A rum affair with tiki cocktails

“Additionally, the Indian palate appreciates the balance of sweetness and complexity found in these cocktails,” believes Badh. Rum is a colonial hangover, pun intended, after the British officials started a distillery in Kasauli in Solan in Himachal Pradesh in 1855.

The newly launched Hawaiian-themed restobar Waikiki at Mumbai’s Peninsula Grand Hotel has the apricot rum-based zombie, the coconut rum-based Island Grog (beverage manager Deepak Singh Koranga’s personal favourite) and the white rum-based Tiki Puka Puka.

“Among the array of tiki cocktails on our menu, my personal favourite is ‘The Secret of the Lost Lagoon’. It is a blend of premium rum, maraschino liqueur, Campari, pineapple juice, passion fruit syrup and freshly squeezed lime juice. All these create a harmonious explosion of flavours,” says Souvik Bhattacharya, bartender at The St. Regis Goa Resort’s Susegado, Seafood Grill & Bar.