The Rhum Marianito replaces the gin with unaged agricole rhum and uses orange curaçao alongside. Agricole — distilled from fresh cane juice — is grassy and vegetal, and it gives the drink a lighter, more aromatic character.
The Marianito, with the garden swapped for a cane field.
Agricole's Difference
Most rum is distilled from molasses; rhum agricole is distilled from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice, which gives it a distinctive grassy, vegetal, faintly funky character. Unaged, it is bright and herbaceous — closer in spirit to a good gin than to a dark rum.
A Manhattan Adaptation
The Rhum Marianito is a modern adaptation, associated with the bartender Nialls Fallon — a New York take on the Bilbao original. The orange curaçao rounds the grassy rhum, and the sweet vermouth holds it all together, as it does in every Marianito.
Unaged, for Brightness
Reach for a white, unaged agricole. An aged agricole would add oak and weight the drink does not want — the point of the Rhum Marianito is lightness and grass, a brighter cousin to the gin original.
The Marianito Family
Bilbao's answer to the Negroni — vermouth-forward, lighter on its feet, made for pintxos.
- 1 1/2 ozSweet vermouth
- 3/4 ozGin
- 3/4 ozCampari
The Marianito turned blue — Blue Curaçao for the Campari, citrus-bright.
- 1 1/2 ozSweet vermouth
- 3/4 ozLondon Dry gin
- 3/4 ozBlue Curaçao
The Marianito gone smoky and vegetal — mezcal and aloe liqueur.
- 1 1/2 ozSweet vermouth
- 3/4 ozMezcal
- 3/4 ozAloe liqueur
A Bilbao house trick — a splash of fresh pomelo juice to brighten the Marianito.
- 1 1/2 ozSweet vermouth
- 3/4 ozGin
- 1/2 ozPomelo juice