Happy Wine Wednesday! For the final installment of our Winter Whites Series, I am following my previous advice of letting the weather influence my palate, and have decided on white rum. Since it’s currently freezing here in Chicago and we are expecting enough snow to host a Winter Olympics, my thoughts naturally wander to a warm and creamy toddy.

Rum is an interesting thing. There are four different styles: light rum, dark rum, Demerara rum, and rhum agricole. All are a thing of liquid beauty, but since this is a love story about winter whites, I am sticking to light rum. It’s also the easiest to find, least expensive and mixes fantastically with a variety of ingredients.

White rum is the perfect foil to most foods, and it symbolizes “happy hour” in a glass. Pale, light-bodied and lightly sweet in flavor, you are instantly seduced by sugarcane juice and molasses. It originated in the Caribbean in 17th Century and quickly spread to Central and South America. Cachaça is a popular white rum you may be familiar with and it is also the base spirit for the Caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil.

I know you are thinking of warm, sunny islands and swaying palm trees when you think of rum based cocktails…..daiquiris, piña coladas and rum punch but they also make great warm cocktails that can cut a chill like a hot knife through butter.

Here are three of my favorite warm weather-inspired rum cocktails that are delicious and easy to make. Enjoy!

Hot Buttered Rum
1 oz rum
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp butter
4 cloves
Hot water
Put the sugar, butter and cloves in a mug. Add rum and stir. Fill with hot water and stir again.

American Grog
1.5 oz rum
1 tsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Hot water
Pour the rum, powdered sugar and lemon juice into a mug and stir. Add hot water and stir again.

Grand Rum Toddy
1.5 oz rum
3/4 oz Grand Marnier
1/4 oz lime juice
Hot water
Pour rum, Grand Marnier and lime juice into a mug and stir. Add hot water and stir again.

Cheers!

Sara Fasolino
Beverage Manager/Certified Sommelier and Mixologist
Morton’s The Steakhouse