Steel DropsSugarcane juice pops with the addition of ginger, lime, and Jamaican rum.

Growing up in Jamaica, writer Vaughn Stafford Gray’s family often enjoyed a non-alcoholic version of this drink on hot afternoons, the zip of lime juice and the tingle of fresh ginger reviving parched lips and cooling everyone down before dinner. This grownup version, which Gray later learned to make from sugarcane farmer and cane juice entrepreneur Toussaint Davy, is the sort of sunny cocktail that goes down just as easily on a hot—or cool—day. For the best results, seek out (or juice your own) fresh-pressed sugarcane, lime, and ginger juices. 

  • Serves

    serves 1

  • Time

    5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. sugarcane juice
  • 1 oz. Appleton Estate Signature rum
  • 1 oz. J Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum
  • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 1 tsp. ginger juice
  • 4 dashes Angostura bitters

Instructions

Step 1

To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add the sugarcane juice, rums, lime juice, ginger juice, and bitters. Shake well, strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, and serve.
  1. To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add the sugarcane juice, rums, lime juice, ginger juice, and bitters. Shake well, strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, and serve.
Drinks

Steel Drops

Sugarcane juice pops with the addition of ginger, lime, and Jamaican rum.

  • Serves

    serves 1

  • Time

    5 minutes

Steel Drops Recipe Sugarcane Cocktail
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA XIAO; FOOD STYLING BY CHRISTINE ALBANO; PROP STYLING BY DAYNA SEMAN

By Vaughn Stafford Gray


Published on March 8, 2022

Growing up in Jamaica, writer Vaughn Stafford Gray’s family often enjoyed a non-alcoholic version of this drink on hot afternoons, the zip of lime juice and the tingle of fresh ginger reviving parched lips and cooling everyone down before dinner. This grownup version, which Gray later learned to make from sugarcane farmer and cane juice entrepreneur Toussaint Davy, is the sort of sunny cocktail that goes down just as easily on a hot—or cool—day. For the best results, seek out (or juice your own) fresh-pressed sugarcane, lime, and ginger juices. 

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. sugarcane juice
  • 1 oz. Appleton Estate Signature rum
  • 1 oz. J Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum
  • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 1 tsp. ginger juice
  • 4 dashes Angostura bitters

Instructions

Step 1

To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add the sugarcane juice, rums, lime juice, ginger juice, and bitters. Shake well, strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, and serve.
  1. To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add the sugarcane juice, rums, lime juice, ginger juice, and bitters. Shake well, strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, and serve.

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