Ask for the house drink at The C List and you’ll get a rum punch. Ask what’s in it and you’ll get a rhyme first, then an answer. The rhyme is older than the bar, older than Brooklyn, and it’s the reason the drink works.
One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak. That’s the whole recipe, passed down across the islands for about three hundred years. Lime for sour. Sugar or syrup for sweet. Rum for strong. Water, juice, or ice for weak. Everything else is a house choice.
Where the rhyme comes from.
Punch is one of the oldest mixed drinks there is. The word most likely comes from the Hindi panch, meaning five, for the five original parts: spirit, citrus, sugar, water, and spice. Sailors carried the idea to the Caribbean in the 1600s, the islands swapped in the rum they were already making from sugarcane, and the rhyme showed up in Barbados as a way to teach the ratio to anyone who could count to four.
Every island has its own version. Barbados leans on nutmeg. Jamaica goes darker and stronger. St. Lucia, where the owner of The C List was born, likes it bright, with fresh juice doing the heavy lifting and a heavier hand on the rum than the rhyme suggests. That’s the one you’re drinking on Franklin Ave.
What’s in ours.
Island rum. The shelf at The C List starts in St. Lucia and works across the Caribbean, and the punch uses a blend rather than a single bottle. A lighter rum for the body, a darker one for the depth. Ask which ones are in it this week; it changes.
Fresh juice. Pineapple and orange, squeezed, not poured from a carton. This is the part most bars skip, and the reason most bar rum punches taste like a hotel pool.
Lime. The sour. Fresh, always. Without it the drink is just sweet rum juice.
A little syrup. Less than the rhyme calls for, because the juice already brings sugar.
Bitters and nutmeg. A couple of dashes and a grate on top. This is what makes it taste like a cocktail instead of a cooler.
Hands down the best drinks I’ve had in Brooklyn. The rum tasting was a standout, with St. Lucian rum and staff who are actually from the islands.
Ashel C., Google review
How to order it.
As is. The way it’s built. If it’s your first time in, this is the order.
Strong. The bartender will nod. The rhyme says three of strong; this is closer to four. Have the jerk fries with it.
Frozen. Same drink through the frozen machine, on the days it’s running. Summer, patios, Sundays.
At happy hour. It’s on the happy hour list every single day, 4 to 7 Monday through Saturday and 5 to 10 on Sundays. If you’re going to try one thing at the happy hour price, this is the one. The full menu has the rest.
The version for home.
You’ll never quite get the bar version, mostly because you won’t squeeze the juice fresh and you don’t have the shelf. But for a Sunday at home, this holds up.
In a pitcher: one part fresh lime juice, two parts simple syrup, three parts rum (half light, half dark), four parts juice (pineapple and orange, or just pineapple). A few dashes of bitters. Stir, chill, pour over ice, grate nutmeg on top. Serves about six people or two people who are staying in.
Then, when you want the real one, it’s at 835 Franklin Ave, no reservations, every day from four. Come thru.