Last week we talked about the house wine at Sandals Grand Rivera Jamaica, endless bottles of a surprisingly nice Stone Cellars by Beringer. This week is both a shout out to the deliciousness of the resort’s cocktails and mixed drinks, but also a warning for my fellow ‘all inclusivers.’ When asking for a mixed beverage, make sure you ask for a brand name spirit. This is not purely an exercise in snobbery, it is also a way to ensure you are always consuming quality! Unlike the wine, I find that house spirits are not reliable and as I’m sure you know, not all spirits are made equal.

We started off our vacation devouring the following delectable drinks: The Dirty Banana, Jamaican Smile and Cool Running’s. All of these drinks call for a hefty dose of rum and after the first day, our stomach’s let us know that perhaps the rum and the rum cream (and consequently great amounts of sugar) were not as welcome as we thought. Undeterred, we decided to change our drinking routines with not only less of the heavy, creamy drinks but we also monitored the quality of the spirit was used. Although Sandal’s advertises using Appleton rum in their drinks, we quickly learned that actually saying ‘made with Appleton rum please’ was a line that got us a significantly better cocktail. When we decided to switch to vodka waters (to keep hydrated of course), ‘with Finlandia please’ meant that we could leisurely sip and enjoy our drinks without feeling slightly nauseous.

I don’t, unfortunately, know the brand name of the resort’s house spirits (they say Appleton but I don’t know) but I dare say that was intentional. I’m not saying that the house options were terrible, I can only say that based on my personal experience, my tummy was happier with a recognized spirit and I recommend the same for you.

Spirit snobbery aside, the mixed drinks at Sandals Grande Rivera were fabulously delicious!

For a taste of Jamaican sunshine in our frozen tundra, try one of these delicious recipes at home (Courtesy of Sandals.com) Feel free to use your favourite rum, rum cream and/or vodka. Enjoy!

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