It is barely November and I’m already getting into the holiday spirit – dreaming up menus for holiday parties and coming up with delicious cocktail recipes to share with friends.

I was recently introduced to a new-to-Alberta rum called Noxx & Dunn so I immediately started thinking about rum, specifically rum cocktails. After digging through my cocktail cookbooks, Pinterest and recipe cards, I settled on a modern spin on the traditional Mai Tai mixing the rum with tea and infusing it with fresh thyme. Some purists will definitely say this isn’t a mai tai at all, but I think it definitely has all of the characteristics of one and the Noxx & Dunn rum compliments the flavours perfectly.

The Noxx & Dunn 2-4-5 Rum is made from 100% Florida Cane Molasses and aged in American oak barrels. That delicious oaky rum flavour definitely comes across on the first taste and it is incredibly smooth. The numbers 2-4-5 come from the blend of rums aged two, four and five years in the oak barrels. The colour and flavour are both completely natural – making this the perfect spirit to drink on its own or add it to your favourite cocktail recipe – like I did!

I love the vintage look/feel of this recipe and I think that the Noxx & Dunn rum compliments it so well. Even though the rum is a modern label, I feel like the vintage-looking shape of the bottle is a perfect fit for your holiday bar cart selection.

Thyme-infused Cherry Tea Mai Tai with Noxx & Dunn

Ingredients:

• 4 tea bags of black cherry tea
• ½ cup hot water
• 5-10 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• 1 ½ cups of pineapple juice
• juice from 1 lemon
• 6 ounces of Noxx & Dunn Florida Rum
• ice
• pineapple slices, cherries and fresh thyme for garnish 

Time to get down to business! Steep your cherry tea with the thyme springs in hot water for about five minutes – I used these great KORKEN jars from IKEA and made a little extra so that I could have iced tea for the next day. Once the tea had cooled and I removed the tea bags, I filled the jars up with ice to cool them down quickly. If you prepare your tea ahead of time, you can just pop it in the fridge for cocktail convenience anytime. Stir in the maple syrup and mix well. You can also use honey if you don’t have maple syrup.

For your pineapple juice, feel free to juice your own or use pre-bought unsweetened or sweetened juice. They will all do the trick and taste delicious. Add the juice of one lemon to it and stir thoroughly.

Fill your cocktail glasses to the top with ice. Pour in an ounce of the black cherry tea and 1 ½ ounces of the Noxx & Dunn rum. Fill the glass with pineapple juice and gently stir to combine ingredients. Top with a pineapple slice, a couple of cherries and some more fresh thyme.

Bottoms up! Don’t forget to drink responsibly.

Follow Noxx & Dunn on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more great recipes!

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This post is in partnership with Noxx & Dunn Florida Rum. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Archives of Cool going.