Evening In Kingston Sparkling Rum Cocktails are just the ticket to celebrate a snow day, to reward yourself with for surviving a white-knuckle drive in bad weather conditions, to kick back with friends or as a festive drink to toast your Valentine. (I qualify for 4 of those excuses this week!)

Mild and smooth Jamaican rum replaces gin in this fun riff on the iconic Italian Negroni. Bonus: You can mix the base up ahead of time. Then just divide among glasses and pop the cork on your favorite sparkling wine. The bubbly top-up adds an extra special touch to the cocktails .

Evening In Kingston Sparkling Rum Cocktails

Ingredients:

1½ cups amber rum (such as Appleton Estate)
1 cup Campari
1 cup sweet vermouth
1 or 2 (750-ml) bottles chilled sparkling wine
12 orange twists

Directions:

1. Combine rum, Campari, and vermouth in a large pitcher. Chill mixture until very cold, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

2. For each cocktail, pour 2 ounces of the rum mixture into a tall cocktail glass filled with ice and top off with 2–3 ounces of chilled sparkling wine. Garnish with an orange twist, if desired.

Serves 12

Recipe from Bon Appétit

Get yer drink, turn up the volume and take in this new tune from LA-based band L.A. Witch. It’s the kind of west coast, lo-fi garage guitar that is sure to make you smile. Whatever happens to Brian is going to take some careful listening, though.

Probably not this Brian. He’s enjoying the band and his drink, too. :)

Check out L.A. Witch, who don’t have to worry about all this winter nonsense, on Facebook where you can learn of upcoming shows in the EU and UK. You can buy their music on Bandcamp. New album due out this summer.

Cheers!