I recently met a girlfriend for dinner at a neighborhood Polynesian spot. I’ve been there for lunch before but never dinner and I was looking forward to discovering their cocktails. I don’t know much about Polynesian cuisine other than there is a lot of pineapple.

The cocktail menu had a lot of rum on it. I mean a lot. BUT, there was one drink with rum AND bourbon – well, hello there.

The Bone Zone came in a funky high ball shaped like a skull and garnished with an orange slice and a cinnamon stick. I was intrigued.

My first sip I tasted rum and it was a little bitter. Did I mention there was a lot of rum on the cocktail menu? Well, unbeknownst to me, my cocktail had THREE different rums in it. That’s a lot of rum. I couldn’t taste the bourbon at all. Thankfully the glass was filled with chipped ice, so the liquid watered down a bit. Note to self: if using rum in a bourbon cocktail, the ratio should be 2:1 bourbon to rum. Rum really overpowers a drink. As I continued to sip, cause at 15 dollars a cocktail, this wasn’t going to waste and I was going to finish it; the drink got better. The melting ice took some of the bite out of the rum and it became much more balanced.

Final verdict: this is a one and done. I’m not tempted, not even a little, to try to recreate it. I am tempted to do a bourbon & rum cocktail that is more to my taste – heavy on the bourbon.

Cheers,

~Kimberly Elise 
#2BrownGirls 
#MelaninTwist
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