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The Dark and Stormy

This straight-forward cocktail claims to be Bermuda’s national drink — it’s an easy way to conjure up the Tropics… at home.

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in 60ml Gosling’s Black Seal rum, top up with ginger beer, add a squeeze of lime juice. Stir. Garnish with a slice of lime.

The Mae Nam

A Thai daiquiri variation, this should look like a muddy river and taste fresh and fiery.

Place 200g of palm sugar in a saucepan with 200ml water, 1 bruised chilli and 1 bruised stick of lemongrass. Dissolve the sugar over a medium heat, and set aside to cool. Then strain the syrup into a clean jar, discarding the aromatics. To make the drink, fill a shaker with ice, add 60ml Sangsom (Thai spirit) or amber rum, 30ml fresh lime juice and 20ml of the palm sugar syrup. Shake hard, then strain into a lowball glass or tumbler and garnish with a slice of lime.

El Presidente

With a hazy history buried deep in Havana’s 1920s heyday, this is a very grown up rum drink. No little umbrellas allowed.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 50ml light rum, 25ml dry vermouth, 25ml dry curacao (I like Pierre Ferrand’s) and a dash of grenadine (optional). Stir, stir, stir until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a twist if orange if desired.

Havana Club’s Summer Mojito

Hot of the press or, should I say, off the bar, comes this refreshingly different twist on a Mojito from our pals at Havana Club

Place 200ml sugar and 200ml water in a saucepan. Add a handful of fresh basil leaves. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool. When cool, strain into a clean jar, discarding the basil leaves.

Pop 2 large cherry tomatoes and a large chunk of watermelon into the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and a drop of extra virgin olive oil. Add 50ml Havana Club 3 year old rum, 25ml lemon juice and 15ml of the basil infused syrup. Add ice. Shake well and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.

The classic Rum Punch

One of Sour, Two of Sweet, Three of Strong, Four of Weak… It even has its very own poem.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 20ml lime juice, 40ml sugar syrup, 60ml rum (I favour Appleton V/X for this). Shake or stir, as you like. It’s a VERY laid back drink. Strain into a chilled tumbler full of ice. Garnish with a slice of orange, or a cheeky maraschino cherry if you like.

The Piña Colada

By special request, this drink just reeks of teenage summers — coconut sun tan oil, sand between my toes and a crush on that boy with the long blonde hair…

Put a few chunks of fresh pineapple and lots of ice into a blender. Add 60ml white rum, 60ml pineapple juice, 60ml coconut cream and a dash of sugar syrup (optional). Whizz it all up until smooth. Pour into a chilled glass and garnish with a wedge of pineapple and as many umbrellas as you like.

The Hurricane

I had to include a Tiki drink here. BEWARE. They are notoriously strong. Some bars have a 2 drink maximum on Tiki drinks. Don’t be fooled by the sweet fruit juice. It makes this slide down far too easily and hides the punch of Lennox Lewis.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add juice of ½ a lime, 50ml white rum, 50ml dark rum, 60ml passion fruit juice, 30 ml orange juice, 1 tablespoon sugar syrup and 1 tablespoon grenadine. Shake to the sound of Elvis singing Hula Hula Baby. Strain into a fancy glass, and garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Or two.

Make Mine A Martini by Kay Plunkett-Hogge is published by Octopus, £14.99