Magens Bay

 

This is a pretty cocktail named after a beautiful place. Magens Bay is a white sand beach on St. Thomas Island in the Caribbean. Besides being a fittingly rummy cocktail, it is pretty much a classic recipe with orange juice and apricot brandy. You could just about do this cocktail with any spirit and it would taste the same--which isn't a bad idea. 

The thing is that apricot brandy tends to direct the flavor in a sweet and fruity way. Fresh ingredients help make sure that the drink is balanced and interesting. A pure liqueur cocktail with apricot brandy tends to be overly sweet, and that's not the kind of thing you want to drink when you are relaxing in a beach cabana. 

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lime juice
• sugar syrup to taste (1/2 oz. is appropriately sweet)
• orange slice
• maraschino cherry

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with fruit.