This is the Traveling Angler’s Book of Cocktails. It is a chapter in The Book on Travel Fishing that provides recipes for 10 cocktails sourced from around the fishing world.
It is inspired by the most exciting fish in the world and by the exotic, far-reaching destinations in which you can catch them. This list is informed by people and places. It is compiled through travel and time spent on boats and docks all over the world, bullshitting and drinking with some of the most interesting folks you can imagine.
This list leans heavy into rum.
That’s because rum holds a special place in the glass of every offshore fisherman. After all, if rum is the whiskey of the sea and if the blue marlin is the ocean’s most iconic game fish… And if the venerable daquiri is the most classic of rum drinks…. Then perhaps you should drink a daquiri every day you catch a blue marlin.
Three of these cocktail recipes are provided by places that make the drinks best. Several of the cocktails are inspired by the best places in the world to catch the fish that they are paired with. I’ve also included some regional variations and inspiration for how to make each of the drinks in the fashion of a South African.
This list is perhaps the first of its kind.
It names the official drinks of 9 species of pelagic game fish. I’m not sure that this is legal and there is no governing or legislative body who has granted me the authority to make such pairings “official.” If this bothers you, or the idea sounds hokey, I suggest that you start making and drinking these fishing cocktails until the concept begins to resonate and sound cool.
So, here’s to big ass fish and cocktails. Here’s to travel fishing and travel drinking. Tight lines. Salud. ‘Cent Anni. Saúde. Sauté. Huli pau. Kanpai! Gesonheid. Cheers.
My buddy Captain Joe Byrum, owner of Jaybles Photography, took the pictures. The Yellowfin Pub in Morehead City, North Carolina was nice enough to allow us to take over the top deck to take some pictures and make some cocktails. They are nice people, they make great drinks and good food. Go see ’em next time you’re in town.
