Limbo Cocktail

Calypso music, dancers trying to bend beneath the limbo stick and tropical drinks on the beach all scream Caribbean vacation. This light rum cocktail has banana flavors to make it tropical. It has banana rum from Cruzan instead of banana liqueur, which can sometimes taste like banana candy. I like that this is an all rum cocktail, with Vitae platinum rum to give the drink a heady scent of rum with real flavor.

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1/2 oz. banana liqueur (Cruzan banana used)
• 1 oz. orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Pacific Pacifier

I think that as far as dessert drink names go, this cocktail acts exactly as advertising. There is no spirit that represents the Pacific Ocean, but anything tropical tasting, like banana and orange, will suffice. There's also the pacifier part of the name. It could just be calming, a nightcap for adults, but one can't help think of baby pacifiers and a baby's love of milk.

Here Cointreau is a must to prevent the cocktail from being overly sweet, which cheap triple sec will do. Then the drink calls for banana liqueur, and I thought that banana rum (which is just as sweet) would do fine. It did!

• 1 1/2 oz. Cointreau
• 1 oz. creme de bananes (Cruzan banana rum used)
• 1 oz. half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice. 

Banana Milkshake

What a fun little cocktail! I love it! At first glance, this milkshake drink seems like a dessert pudding of a cocktail. Maybe it is, but the addition of nutmeg and banana flavor comes across as tropical. This smacks of beach resorts and summer milkshakes sipped on yachts more than a nightcap or winter eggnog.

The big tip-off is the use of rum in the recipe. It connects it to the Caribbean sea and white rum makers that use tropical spices in their spiced rum recipes. And then there are bananas, of course.

For this one, I happened to have a banana rum by Cruzan which I substituted for the white rum because why not. It tastes a little artificial and has a good amount of sugar in it, so actually it is a good stand in for creme de bananes as well. I decided to go extra bananas with MurLarkey Distillery's banana whiskey as well. This is all natural and doesn't have sugar added so it balanced things well. The result was a rich and strong banana flavor that was more than just candy in a glass.

• 2 oz. light rum (1 1/2 oz. Cruzan banana rum used)
• 1 oz. creme de bananes (1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey banana whiskey)
• 2 oz. half-and-half
• dash grenadine
• ground nutmeg
• banana slice

Combine grenadine, half-and-half and spirits in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the banana slice and dust with nutmeg. 

Pilot Boat

It is summer, at least according to the calendar. But in Virginia it doesn't feel very warm. Good thing there's rum.

This drink is named after the pilot boat that meets up with cruise ships. The pilot boat captain takes the cruise ship's wheel and brings the ship to the harbor safely.

The Pilot Boat is a tart drink that is mostly lime juice. Dark rum, in this case Pampero Aniversario blend from Venezuela. This is a rich but not overly sugary dark rum that gets its color and vanilla flavor from barrel aging. Mixed with Cruzan banana rum--which tastes like banana Runts candy--and you have a tart drink with a mellow center.

I'm sure it would have been sweeter if I used creme de bananes, but I don't use it. Instead I added 1/2 oz. simple syrup to sweeten the drink a little. 

• 2 oz. dark rum (Pampero Aniversario used)
• 1 oz. creme de bananes (Cruzan banana rum and 1/2 oz. simple syrup)
• 2 oz. lime juice.

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Caribbean Champagne

Caribbean Champagne is a rummy sparkling cocktail with banana notes. You can do it with creme de bananes and light rum, but that makes the drink cloudy with sugar and yellow dye. Cruzan banana rum is sweetened and flavored rum that doesn't have any artificial coloring. Skip using light rum and just use the banana rum instead for a clear sparkling wine cocktail with Caribbean appeal.

• 1/2 tsp. light rum
• 1/2 tsp. creme de banana (use a whole tsp. of Cruzan banana rum for simplicity and clarity.)
• champagne or sparkling wine
• banana slice

Add rum and banana liqueur in a chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne and garnish with a banana slice. 

Pinata

The idea behind this Mexican themed drink is to get a yellow and festive color from the tequila and banana flavor from creme de bananes. But creme de bananes is a really sugary and fake tasting liqueur when you buy the cheap stuff. I have so many of these banana drinks to do, though, so I didn't want to drink a lot of cheap sugary fake liqueur.

I got Cruzan banana rum because I like the freshness of the flavors. They say it is natural banana flavor, and there's a little sweetness in the rum. It's only 21 percent alcohol, so there's that, but I think that a tropical cocktail needs other tropical spirits like rum. That said, you will need to add a tsp. of sugar or simple syrup to calm down all the lime juice in this drink. Even with creme de bananes, you might need more sugar.

This is a nice drink, despite its simplicity when you make it with fresh lime juice. Its like a banana Margarita, which is a nice change of pace.

• 2 oz. gold tequil (Sauza Anejo used)
• 1 oz. creme de bananes (Cruzan banana rum used)
• 1 tsp. sugar (recommended but optional)
• 1 1/2 oz. lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.