Day 21: I Saw Mommy Drinking Bajan Rum

Can it just be Christmas all ready? I never thought I would miss such a consumer-driven time before, but this lack of interaction sure makes me long for busy shopping malls and Christmas parties. Welcome to the end of week 3 or this absolute mess. I wanted to dig into something a bit different for today, so I drew upon a drink that just made me think of a holiday in a glass, the Christmas holiday.

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First recorded in 1952 by Jimmy Boyd, the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was written by songwriter Tommie Connor. The song describes a scene where a child walks downstairs on Christmas Eve to discover his mother kissing "Santa Claus," not knowing that it's actually his father in a costume. This was always funny to me, because the only thing I ever found my family members doing on Christmas Eve was having another drink! In my family, everyone has a bar in their home, and that's where most socializing takes place. Every year, at least for the past two, I've been flying home to my home city of Pittsburgh, to do a Christmas-themed night of tropical cocktails. The fist drink that went on the first menu, was I Saw Mommy Drinking Bajan Rum, a rum-soaked Christmas drink, in the old fashioned style. Without a doubt, this drink also had to be made with rum from the cradle of rum itself, Barbados. It just felt more appropriate to catch my mother having a sip of rum, rather than kissing a guy in a suit, but all families are different I suppose.

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I Saw Mommy Drinking Bajan Rum

2oz Aged Barbados Rum (I originally used The Real McCoy 5 year for this.)

.5oz Grenadine

.25oz Don's Spices #2 (Equal parts vanilla syrup and allspice dram.)

.25oz Peychaud's Bitters (That's right, ounces...)

Build in a double old fashioned glass.

Stir with large ice cube.

Express and discard lemon peel.

Garnish with flower.

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I guess making Christmas drinks is the closest some of us can get to our families right now. I just hope to keep moving forward, however that's going to end up looking. Tune in tomorrow, maybe I'll theme a drink on something else whimsical to distract everyone from the dumpster fire happening everywhere. Keep Calm and Shake On. I'll see you tomorrow friends.