Captain Kidd’s Rum Punch
Refreshing rum punch with wonderful foam and nutmeg on top
City/Region: Antigua
Time Period: 1688
On the day after Christmas in 1688, Captain William Kidd was in a tavern on the island of Antigua with Captain Hewitson and Governor Christopher Codrington. Codrington hired the two captains as privateers (pirates who have papers from a government saying it’s okay for them to go after other ships), and the story goes that an eyewitness describes the rum punch they were drinking.
If all I had to do to be a pirate was drink this punch, I think I’d do all right. It’s creamy from the egg with a wonderful froth on top, and sweet without being cloying. It’s still refreshing even at room temperature (I didn’t use ice because they wouldn’t have had it on Antigua at the time), but I bet it’d be really nice cold too.
“Rum, Water, Lime-Juice, Egg yolk, Sugar with a little nutmeg scrap’d on top.”
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces rum*
- 2 ounces water, more or less to your taste
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
- 1 egg
- Nutmeg
*You can find the Antigua rum that I used and other liquors used on the channel in my curated collection at Curiada.
Instructions:
- Measure all the ingredients into a shaker. They probably wouldn’t have had ice, but I certainly won’t judge you if you want to use some. Shaking will be easier with it.
- Strain into a glass, grate some nutmeg on top, and serve it forth.