Justin Sprecher
The last time we spoke with Gib’s bartender Beau Devereaux, he was experimenting with aguafaba as a vegan alternative to an egg white cocktail. This week, he’s invented another weirdly creative health-food-inspired drink, a riff on a daquiri that may or may not have medicinal properties.
The cocktail, Rummin’ with the Devil (like the Van Halen song), starts with a flourish — dry ice is poured into a short-stemmed goblet, creating an exciting smoky effect as the carbon dioxide sublimes. Is it necessary to chill a glass this way? No. Is it entertaining? Yes.
The cocktail itself employs rum, aloe vera gel and honey — a combination that Devereaux learned via the internet is purported to cure cancer. A few drops of saline solution and orange flower water plus a few ounces of almond milk complete the cocktail, which is shaken vigorously, strained and garnished with a pineapple leaf.
The result is cool, refreshing and exotic. There’s no citrus, which is unusual, and the almond gives the cocktail a pleasant nuttiness and satisfying viscosity, which is helped along by the aloe. It feels rich but it’s actually light, and it’s low in sugar, putting it right in line with Devereaux’s personal mantra: “Drink light and snack heavy.”
Watch Beau Devereaux make his "Rummin' with the Devil" cocktail.