Recipe

• 3 parts golden rum

• 1 part lime juice

• 1 part red wine

• 1 part sugar syrup

Shake the rum, lime juice and syrup together with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Pour the wine over a teaspoon on the top of the drink so that it floats on top. Add a piece of stem ginger on the rim of the glass.

This is my variation on the classic New York Sour, with a Caribbean twist: rum instead of whiskey, lime instead of lemon, and a spicy piece of ginger for aroma and decoration.

Like the New York Sour, this drink starts with a beautifully smooth chilled red wine, which blends gradually into the rest of the cocktail as you drink it. This keeps it interesting and varied, and the flavours work surprisingly well together.

The change to rum and lime is a welcome variation, somehow a bit smoother and easier to drink than the whiskey and lemon. Ginger also seemed like the appropriate Caribbean garnish, but a cherry or something else would have been just as good.

Recommended!