I’m Making All My Penicillins With Rum Now

With its signature smoky-spicy profile, its rich Scotch base and peated whisky float, the Penicillin is the encapsulation of fall in cocktail form. Were it a person, it might layer a flannel shirt under a chunky wool sweater below a beanie-topped head. But what would the drink look like if it shed its thermals in favor of flip-flops? 

Enter the Rum Penicillin. Created by Liz Kelley, lead bartender at New Orleans’ Cure, the drink doesn’t stray far from the modern classic, but a few key changes seamlessly bring the blueprint from fireside to poolside. 

As the name suggests, the drink centers a rum base in lieu of the typical blended Scotch. Kelley built the drink around a special cask of Cheramie rum, a Louisiana-made agricole-style rum that’s funky, grassy and high-proof, blended for Cure’s sibling bar Cane & Table. (Other aged rhum agricoles, such as La Favorite Rhum Agricole Ambré and Neisson Élevé Sous Bois, can be used as substitutes.) “Given the bold character of the spirit, I knew it needed to be shaken with citrus to bring balance and brightness,” explains Kelley. From there, she says, “I kept coming back to ginger as a natural complement, which led me to reimagine the Penicillin.” 

True to the original, honey and ginger both make their way into the drink, while lemon juice is swapped for lime. Kelley describes the finished cocktail as “something that walks the line between a classic Daiquiri and a Penicillin.” But for me, it veers into Mai Tai territory, or at least Don’s Mai Tai territory, thanks to the combination of allspice notes from the Angostura bitters and the ginger, which together recall the spiced quality of falernum.

It’s the sort of twist on a classic that is so simple yet so effective, it makes you wish you’d thought of it first. Fortunately, my regret does not detract from my enjoyment of this drink one bit. Try for yourself and see.