Popular Rum Cocktails

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, 20ml lime juice and 10ml sugar syrup. Shake hard 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.

 

The Hemingway Daiquiri

Invented for Mr Ernest Hemingway himself at El Floridita, Havana.

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.

 

The Rum Ranch

Pop a sliver of medium hot red chilli into the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle gently. Add 60ml aged rum, 10 ml sugar syrup, 10ml lemon juice and 10ml orange juice and a dash of Pimento Bitters. Shake, shake, shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

 

The Dark and Stormy

This straight-forward cocktail claims to be Bermuda’s national drink — it’s an easy way to conjure up some tropical vibes at home.

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in 60ml of 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 of 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 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.

 

The classic Rum Punch

An absolute classic, perfect for parties, weddings, any occasion really.

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. 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

This drink needs no introduction. Think the beach, the sun and the sand in between your toes.

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.

 

Rum is always a popular choice among many of our guests due to its sweetness and familiarity. If you will like to have rum cocktails at your event, do drop us an enquiry today! Rum is something that Mixes From Mars works with often and its a favourite among many of our bartenders as well!

Celebrate St Patrick's Day with Mixes From Mars!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Month!

As many of you may already know, Saint Patrick’s Day Street Festival will be celebrated this month at multiple locations across town, next one being a mini-fest before the main festival next saturday 14 March from 6-10pm at Far East Square and China Square. But of course, the one we are all looking forward to will be the main Saint Patrick’s Day Street Festival 2019 at Circular Road that is happening from 15 March 5pm – 10pm and 16 & 17  March 12pm – 10pm with loud music and street games happening! And there is only one drink that we all celebrate with and enjoy at St Patricks Festival and that is none other than Guinness!

Guinness is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James’s Gate brewery in the capital city of Dublin, Ireland. Guinness, produced by the British Diageo beverages company, is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. It is brewed in almost 50 countries and is available in over 120.

Guinness features a burnt flavour that is derived from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness’s palate still features a characteristic “tang”, the company has refused to confirm whether this type of blending still occurs. The draught beer’s thick, creamy head comes from mixing the beer with nitrogen and carbon dioxide when poured. It is popular with the Irish, both in Ireland and abroad. Over 10 million glasses of Guinness stout are enjoyed every single day across the globe.

The brewing history of Guinness began over 250 years ago with ales, then porters and then, famously, stout. With that first batch of Irish stout, there began a legacy of innovative brewing that’s since been upheld all over the world.

Guinness are one of the only brewers in the world to roast their own barley. The world class roasters have perfected the art of roasting in the dedicated roast-house at St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin.

The precision of the roasting process is what gives the famous stout its distinctive rich taste and dark, ruby-red hue. Raise a pint to the light and see how it glows.

232 degrees is the temperature that transforms the barley into a black state of perfection. Any cooler won’t bring out the roast flavour, any hotter and the barley will catch fire. This is what makes Guinness taste like Guinness.

Every single batch of Guinness is tested by a Sensory Panel who meet together at 10am, when your taste buds are at their most heightened to ensure nothing leaves the brewery unless it tastes precisely as our expert brewers intended.

What exactly does it taste like?

Guinness Draught Tasting Notes:

Aroma: Sweet smelling with a coffee and malty nose

Flavour: Perfect balance of bitter and sweet with malt and roast characters

Palate: Smooth, creamy and balanced

ABV: 4.2% ABV

Appearance: Distinctively dark, with a rich creamy head

Beautiful pints of Guinness are poured by skilled bartenders around Ireland and indeed other parts of the world, every day of the week.

Guinness surprised an entire industry by being the first brewer to hire scientists to head up a ground-breaking research lab. Its skilful pairing of nitrogen gas and CO2, gives Guinness its legendary creamy head and smooth, balanced taste. Guinness Draught was launched as recently as 1959, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Guinness, when a mathematician turned brewer in St. James’s Gate named Michael Ash proposed a whole new way to brew. He wanted to brew beer with nitrogen instead of CO2 and after much trial and error, Ash succeeded, and the first nitro beer was born, Guinness Draught.

Guinness transcended technology by creating the world-famous Guinness widget, which is the white ball found floating in every can used to deliver the perfect Guinness serve.

Jaslynn, the assistant head bartender of Hopscotch shares her favourite recipe involving Guinness that has a few regulars hooked.

45ml Gosling Dark Rum
10ml Jumping Goat Coffee Liqueur
6 Dashes Choc Bitters
Topup Guinness

The bittersweet and roasted taste of Guinness is paired nicely with the sweet notes of the dark rum and coffee liqueur, it is then rounded off with chocolate bitters, making it easy to drink but at the same time, deceptively potent.

At Mixes From Mars, we do love the taste of Guinness and we’ll be there at the St Patrick’s Day Street Festival! If you would like to enjoy a Guinness at your event, be it having a whole keg of Guinness on tap or a few crates of canned ones, we will be most excited to work with you as having a whole Guinness tap at your event will definitely amaze your guests and will be one that they will remember! Do drop us an enquiry today!

 

 

Mardi Gras originates from New Orleans where it a variety of classic cocktails originates.

Mardi Gras

In a day, Mardi Gras will be celebrated throughout the world. Mardi Gras is also known as “Fat Tuesday” as it is the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent starts. During Lent, many Christians commit to fasting and relinquishing some luxuries to replicated the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hence, many people binge on food, drinks and celebrations prior to Lent.

Festivities Procession

Mardi Gras is known as one of the biggest carnivals in the world. The festivities are plenty and planned on a grand scale. Revellers party on the streets while colourful floats pass. Masked balls are also hosted which add on to the Mardi Gras vibes. Additionally, Mardi Gras is known for the colourful beaded necklaces which are thrown around. It is the most iconic symbol of Mardi Gras and many people collect them as souvenirs. In comparison, Singapore’s Chingay is a smaller festival which also involves floats, just that the attendance and scale of it are not that grand.

Food and Drinks

The most iconic food at Mardi Gras is the King cake. It is a cinnamon dough cake that is sprinkled with coloured sugar and glazed with frosting. They also come in various colours and flavoured fillings such as cream cheese and strawberry. An estimated 500,000 king cakes are sold during Mardi Gras. One interesting tidbit is that each cake contains a small plastic baby doll inside, whoever finds it must buy the next cake or host the next party the following year.

Now comes the good part, the alcoholic portion of Mardi Gras. Alcohol is plentiful during this annual rite of imbibition, ranging from beers to cocktails in novelty glasses. New Orleans is a place with a rich cocktail history, it is also one of the places where Mardi Gras is held at every year.With a place aptly named Bourbon Street, drinking here will never feel out of place. While New Orleans might be too far from Singapore, we have put together a list of famous cocktails originating from New Orleans which you can make in the comfort of your own home.

Hurricane

The Hurricane was named so because of the glassware it was served in. Its origins are also special in that it was due to a scarcity of scotch, whiskey and bourbon that led to its popularity. Distributors made bar owners buy rum in order to get access to other liquors. A bar named the Pat O’Brien decided to create a rum-based cocktail with the excess rum. The original recipe calls for passion fruit juice but as it is quite difficult to obtain, we recommend using the nectar which is slightly sweeter.

  • 1 oz Dark Rum
  • 1 oz White Rum
  • 1/2 oz Lime Juice
  • 1/2 oz Orange Juice
  • 1 oz Passion Fruit Nectar
  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1/2 oz Grenadine
  • Shake and strain into a Hurricane Glass filled with Tube Ice
  • Garnish with Dehydrated Orange and skewered Amarena Cherries

Vieux Carre

The Vieux Carre is a French translation of the word, French Quarter. It is the oldest section in New Orleans. Invented in Carousel Bar, this cocktail is pretty strong and carries many complex flavours.

  • 3/4 oz Rye Whiskey
  • 3/4 oz Cognac
  • 3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • 1 teaspoon Benedictine Dom
  • 2 dash Peychaud Bitters
  • 2 dash Angostura Bitters
  • Stir and Strain into a Coupe or Rock Glass(For aesthetical purposes, King Ice or Ice Ball will be perfect)
  • Garnish with a Lemon Twist

Ramos Gin Fizz

Created in Meyer’s Restaurant in New Orleans by Henry C. Ramos, The Ramos Gin Fizz is a popular cocktail during Mardi Gras for its taste. It is also known as a technically challenging cocktail as it incorporates a variety of steps to ensure the froth and fizz are of an exceptional standard. It is known to emphasise vigorous shaking to make the egg white and cream mix well together while gently topping up of soda to ensure the fizz does not dissipate.

  • 1 1/2 oz Gin
  • 1/2 oz Lime Juice
  • 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
  • 1 oz Simple Syrup
  • 2 oz Milk, Cream or Half and Half
  • 1 Egg White
  • 2 Dashes Of Orange Blossom Water
  • Shake Vigorously and Strain into a Highball Glass
  • Gently Top with Club Soda and Lift with Barspoon
  • Garnish with Lime Rind or Wheel

Of course, the above recipes are based on our preferences, feel free to give it a tweak to cater to your taste and preferences. We might incorporate some of these cocktails into our next mobile bartending event if it suits the theme! As always have a good weekend ahead and Happy Mardi Gras, cheers!

Portable Bars

Staff Appreciation Festival at Gardens by the Bay

Back in July, we had an event with our client. It was a yearly affair where they invited all their staffs for some rest and recreation time. It was held at the Meadow in Gardens by the Bay. Our client certainly went all out to ensure their staffs left satisfied. It was organized like a festival exclusive only to their staffs. There were food, drinks, photo booths and live performances.

Food & Beverages

A quick briefing before our staffs head into their respective portable bars for service.

Louis giving the briefing before our staffs head into their respective portable bars for service

Food was provided by LAVISH and other vendors and it included fish and chips, churros, kebabs etc. Drinks were provided by us truly. The special catch was unlike many of our other events, this time we were not providing our customized cocktails, but beer, wine and soft drinks. While we are mostly known for our themed cocktails, we also provide other alcoholic and non-alcoholic services. For beers, we had Heineken and Tiger from the kegs. And for wine, it was Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignon and Cornerstone Sauvignon Blanc. Whereas for the soft drinks, we had coke, sprite and orange juice.

Jo tapping a beer for the festival before passing it to service at our portable bars

Jo and beers and festivals, a perfect combination.

While it might see very straightforward, the challenges that came with it was the logistics and the weather. There was heavy rain in the morning that interfered with a bit of our layout. The event was catered for 2,400 people. From there we had to plan for the timings for delivery, decorations, tools and equipments. The preferred mode of glassware for the day was plastic cups as the client felt it was safer and there won’t be any breakages as the guests roamed the Meadow. We brought over 6 of our portable bars as service stations to cater to the large crowd. Additionally we had 24 staffs on hand to aid with operations and logistics at 2 separate tentages. To ensure smooth operations we had a team on hand to change kegs and provide wines for the front end staffs.

Lights

Portable bar lit up with ambient lighting provided by The AVA Club

Our portable bar lit up. Additional ambient lighting from The AVA Club

The tentages which we were situated in had lights to brighten up the place as the festival was in the night. We felt it was quite bright so we decided to get them to turn it off. Instead, we got our friends from The AVA Club to light up our place with wash lights and centerpiece lighting. It provided a better setting for a music festival which the clients were very satisfied with.

Performances at the Festival

Possibly the highlight of the nights were the performances. Our client engaged local bands like Inch Chua and The Sam Willows to perform their hits. Them supporting local acts was very commendable. The guests loved the performances and it definitely was an experience to remember. Sitting on the meadow, with a glass of beer or wine in their hands swaying to the music. We are extremely grateful to our client for having the opportunity to cater to their festival, it was especially fun planning for this event. Also, shoutout to our friends at The AVA Club for helping us with the lights. Once again thanks for reading and have a great week ahead, cheers!