VALENTINA ROSE COCKTAIL
A beautiful celebration in a glass, with the magic of unlimited possibilities
I acquired the rum in a Caribbean island from Christian, a friend and rum distiller who established Anna Bay Club, a rum business in Curaçao. He suggested using honey instead of sugar when making simple syrups. During my stay with Christian and his wife, my wonderful friend Katy in the tropical paradise of Curaçao, Katy introduced me to the coloured ice-cubes. She also adorned the guest rooms with roses, and that's how I came up with this cocktail recipe - to recreate my wonderful Curaçao experience.
This recipe requires natural flower extract ice cubes, fresh lime juice, Anna Bay Club coconut rum (or Malibu coconut rum), rose simple syrup, and angostura bitters.
ICE CUBE SECRET REVEALED
Purchase these natural flower extracts to colour your ice. You want to use both the ‘B’lure’ (butterfly pea flower) and the ‘Rose+Hibiscus’ bottles.
ICE-CUBE TECHNIQUE
Squirt a dropper of each of the extracts into ice cubes, mix it up and freeze. You will end up with gorgeous purple, and pink/red ice cubes.
ROSE SIMPLE SYRUP
Make a simple syrup on the stove with honey and water, adding in a conservative dash of rose water, (too much rose flavour will ruin the cocktail).
THE REST
50ml Fresh Lime Juice (large end of cocktail jigger)
75ml Coconut Anna Bay Rum (small & large end of cocktail jigger) (or Malibu coconut rum)
2 tsp Rose Simple Syrup (or 1 tsp if using Malibu as this brand is sweet)
6 drops Angostura Bitters
THE MAGIC
Pop 2-3 of each colour ice cubes in a glass, add lime juice, rum, rose simple syrup, and angostura bitters. Stir gently and enjoy while hatching a plan to sail away to the Caribbean with friends. Then make another one and hatch more plans. It’s a well-known fact among us modern day gypsies that the distance between you and your dreams is determined by the quality of your cocktails.
