Thursday, July 1st, signaled the opening of the Zemi Beach House Resort, on the popular Shoal Bay Beach. To highlight the opening, on Friday evening, famous Italian mixologist, Eduard Balan, exhibited a display of ancient rum cocktails at the Rhum Room of this five star resort, located on Anguilla’s northern coast. Many noteworthy patrons were invited to savour these aromatic cocktails.
But these rum mixtures are nothing like the ordinary. These are unique, pleasure-laced concoctions — the sort of rum beverages with which the Taino tribe of the Caribbean honoured their deity as far back as the 15th century. These drinks were inspired primarily by the Zemis, the Taino people’s ancestral gods and goddesses.
According to Eduard, during his research on the ancestral Taino tribe, he discovered six Zemi’s. He said that with interest in the Taino culture, he had been studying the abilities of each of these Zemi spirits. And it is in their “honour” that each of these six rum cocktails was attributed.
Eduard said he found the powers and abilities possessed by each Zemi to be quite fascinating. “In studying the Zemis,” he said, “I have been looking in their abilities and exploring their backgrounds. And I have found them to be quite intriguing, to say the least.”
With regard to the making of one particular Zemi cocktail, he explained: “One of the Zemis’ rum mixtures is called Zemivardier. It was inspired by Zemi Boinayel, the god of rain. Like all the cocktails, this one goes through a special delicate chain of processes for its production.
“Since the cocktail Zemivardier is attributed to the rain god, it is made from
pure tropical rain water. First, we boil the water in order to eliminate any impurities. Salt is then added to make a saline solution which balances the rum which is made from banana and mango vermouth and campari.
“We then wash all of these ingredients with coconut oil. This part of the process is called ‘fat washing’. It is done by freezing all the ingredients together with the coconut oil. The coconut oil becomes solid, and the alcohol draws the powerful flavour of the coconut oil. This produces a delicious after-taste of coconut in the cocktail. That is how Zemivardier is brewed.
Of course, Zemivardier is only one of the six standard Zemi cocktails. They all have their own properties; their own aroma and special authentic flavours. Eduard also demonstrated one of the classic Zemi drinks containing our local fermented mauby as an ingredient.
Eduard’s special assistant at the Rhum Room is “Princess”, a native St. Lucia, who has become a professional bartender through her years of experience in the field of mixology. She has worked at the Rhum Room since the hotel’s soft opening in 2015, and since then she continued to work at the bar when the resort officially opened in 2016. In quite a friendly and welcoming tone, she told The Anguillian: “This career has chosen me; I have not really chosen it. When I first started, I was rather upset, but I have eventually fit into it so smoothly.”
Princess worked for some time at the renowned Pumphouse, in Sandy Ground, before joining the Rhum Room. She stated that over the past week-and-a-half she has been busy prepping the mixtures for the exotic Zemi cocktails, while looking forward to the planned reopening.
Zemi Beach House welcomes all cocktail lovers to visit Eduard and Princess at the Rhum Room for an exotic, soothing treat of the discriminating palate. They are opened nightly from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
