Rum Tropical (punch)

I've found that at large parties its much easier to make a large bowl of punch than to shake (or blend) endless cocktails, so we've been shopping through our punch recipes.   Martha Washington's Rum Punch was a big hit at our last party, this time I didn't have much time to prepare so I grabbed my copy of Beachbum Berry Remixed* by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, which has six recipes.  One of the things that I like so much about Jeff's book is that he tried all the recipes - and threw some out!  [One gets tired of trying recipes that are so bad you wonder why (or how) they were included in a book.]

Anyway, page 114 lists "three quick and easy punches", Rum Tropical was the easiest:

• 32 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
• 4 oz fresh lime juice
• 2 oz Falernum
• 1 fifth gold Puerto Rican Rum  (we used Flor de Cana Gold)

We had sliced pineapple on hand and some very ripe cherries which I pitted, halved and tossed in. The rum soaked fruit was great to eat.

As Jeff said, certainly easy to make - pour, stir, chill.  Normally I make my large ice cube the day before, in this case I filled the tupperware container with ice cubes, topped with water and froze.  It became solid in just a couple of hours, however it seemed like melted much faster too!

This is very nice punch.  But its not a headliner or soloist, its  a "hey, great barbeque. Oh, yeah, the punch was nice, too!"

If I had to do it again, I would get try something other than John D. Taylors Velvet Falernum Liqueur - it doesn't have a lot of character (or perhaps my bottle is too old).  I'd try making Paul Clarke's Falernum #8

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* If you don't have this book, buy it. It is the tiki drink recipe book.