Drinks Review and Cocktail Recipes with Mainbrace® Premium Golden Rum*

If you’re longing for that tropical feeling and love a cocktail as you head towards the weekend, then our latest blog is just for you. We are reviewing Mainbrace® Premium Golden Rum from Martinique and Guyane. This is real Caribbean rum; the sort that feels finer than what might have been found on a Pirate ship all those years ago. This is a Rum made from sugar cane that grows in these tropical climates and has been produced for hundreds of years and therefore perfected, to the finest quality and taste.

If you are regular to the blog you’ll know how much I love creating cocktails but what’s also interesting about this Rum is that I have a real connection to where it has been made. My grandfather lived in Guyane for a long time and built a house there, although I have never been, he sent me souvenirs of this tropical place, but when it comes to Martinique I have been fortunate enough to go there as a teenager and luckily was old enough to try out some of the amazing cocktails they create with their traditional drink of Rum. I am hoping to re-create some of this love of rum in two cocktails with a Caribbean and slightly British twist.

What I thought of the Mainbrace® Premium Golden Rum 

This is a heavenly rum, that is golden and rich in taste. Although you could pour it in cakes it would be wasted to cook away some of the fantastic flavours. It has a rounded and brown sugar taste, that is mildly warming. It could be enjoyed neat, but here I have two ways in which you can enjoy it as a cocktail. One is a short drink and the other a lighter and more refreshing drink.

Firstly we start with a not so sweet British inspired Honey Lemon Cocktail – that is crisp and short, and bet served iced cold – so although my sound typically something you’d drink warm, this is actually the perfect Spring/Summer aperitif.

Honey Rum 

In a cocktail shaker or tall glass and strainer place;

– 50ml (x1 measure) of Mainbrace® Rum
– 1 heaped tsp of honey (I used Borage Honey, any honey will work just fine, runny or set)
– The juice of one lemon (plus a slice to garnish)
– Half fill the glass with ice – shake or give it a good stir, the ice will melt a bit which is exactly what you want so that it blends your flavours together.

Pour into a short glass with a brown sugar rim (to achieve the rim, rub lemon juice around it and dip it into a plate of brown sugar). Add one ice cube half a teaspoon of brown sugar and lemon to garnish.

This is a drink to enjoy slowly it is fairly strong and sharp with the lemon, but is mellowed by the use of the honey, which actually doesn’t make an overly sweet drink, which I love when being enjoyed over time. If you like it a little sweeter, you can always mix in a little more honey, or use a lemon sugar syrup, so it is versatile to suit any palette. And if you’d rather not use honey, I am sure it would also work well with Maple Syrup or Agave. But I love the combo of the honey and the golden rum for me they worked perfectly together.

My next cocktail is again inspired by the British love of cucumber with the Caribbean inclusion of lime, and if you love to cleanse your body, you’ll know that this is also a detox combination when it is made just using water, but of course, the detox goes out of the window with the fact that this refreshing drink also contains the star of the show….Mainbrace® Premium Golden Rum.

‘Not So Detox’ Rum! 

In a tall glass filled nearly all the way with ice add;

– 50ml (x1 measure) of Mainbrace® Rum
– Around 4cm of organic cucumber cut into small cubes (I left the skin on, as it holds together better but feel free to remove it – but it will break down when you mix it). But around half in a use the rest to garnish at the end
– The juice of one and a half limes
– 3 tsp of brown sugar

Once you have everything in the glass either with a chopstick, spoon or meat/wooden straw, give it a really good mix and mash to blend all the flavours together, then top with Sparkling Water.

This is a really refreshing and very easy drink. It is light, but you can still taste the rum and you get the contrasting clean freshness from the cucumber to the zingy’ness of the lime. This is a great alternative to a Mojito and would be perfect to accompany a light salad style lunch with friends. Perfect now we can have a few people in the back garden again!

If you are stuck for ideas and you want to find some alternatives to the cocktails I have made, be sure to check out Mainbrace® Cocktail page. They have an espresso cocktail which I can’t wait to try!

Where can you buy your Mainbrace® Rum 

You can buy a 70cl bottle consisting of 40% proof Rum directly from their website for £34.99.

About Mainbrace® 

Just as you might imagine this rum arrived on the shores of Cornwall, not the sea like you might think but by a river, whilst watching rowing at the Ferry Ship Inn. As the family creators of this rum, watched the boat race and felt the enjoyment of the celebrations by the winners they want to encompass this within a perfectly produced bottle of rum.

Unlike other rums they have managed to create this one by slicing together to methods of making rum from Martinique and Guyane, which has allowed them to create this uniquely rounded and superbly flavoured Rum. Using this never before method and free from additives you can definitely see how Mainbrace® is the perfect addition to any cocktail cabinet! That’s if anyone still has one! If you don’t, it will sit quite nicely in whatever cupboard to choose to store your specially chosen spirits!

Review by: Lex Ward

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