How to make the
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club rum cocktail

If you’re wondering if there is such a thing as a Club Cocktail, then you should know the 19th and 20th centuries were full of organizations who had signature cocktails. From the Turf Club, to the Stork Club to the Jockey Club, the origins of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club cocktail seemingly have some kind of similar upbringing. And yet, the cocktail’s origins are not zeroed in with a precise account. First documented stateside in the 1941 printing of Crosby Gaige’s “Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion,” It’s a recipe likely to have triggered and inspired the founders of Tiki culture, Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic, the latter of which also included it in his 1947 “Bartender’s Guide by Trader Vic.” It appears to be one of the first well known dark rum cocktails to incorporate Falernum, a wondrous alternative to simple syrup with punchy spice character and a mainstay ingredient for any professional bartender who enjoys mixing rum cocktails. Falernum originates from Barbados as a sweet rum based liqueur with spices like clove, ginger, almonds as well as lime zest. The Royal Yacht Club cocktail is a bare bones template of a Tiki cocktail with dark rum as well as a Bermuda cocktail without Bermuda rum. Bermuda, unlike Barbados and other outlying Caribbean regions did not have the same full on plantation culture as some of the more well known rum regions. The story of the RBYC cocktail is about sailing, prestige, trendy Daiquiri cocktail culture, spice and capturing a community in a moment of time. It cannot be greatly altered without thereby becoming something different. Key in its signature character: Falernum. One cannot make a RBYC cocktail without it.