The Prairie Shipwreck

“The drink can either be served as a mulled punch (taken from the Hindi word paunch, meaning five, represented by the five ingredients in a classic punch-style cocktail) in a fancy tea-cup, or shaken in a cocktail shaker and served up (no ice) in a chilled coupe.” — Tarquin Melnyk, dedicated convivialist and winner of the 2013 Alberta CPBA cocktail challenge

  • 2 parts Goslings Black Seal Rum
  • 1 part fresh-pressed rhubarb juice (rhubarb needs to be lightly steamed and diced before juicing, as it is extremely fibrous)
  • 1 part fresh-pressed lime juice (juice, then fine strain with a tea strainer)
  • 1 part cinnamon demerara syrup (boil 1:1 measure of demerara sugar and water, add 1 stick of cinnamon per cup to extract oils and flavour. When the sugar is diluted, bring to room temperature and store in the fridge)

Add 8 heavy dashes of Angostura bitters per serving. (Fear not, Angostura is not too bitter. This will add the Caribbean spice flavours to finish the seasoning of this cocktail. Angostura is easily obtained from Safeway.)

Garnish: mist of lemon oil from zest, as a top note, over finished drink and then add a whole star anise to float on top.