Live the Live ™

I’m on a Caribbean vacation, so I decided to get inspired.

I was craving a Boulevardier the other day, a favorite cocktail which is a twist on the classic Negroni. A Negroni features gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. The Boulevardier substitutes whiskey or bourbon for the gin.

I thought that rum would work just as well as whiskey, so I googled “Rum Negroni.” Many listings called it just that: a Rum Negroni, but then I read a story about a bartender in New York City by the name of Joaquin Simo. In 2009, Simo worked at Pouring Ribbons, a well known cocktail bar, and he used Jamaican rum instead of gin in his Negroni. He called it a Kingston Negroni.

Well, I wanted to give the drink a cooler name than that, and besides, my recipe was ever so slightly different. It was time for me to come up with my own cocktail.

The standard Negroni is equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth…1:1:1. I like to make mine with a 2:1:1 ratio, doubling the amount of gin or whiskey—or in this case—rum. So, maybe, then, my drink isn’t a Negroni at all by definition, and it deserves a new name.

Since I’m using rum in my drink, my rum of choice being Mount Gay Eclipse from Barbados, I thought a Carribbean-based name would be appropriate.

And since the drink is red, my daughter suggested I look up a red fish native to the Caribbean and, lo and behold, the name “lucky grouper” popped up. Its real name is Red Hind, something I suppose you could get if you drank too many of these, but its nickname was “lucky grouper.”

There was also a red fan fish that went by the name of “Gorgonian flabellum,” but I think most people would have trouble pronouncing that even before they started drinking!

So The Lucky Grouper it is! And here’s how I make it. My sweet vermouth of choice is the legendary Antica Formula.


2 oz Mount Gay Eclipse rum
1 oz Campari
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula 

Combine these over ice in a mixing glass and stir well. Strain into a rocks glass with a large cube. Garnish with an Amarena Fabbri cherry!