Category: Rum

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Christmas Suffering Bastard

Not the most traditional Christmas cocktail, but with the new green glaze I think the Suffering Bastard Mug is a perfect vessel. In order to prepare the cocktail we need to make some decisions about the ingredients.

The Trader Vic’s Suffering Bastard is very different from Joe Scialom’s original from the World War II era, and is basically a larger and boozier Mai Tai.

This is the recipe from Trader Vic’s 1972 Bartenders Guide Revised and from 1974’s Rum Cookery and Drinkery. Noteworthy that it specifically calls for an aged Rhum Agriole. But what’s missing? The lime, for one.

Suffering Bastard (1970s)
3 oz Trader Vic’s Mai Mix
1 oz Light Puerto Rican Rum
2 oz Rhum St. James
Shake with ice and garnish with spent lime shell, mint, fruit stick, and cucumber

The same books list the Mai Tai as using 2 oz each of Mai Tai Mix and Trader Vic’s Mai Tai rum, so we must assume the lime is incorporated into the Mai Tai mix. As for the blend of Orange Curacao and Orgeat, I thought I’d try the ratio used for the 1958 Mai Tai from the Trader Vic’s in Havana, 12 parts Curacao to 7 parts Orgeat, and make 2 oz of this mix to go with the 1 oz of lime. I don’t have any Rhum St. James but substituted Clement VSOP Rhum that’s also from Martinique. Plus Trader Vic’s Light Rum from Puerto Rico.

Christmas Suffering Bastard
1 oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
1¼ oz Orange Curacao (Ferrand)
1 oz Trader Vic’s Light Rum
2 oz Rhum St. James (sub Clement)
Shake with ice and garnish with spent lime shell, mint, fruit stick, and cucumber (if you have one)

This was very satisfying. You certainly get a bit of that aged and grassy taste from the Clement, but it is balanced well by the subtle sweetness of the Mai Tai mix blend. The use of the light rum softens the edges of the Martinique rhum and keep this as the boozy cocktail it was meant to be.

Mele Kalikimaka

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Trader Vic’s Hot Buttered Rum

It isn’t a Mai Tai at all, but some fine Hot Buttered Rum from Trader Vic’s. This commercial product compares favorably to the handcrafted Hot Buttered Rum kits you see for sale at craft cocktails bars during the holiday season.


Vic’s mix is jarred with sugar, butter, and spices mostly, and is $9 at BevMo where I picked it up. I like to use a little extra mix just to make it a bit more rich. Pairs well with heavier rums such as those from Jamaica or Guyana, but use your favorite. Might be a good use of a spiced rum if you have some.

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Recipe: Rum Flip

This all time classic cocktail evolved over the centuries and this particular recipe is based on the one from Smuggler’s Cove. Rather just using an egg white in the cocktail, we’re using the entire egg. The result is creamy, though not as much as something like an Egg Nog that includes dairy.

The result is pretty good. I went with the traditional style and medium body of a Barbados rum, though something more flavorful would probably pair better with the rich taste of the egg.

Rum Flip
2 oz Old Brigand Barbados Rum
½ oz Demerara Syrup
1 medium egg
Dry shake for 10 secs, then add 1 cup ice and shake. Double strain and top with nutmeg.

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Hampden Estate Single Jamaican Rum 8 Marks Collection

Distilleries often have different production methods to produce disparate types of spirit expressions. Each recipe and production method that produces a different final distillate is called a mark and distilleries often have several of these. Hampden Estate in Jamaica produces eight distinct marks – most of which go back decades.

The 8 Marks Collection produced in conjunction with La Maison & Velier USA lets consumers be able to directly compare Hampden’s eight marks side by side by side. The large box contains 200ml bottles of each mark, plus a handy reference sheet for the distillery and for each mark. Noteworthy are all the precise details about wash components, fermentation time and type, chemical compounds, and more. Each is presented at 60% ABV, so needless to say flavor won’t be lacking, and with all of these being unaged you can taste them without the variability that aging in barrels can provide.

I obtained mine at a tasting event where we received the kits and were led through the details. Most of Hamdpden’s expressions are high on the ester scale, up to DOK at 1600gr/hLPA and the highest the Jamaican government allows. But all of these are funk bombs to a greater or lesser degree. Even after going through seven of these I really did feel that DOK was a different beast.

The variability of these expressions is noticeable and interesting. HLCF (the basis for Rum Fire) is probably the most complex and rich, despite being in the middle of the ester scale. More esters does not necessarily mean better, that’s for sure. In my tasting, I liked rare C<>H mark the best.

The 8 Marks collection is available in some retail locations already, with more to come soon. Price varies from around $150 and up. This isn’t a super limited release, but Hampden says this won’t be an annual release – though a version of this tasting kit with the marks aged for one year is coming in 2024.

For a more in-depth look at this collection, I encourage you watch this video from our friend Arminder.