Friends of mine just got back from attending the Tecate 500 off road race in Mexico. They scoffed at all the attention Mexico has received, often unfairly over the last few months. Mexico is a place of many incongruities. Our newspapers shout about how dangerous it is, but here in Baja California, it’s the same as it ever was … A mixture of ex-pats from the United States and back to the future locals who live on surfing, fish tacos and fine locally produced wines. Beer is popular too, as refreshment against the relentless sun. Lime is good for food and beer to raise the flavors up to higher levels (plus it acts as a preservative) and rum, as we all know is safer to drink than the local water.

The grueling, off-road car and motorcycle race known as the Tecate 500 is one of those events that make you thirsty before you even get out of the air-conditioning in your hotel into the blistering heat of Baja, California.

A quenching pair of rum cocktails: Trouble in Paradise and The 500 Cocktail.

The 500 Cocktail

• 1 Tecate Mexican Beer
• 2 shots Denizen Rum
• 1 lime, quartered
• 2 splashes simple syrup
• Fresh mint

1. Muddle mint with lime chunks and simple syrup to a nice paste in a cocktail shaker.
2. Add some ice and the rum.
3. Shake, pour into a chilled glass and top with Tecate.

I grew up between New Jersey, Europe and the British Virgin Islands. My family owned a sailboat and they lolled away the winter months basking in the sun and reveling in the trade winds that wound their way up from the Brazilian coast to the Caribbean Sea.

This little cocktail, a twist on the classic punch, is reminiscent of those enjoyed in the British Virgin Islands. Great local rums sold there have a rich history of flavors. Many of these speak the stories of pirates, privateers and forced hard labor in the relentless, brutal heat. Clean water sources are rare, rum costs less than water on many of these islands, so you drink rum!

Trouble in Paradise

• 3 shots Denizen White Rum
• 1 ounce each freshly squeezed lime, orange, grapefruit and lemon juices (to ward off scurvy)
• 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar or cane sugar syrup from Martinique
• Coconut water, frozen in ice cube trays (I use Goya)
• Several shakes Bitter End Thai Bitters
• Splash club soda (use instead of soda water, you’ll need the addition of salt in the heat)
• Orange and lime zest to garnish

1. Add several cubes of coconut water ice to a cocktail shaker.
2. Add rum, fruit juices and bitters. (The Bitter End line of cocktail bitters may well be the most assertive and flavor-driven bitters I’ve ever tasted.)
3. Shake and finish with a splash or two of club soda.
4. Serve in an old fashioned glass, with several cubes of coconut water ice, garnished with lime and orange zest.