Recipes From Afar: The Dirty Banana (Tropical Cocktail), Beaches Negril, Jamaica

This post is sponsored by Beaches Resorts.

This summer, our family once again skipped international travel in favor of mostly regional domestic trips. For August we chose to vacation in upstate New York’s picturesque Finger Lakes region with good friends. Just a five-hour drive from the city, it was a total escape into a beautiful world of waterfalls and gorges, wineries and breweries, endless acres of farmland and, of course, glacier-carved lakes. The only thing missing was a palm tree.

But I did have one secret weapon: I’d carted a bottle of dark rum and crème de cacao from home, and, armed with a recipe straight out of a Beaches resort in Jamaica, I planned to transport the adults in our group to the Caribbean via their taste buds.

The Dirty Banana, from gorgeous Beaches Negril, is one of the five most popular cocktails in the resort chain, as voted by Beaches guests on World Cocktail Day back in May. I chose to re-create this one because I already know I love dark rum (hello, dark-and-stormies!), and the inclusion of the banana makes it feel kind of healthy … smoothie-like, even! It reminds me of a piña colada but with far fewer calories.

The banana also makes this cocktail a bit filling, so it’s best served in the late afternoon, while there’s still some sun shining and you’re hours yet from dinner. We loved the tropical undertones of the dark rum, and it was just a little sweet, not overly so. With the pineapple garnish, it really does take you to the Caribbean—even if your backdrop is instead a pretty Northeast lake.

To accommodate four people with the two bananas we had in our rented house, I slightly adjusted the original recipe, which is pictured below.

You’ll need:

3 oz. dark rum

3 oz. crème de cacao (I was unable to find dark, so I used regular)

6 oz. milk

2 oz. simple syrup

2 bananas

Method:

Add ice and all ingredients into a large blender, and blend until smooth (about 30-45 seconds). Pour into four cocktail glasses and garnish with pineapple on each.

To further transport yourself, check out our favorite local Jamaican dishes and where to find them the next time you’re on the island.