Mutiny on the Bounty.

Trouble in paradise.

Mutiny on the Bounty

I’ve been meaning to write about this one for quite a while but for the thorny problem that it has coconut rum as a major component which comes with… issues. Most coconut rum is a nasty affair based on rough rum, fake-tasting coconut flavouring and a massive amount of added sugar. Bleugh. When I first formulated the Mutiny on the Bounty I was trying to recreate the chocolate and coconut Bounty bar in a boozy liquid form and at that time there was one coconut rum that was acceptably decent. While underwhelmed by almost all their other products Bacardi Coco was a respectable 35%ABV with a natural coconut flavour and was significantly dryer than the competition*. Sorted! At least until they inexplicably stopped making it**. From then on I took to making my own coconut rum using desiccated coconut which while pretty tasty is a bit labour intensive as it takes several rounds of filtering to get enough of the fat content back out. I do try to keep things easy for you guys so I never quite got ’round to writing about it and the Mutiny even though it has proven to be very popular with my guests. Fast forward to 2020 and Bacardi have released a “new” coconut rum which, while it might not be quite the same as the old version (being 32%ABV rather than 35%), is still pretty serviceable so I think it’s finally time for you all to finally enjoy a good Mutiny. Basically a heavily tweaked Daiquiri the Mutiny on the Bounty replaces the simple syrup with a combination of orgeat and crème de cacao – a chocolate flavoured liqueur – and half of the rum component with our new Bacardi Coconut rum. I must caution that if you use another coconut rum it will likely be too sweet and too weak and you might have a mutiny of your own to deal with. In any case this is a drink that needs careful balancing as many of the ingredients have variable sweetness depending on brand so please take the quantities below as starting points. If you’re facing a novice audience it can even pay to let it run to the sweeter side. The bitters do bring in a little fruitiness and complexity but the drink will certainly still work without them. While it doesn’t strictly need a garnish it’s a fun drink and you have Captain Proof’s permission to get as silly as you like here.