Gingered Captain Black

A few weeks ago Captain Morgan was in town.  The Captain had sponsored a contest to highlight their new Black Rum and our bartender Jay entered with a first class drink, Gingered Captain Black.  To the winner went a booty of Captain Black treasure so Jay went for broke.  For this drink you’ll first need to make a ginger syrup.  This is right out of Jean George’s cookbook but we use half water, half lime juice.

1 cup peeled, chopped ginger

1 cup lime juice

1 cup water

2 fresh chiles (we use jalapenos)

2 stalks lemon grass, chopped

Peel the ginger with the back of a spoon then rough chop, place into a food processor along with the chiles and pulse.  Remove from the processor then place this in a sauce pan along with the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer and just let it sit for about ten minutes.  Push through a fine mesh strainer and set this aside.  We use this syrup to make our homemade ginger ale.

Gingered Captain Black

1.5 ounces Captain Morgan Black Rum

1 ounce Ginger Syrup

1 ounce Simple Syrup

3 Lime Wedges

2 Mint Leaves

Muddle the mint and lime wedges, add remaining ingredients, stir then serve over ice.  Garnish with fresh mint and a slice of lime.

So imagine our surprise when we heard that this cocktail didn’t even place.  We were shocked.  The winner?  I would love to say that it was something so original and clever that it deserved first place, I would love to post a recipe and a photo of the winner.  But the winning drink was a Captain Morgan Curry Pina Colada.  You heard me, a CURRY Pina Colada.  Wow!  Sorry but I wasn’t even remotely interested in that recipe.