Bajan Rum Punch

Barbados' national drink following the classic 'one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak' formula.

Bajan Rum Punch is the national preparation of Barbados — Bajan being the colloquial adjective for Barbadian — and follows the traditional Caribbean rum punch formula that has been transmitted as a rhyme for at least two centuries: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak, and a dash of bitters with a sprinkle of spice. The formula specifies proportions rather than ingredients: one part lime juice (sour), two parts sugar syrup (sweet), three parts rum (strong), four parts water or ice (weak), with Angostura bitters and freshly grated nutmeg completing the preparation. Barbados has one of the world's most extensively documented rum distilling histories. A deed dated February 20, 1703 discovered in the Barbados Department of Archives references a rum distillery on the Mount Gay estate in the parish of Saint Lucy, making Mount Gay Rum's claim to that founding date the oldest documented rum production record in existence. The island's rum production predates this document: sugarcane was established on Barbados by the 1640s, and rum — a by-product of sugar refining from molasses — was being produced there by the 1650s. Barbados produces specifically pot-still and column-still rum blends that are the foundation of the country's distilling identity, with Mount Gay, Foursquare, and St. Nicholas Abbey among its most celebrated current producers.