If you missed out on parties during the summer months, it's the perfect time to start planning for stay-at-home festivities to keep things lively through the winter. One of the simplest ways to entertain is to spice up your cocktail game, and with the help of a well-thought-out playlist, you've got yourself a real celebration — guest virtually included.
Now that cooler temperatures are already on their way, why not get down at home with our reggae-themed Roots and Culture playlist to keep things warm? With Wray & Nephew's White Overproof Rum, we've got seven original cocktails to choose from that should help you turn up the heat.
To this day — after nearly 200 years in production — Wray & Nephew remains the choice rum for Jamaican special occasions. Whether it's for christening a new family member, poured on the foundation of a new house to ward off evil spirits, or baked into a traditional fruitcake at Christmastime, their White Overproof Rum is more than a full-strength drink.
For your next special occasion, try one of Wray & Nephew's signature cocktails, or Exclaim!'s own special mix to go along with our Canadian reggae playlist below.
So turn up the tunes, and start mixing; it's time to relive summer the Wray & Nephew way.
Wray and White Cranberry Juice
If you like to keep things simple, try this mix:
1 oz Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum
3 oz white cranberry juice
Add ingredients in a rocks glass, add ice and serve in a rocks glass.
Jamaican Rum Punch
If you're looking for a fruity, scalable drink, try this classic rum punch:
3 oz Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
4 oz orange juice
3 oz pineapple juice
1 oz Appleton Estate V/X Jamaica Rum
½ oz grenadine
¼ oz lime juice
Combine all ingredients into a punch bowl with ice. For a greater effect, add mixed fruit to your punch bowl. Garnish with slices of orange, pineapple, or lime and serve.
Wray Rumpari
This is a simple flavourful mix of rum and bitters, a rum riff on the Negroni.
1 oz. Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
1 oz. Campari
3 oz. grapefruit soda or chaser of your choosing
Add ingredients into a glass with ice, stir and serve in a rock glass.
Bompas Club
A little bit sweet, a little bit bitter, John Codd's remixed cocktail is guaranteed full strength:
1 ½ oz Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
1 oz cream sherry
½ oz Cynar
½ oz Campari
¼ oz grenadine
Add all ingredients into mixing glass with ice and stir. Pour into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with orange peel.
Death in the Afternoon
For the Ernest Hemmingway fan in your life, here's the author's own invention:
1 ½ oz Wray & Nephew absinthe
4 ½ oz champagne
Steep half an ounce of dried wormwood in a pint of Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum for two days. Strain through a coffee filter and bottle. Combine ingredients in a champagne flute or coupe and serve.
Frozen White Wrussian
Add depth of flavour (and caffeine) to your cocktail game with Nick Korn's coffee infusion:
2 oz coffee-infused Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
1 oz whole milk
½ oz simple syrup
Infuse 1 750 ml bottle of Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum with ½ pound of ground high-quality coffee by placing both into a sealable glass jar, shaking well and steeping for 12-24 hours. Strain grounds and pour infused rum into a bottle. Add the above ingredients to 1 cup of crushed iced. Blend for 5 seconds and pour into glass.
The Exclaim! Mojito
Enjoy a special Exclaim! twist on this classic minty cocktail:
1 ½ oz Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
½ oz fresh lime (quartered)
2 teaspoons white sugar (optional)
6-8 mint leaves
4-5 blackberries
Soda water
Sugarcane
Add sugar, lime quarters, blackberries and mint leaves into a highball glass. Muddle, then add rum and ice. Top with soda water and stir. Garnish with a sugarcane stalk and mint sprig.