Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been a long week. The kind of week that has taxed your hostess. But it was a good week, a great week in fact, and your hostess deserves a proper cocktail! The powers that be tell me that tomorrow is National Rum Day, so I took this opportunity to make myself an extremely humble, but strong, lady drink.
I, am a sucker, you see. I love drinking out of exotic cocktail vessels, especially those that resemble coconuts, pineapples, or tiki mugs. When I saw baby watermelons at the grocery - I knew exactly what I was going to do with them! That's right, chop the tops off, carve out the summery goodness, and blend it up with booze and ice! And today, I deserve it. Cocktail umbrellas, flamingo straws, and all. Like I said, it was a good week.
The Watermelon Rum Bomb (working title) is exceptionally easy.
Chop the top off your baby watermelon and carve out the fruit.
Put the fruit in a blender and add Aged rum (we are celebrating, after all), ice, Aperol, a few dashes of Angostura bitters, a few dashes of Miracle Mile Celery Bitters, and half a bar spoon of salt tincture. Blend it up, pour into your watermelon vessel, top with a rum floater (celebrating), and top with as many festive garnishes as you damn well please.
I've used Zacapa Solera Aged Rum in this cocktail because it is delicious and has the round sugary sweetness that I wanted to balance with the tartness of the watermelon. Zacapa is made from virgin sugar cane grown in southern Guatemala. A rum like this is often enjoyed over ice, but it performs extremely well in cocktails. Watermelon is such a light flavor that it doesn't cover up the rum, instead, it compliments it beautifully. I've added a bit of Aperol for a bitter kick, a few dashes of Angostura to enhance the barrel aging, and a few dashes of celery bitters and salt that play with the sugar cane notes found in the rum. I like this cocktail because it is sweet, festive, and yet has surprise savory flavors that balance out all the sugar. All I need now is a beach.
Watermelon Rum Bomb
Created by Gastronomista
1 Baby Watermelon
4 oz Zacapa 23 Solera Aged Rum
2 oz Coconut Water
3/4 oz Aperol
10 dashes Angostura
10 dashes Miracle Mile Celery Bitters
1/2 bar spoon Salt Tincture (1:1 salt to water)
Cut off top of watermelon and scoop out the fruit. Add fruit to blender with ice, 3 oz rum, Aperol, bitters, and salt tincture. Blend, and pour into watermelon. Using the back of a barspoon, float 1 oz of Zacapa rum on the top of the drink. Garnish like crazy.
Cheers!
