Get Your Rum Fix With A Palmetto Cocktail

Happy weekend and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super simple yet delicious libations. This week we're making a palmetto cocktail, because I finally had to turn my A/C on, and hot weather calls for rum.

Photo: Claire Lower

Make This Smashed Cucumber Gin & Tonic

Happy weekend, and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super simple yet delicious libations. This week we're taking the already refreshing gin & tonic and making it even fresher, if you can imagine such a thing.

This cocktail is quite an old one and equal parts of rum and vermouth make it very easy to remember. One and a half ounces of sweet vermouth may seem a bit heavy-handed, but trust me, it tastes nothing but balanced.

It's also one of the more elegant, fruit-free ways to enjoy your favourite rum, if you wish to let the spirit shine a bit more without pineapple and lime. To make it, you will need:

45mL dark rum (A good single barrel is great, but a nice blended rum works too. I would, however, avoid anything spiced, or anything that comes in a cannonball.)
45mL ounces sweet vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters

Pour everything into a stirring glass or pint glass filled with ice and stir until everything is quite chilled.

Strain into a coupe glass, garnish with nothing and enjoy.