The Evening Storm

From Julia Reed's South: Spirited Entertaining and High-Style Fun All Year Long by Julia Reed, Rizzoli New York, © 2016. Photography by © Paul Costello. Published with permission.

• Servings: Makes 24 drinks.

Ingredients

• 3 cups Flor de Cana Grand Reserve (a 7-year-old rum)
• 1 cup Calvados
• 1 1⁄2 cups Velvet Falernum liqueur
• 1 1⁄2 cups fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup brewed black tea
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 2 cups Champagne
• 1 cup fresh pineapple slices or chunks
• 3⁄4 cup blackberries
• 1 orange, sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced

Directions

1. Combine the Flor de Caña, Calvados, Velvet Falernum, lemon juice, tea, and pineapple juice in a large pitcher and stir well.
2. Add the Champagne (a good sparkling wine like Roederer Estate Brut would also be nice) and stir in the pineapple, blackberries, orange, and lemon.
3. Chill and serve on the rocks in whatever picnic cup you have handy.

A Note from The City Cook: 

If you can't find Flor de Cana Grand Reserve, use another best quality aged rum.

Velvet Falnerum is a citrusy-sweet syrup used in Carribean cocktails.  It's been likened to a low-proof rum with flavor infusions of lime, ginger root, spices, and sugar.  While it is a liqueur, it is not typically drunk itself but instead used as a flavor enhancement in mixed drinks such as in this cocktail.