Properly Sauced: 'Ti Punch

By Rob Christopher in Food on Aug 16, 2011 3:20PM

Wow, can it be National Rum Day again already? Last year we presented The Drought-Ender, a wonderful way to savor the earthy funk of Smith & Cross rum from Jamaica. Elsewhere in the tropics, on the island of Martinique, you'll encounter a whole other class of pungent herbal spirits known as rhum agricole.

Most rum is made with fermented molasses and other sugar byproducts, but rhum agricole is made from freshly squeezed sugar cane juice only. Although other islands in the West Indies produce it, Martinique alone has a strict standard of production, aging, and labeling. So how does it taste different from ordinary rum? It has a purity, zest, and liveliness that seem to burst out of the glass before you've even taken your first sip. And our favorite these days is La Favorite Ambre Coeur d' Ambré, which recently took top spot in a New York Times tasting report: "Complex, dry, pure and beautifully balanced with lingering flavors of fruit, butter, sugar cane, spices and minerals." Doesn't that sound like something you'd like to get down your gullet? It's imported to the US by Ed Hamilton and you can procure it at Binny's.

Now that we've gotten the complicated stuff out of the way, we can share the recipe for 'Ti Punch. Short for "petite punch" it's the best way to enjoy a rhum agricole. It's so darn simple that after you make it once, you'll never need the recipe again.

'Ti Punch

• 2 oz. La Favorite Ambre Coeur d' Ambré Rhum Agricole


• juice of half of a medium lime


• 1 teaspoon raw demerara sugar syrup

Add ingredients to a small glass. Drop in two or three cubes of ice, swizzle until glass is frosted, and serve.

The lime, syrup, and ice enhance the rhum's flavors but stay firmly in the background. It's amazingly refreshing as a "sundowner," but there's no wrong way to drink it. As Matt Robold writes, "The ‘Ti Punch is usually served as an apertif before meals and gatherings, but I find that it pretty much works whenever your eyes are open and your throat isn’t sufficiently moistened." Hmm, our throats are suddenly feeling a bit parched ...