Entertaining

These 3-Ingredient Rum Cocktails Are Simple and Tasty

You might not think of a Daiquiri as a simple drink, but don’t let the flavored Frankenstein versions blind you from the elegant, simple original. Composed of tropical, dry white rum, caramely sweet demerara syrup, and tart lime juice, the Daiquiri provides everything a growing drinker needs. But the final product defies the simplicity of its ingredients, making it a quintessential three-ingredient cocktail on par with the Margarita and Negroni.

A tall glass of ginger beer offers a refreshing respite from the hot Caribbean sun, but the spiced soda is even better when mixed with jammy Jamaican dark rum and tart lime juice. When the heat is too great to bake a rum cake, reach for the deep molasses flavor in a light bubbly glass instead.

The classic Flip that was served in colonial taverns required a few more ingredients—namely beer and a hot steel rod to make it warm—but the modern version is way easier and just as satisfying. The contemporary Flip still combines the classic’s dark rum and whole egg, but opts for demerara syrup in place of beer and molasses. While there are only three liquid ingredients, the nutmeg garnish is a key exception to the numerical limit, but one you should definitely observe.

This rum cocktail is so easy to make, it frees up your time for more important things like beach lounging and hot dog grilling. Be sure to use Coke with real sugar and a squeeze of fresh lime to do this classic recipe justice.

Take a load off and let the blender do the work. With a quick whirl around the blades, fresh strawberries mix with white rum and lime to whip up a ruby red slushie that’s like summer in a glass.

For evidence that just three ingredients can make flavor magic, look no further than this mix of rum, amaretto and beer, which somehow tastes exactly like the namesake soft drink. The good doctor's soda requires 23 ingredients, so this cocktail is a bit of a boozy shortcut.

You could argue that even three ingredients is technically too many for this colonial concoction—it was originally made with just rum and apple cider. We added Angostura bitters for nuance, but you could mix the duo without. Rum drinks don’t get simpler than this.

The easy-to-make Grog is essentially just a watered down Daiquiri with dark rum. We're not counting the dash of water as one of the three ingredients because it was added by Royal Navy authority to keep sailors sober, and we’re going to fight for our right to party.