Tropical Island Drinks

Imperial Bulldog is the first drink that Jane Danger created with Austin Hennelly, her partner at Mother of Pearl in New York City. She admires his cheeky finishing touches, like the miniature bottle of Underberg bitters inverted in the glass. As the ice melts, the bottle slowly empties into the drink.

A swizzle is an icy drink named for the tool used to mix it, traditionally fashioned out of a woody stem. The base for this swizzle is rhum agricole, made from fresh cane juice in the French-speaking Caribbean islands.

Shrubs were originally made in Colonial America. They typically combined rum and a gastrique, a syrup made with vinegar, sugar and, often, seasonal fruits such as strawberries.

The mojito may be Cuba's national cocktail. The drink gets its name from the African word mojo, which means "to cast a spell." Making mojitos in a pitcher doesn't work—it's impossible to distribute the lime and mint evenly, plus the club soda tends to turn flat. Instead, muddle a large batch of mint, limes and sugar, then pour the mixture into glasses and top with ice, rum and club soda.

According to Wayne Collins, single-serve punches like this one are a specialty of the Caribbean. "Punch is so versatile, though, that any of them can be made as a single serving or in a large bowl."

According to a Gosling's Rum tale, this drink was invented more than 100 years ago when members of Bermuda's Royal Naval Officer's Club added a splash of the local rum to their spicy homemade ginger beer. They described its ominous hue as "the color of a cloud only a fool or dead man would sail under."

Joaquin Simo, co-owner of Pouring Ribbons in New York City, created this spicy-sweet take on sangrita, the typically tomato-based chaser for tequila. "The combination of tequila and sangrita is designed to be sipped, not shot," Simo says. "It can be consumed pretty much any time you're relaxing with friends."