Ti’ Punch

Ti’ Punch

Ti Punch is the Caribbean answer to an American Old Fashioned. Simply replace the bourbon with rum, and use a lime rind instead of lemon peel. All the rest is the same, a teaspoon of sugar or simple syrup, and 2 ounces of rum.  The original calls for Martinique rum agricole, which is lightly aged rum with grassy notes. This means it is more like a Brazilian Cachaça than a rum. I know many will dispute and berate me about that, but that is my simplest description of it.

This recipe can also be used as a litmus test for any rum to see how it stands up to mixability and/or if you cannot drink your rum straight, and prefer it with a drop of sugar and/or chilled, just as you would with your whiskey in an old fashioned.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ounce rhum agricole (original, but use any type of rum to get a feel for its characteristics)
• 1 teaspoon (5ml and/or scant 1/4 ounce simple syrup), syrup should be cane sugar or sugar in the raw or blonde sugar
• 1 very thin slice of lime, cut from the side, so it is mostly the rind and just a very slight bit of the citrus flesh

Stir all ingredients over ice and serve. I prefer to use one large ice cube as I would with my Old Fashioned cocktails.