Slow afternoon at the market the other day. The kind where you want a cocktail. So I walked up to the bar at Roch's Reprieve and told Sean "Doeboy" Verrett to make me an Old Fashioned, but to leave the bourbon on the shelf and use an aged rum instead.
He didn't miss a beat. "We got this Bacardí eight-year. Let's do it."
That's Bacardí Reserva Ocho. It's aged at least eight years in oak down in the Caribbean, and it drinks like it. Smooth, a little dried-fruit sweet, plenty of backbone. You can put it where bourbon usually goes and nobody's going to argue with you.
Sean made it the regular way. Sugar, bitters, ice, an orange peel, and a cherry. Nothing fancy about the build. The only thing different is what's in the glass.
Here's why I wanted it. It's tropical and it's old-school at the same time, and that's basically New Orleans in a glass. People call this the northernmost Caribbean city, and they're not wrong. It's in our food, our music, the way we talk. So pouring an Old Fashioned with island rum instead of corn whiskey doesn't feel like a gimmick down here. It feels like the drink finally got home.
"It's classic," Sean said. "Perfect for the summer weather."
He's got a point. Bourbon can sit heavy when it's ninety degrees and the air's like soup. The rum keeps everything an Old Fashioned is supposed to be but goes down easier in the heat. Good anywhere in the summer. Better here.
Come try one. Happy hour's Monday through Friday, 3 to 5, the best weekday deal on St. Claude: $1 oysters from Salted Pearl Oyster Bar, $4 beers, $7 house wines, and whatever the bartender's pouring that day. Pull up at 2381 St. Claude and ask Sean for the rum Old Fashioned.