Holidays in the Tropics

The holiday season feels very different when you live in the tropics. There’s something undeniably romantic about winter elsewhere, the cold air, heavy coats, glowing windows, and the feeling that the season itself wraps around you. I still think there’s a special magic in being in a city where winter truly hits.

But celebrating the holidays under the sun has its own kind of beauty. Watching the sunset on Christmas Eve while walking along the beach, the sky turning gold and pink, feels quietly unforgettable. And Christmas lunch with your feet in the sand, the sea just a few steps away, has a sense of ease and joy that’s hard to replicate anywhere else.

To all my friends, near and far, I wish you a beautiful holiday season, whether you’re wrapped in winter layers or enjoying the warmth of the tropics. May your days be calm, your nights joyful, and your table always surrounded by good company.

As we look ahead, I wish you a bright and generous 2026. May it bring new opportunities, meaningful moments, good health, and many reasons to raise a glass together, wherever in the world we may be.

To toast the season

These three drinks are all built on the Negroni structure, a cocktail that sits at the heart of Italian drinking culture and has shaped the way I think about balance, bitterness, and restraint behind the bar. Each version respects that structure while allowing room for different  tropical expressions tropical and festive, reflecting both where I come from and where I am now.

Made for warm nights and salty air.

Noche Buena's Negroni

Ingredients:

0.75 oz Planteray Cut & Dry Coconut Rum

0.75 oz pineapple skin–infused Campari

0.75 oz fig, vanilla & allspice–infused sweet red vermouth

Method:

Stir all ingredients with ice until well chilled and properly diluted. Strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with an expressed orange peel.

Flavor Profile

Drier and more restrained. Coconut appears as aroma and texture, with lifted bitterness from the pineapple skin and warm depth from the vermouth. To toast the season, here’s a holiday cocktails made for warm nights and salty air.

This drink is built as a structured, bitter-leaning tropical cocktail, where each ingredient plays a clear role. Planteray Cut & Dry is an important component of the build, bringing dry coconut aromatics and texture without pushing the drink into sweetness. Made in Barbados, it’s not sweetened or artificial, ripe coconuts are cut, sun-dried, and infused directly into classic Barbadian rum, resulting in a spirit that behaves like rum first, coconut second.

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The Quiet Shore

Ingredients:

0.75 oz Planteray Stiggin's Fancy Pineapple Rum

0.75 oz coconut oil–washed Bitter Campari

0.75 oz Holiday edition Vermouth

Method

Stir all ingredients with ice until well chilled and properly diluted. Strain into a chilled coupe or a rocks glass over a large cube. Garnish with an expressed orange peel or a light dusting of grated nutmeg.

Flavor Profile

More expressive on the nose, rounder on entry. Pineapple leads first, followed by soft coconut aromatics and a clean, dry bitter finish.

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Caribbean Noel

(Oloroso · Agricole · Batch-Infused)

Here another Negroni-style cocktail leans dry, oxidative, and quietly tropical. A base of aged Saint James agricole Rhum, Bitter Campari, and Oloroso sherry is infused as a finished blend with cocoa nibs and banana peel, creating depth and warmth without sweetness. The result is festive but restrained, designed for slow dilution and cold service.

Ingredients:

335 ml Saint James V.S.O.P. Agricole Rhum

335 ml Bitter Campari

330 ml Gonzalez Byass Alfonso Oloroso Seco Sherry

6 g cocoa nibs

Peel from 1 ripe banana (no flesh, lightly dried)

Zest of ½ orange (no white pith)

Instructions:

Combine the agricole rhum, Campari, and Oloroso sherry in a clean glass container.

Add the cocoa nibs, banana peel, and orange zest, seal, and infuse at room temperature for 6–10 hours, tasting regularly after hour 6. Once the balance feels right, dry cocoa bitterness, gentle tropical aroma, and lifted citrus, strain through a fine sieve, then coffee-filter until completely clear.

After filtration, add 15% dilution with coconut water (150 ml per 1 liter of cocktail), stir to integrate, then bottle and refrigerate. Allow the cocktail to rest at least 24 hours before service.

To serve, pour 2.5 oz over a large coconut-water ice cube in a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with a banana leaf.

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"The Noel Sour"

Bitter, dry, and savory

A batch of agricole rum, Oloroso sherry & Campari infused with cocoa & banana, shaken with lime, cane syrup, and egg white. Served up with aromatic bitters. A festive, silky reinterpretation.

2 oz Caribbean Noel (bottled infusion)

0.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice

0.5 oz Cane Syrup 

Egg White or Aquafaba

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin without ice. Dry shake vigorously for 15-20 seconds to fully emulsify the egg white.

Add ice and shake again vigorously until well-chilled.

Double-strain into a chilled coupe.

Garnish with a few drops of aromatic bitters swirled into the foam (Angostura or a chocolate bitters ) Optional, dehydrated banana chip on the rim.

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Upgrade your drink:

For an added layer of texture and subtle salinity, freeze strained coconut water into large cubes and use them in place of regular ice. As the cube melts, it gently reinforces the coconut notes without adding sweetness or interfering with the structure of the drink.

Coconut Water Ice – Instructions

Use fresh or bottled coconut water with no added sugar. Strain if necessary to remove any solids. Pour into large ice cube molds and freeze until fully solid, ideally overnight. Store frozen and use directly from the freezer.

This small detail ties both expressions together and quietly amplifies the tropical character, while keeping the drinks dry, precise, and aperitivo-driven.

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How to make it:

Holiday Edition Vermouth  (Fig, Vanilla & Allspice)

Ingredients:

1 liter sweet red vermouth

4 dried figs, sliced

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

6 allspice berries, lightly crushed

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a clean glass jar and seal. Infuse at room temperature for 18–24 hours, gently agitating once or twice. Taste after 12 hours; the fig should feel round and wine-like, the vanilla soft, and the allspice present but subtle. Strain through a fine sieve, bottle, and refrigerate.

Flavor Profile

Plush dark fruit from the fig, gentle warmth from the allspice, and a smooth, almost cocoa-like softness from the vanilla. The vermouth’s bitterness stays intact, making it ideal for spirit-forward cocktails.

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Pineapple Skin–Infused Campari 

Ingredients

1 liter Bitter CampariSkin from

¾ to 1 ripe pineapple (well washed, no pulp, minimal white pith)

Instructions:

Peel the pineapple carefully, avoiding excess flesh and thick white pith. Rinse the skins thoroughly and pat dry. Place the skins into a clean glass jar and pour over the Campari, making sure all skins are fully submerged. Seal and infuse at room temperature for 24–36 hours, gently agitating once or twice. Begin tasting at 24 hours; the goal is a lifted tropical aroma while preserving Campari’s firm bitterness. Once balanced, strain through a fine sieve or coffee filter, bottle, and refrigerate.

Flavor Profile

Bright pineapple aromatics, a slightly rounder mid-palate, and a softened but still assertive bitter finish. The infusion remains dry and cocktail-ready.

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Coconut Oil–Washed Campari

Ingredients

1 liter Campari

50–60 g virgin coconut oil (unrefined)

Instructions:

Gently melt the coconut oil until just liquid. Combine with the Campari in a clean container and stir to integrate. Let rest at room temperature for 4–6 hours. Transfer to the freezer overnight until the oil fully solidifies. Remove the solid fat layer, then strain the Campari through a fine sieve and a coffee filter until completely clear. Bottle and refrigerate.

Flavor Profile

Soft coconut aromatics on the nose, a rounder mid-palate, and a cleaner, slightly softened bitterness on the finish, still unmistakably Campari.

Enjoy Responsibly.