After one sip, you’ll be washed away with the tide.
The Gully Wash. It’s an odd (at least to me) mixture of ingredients that had my face cringing when I first heard about it.
I was sitting at the bar of the Small Farmers Bar & Grill on Small Farmers Cay in the Exuma islands. We were just chased off a sandbar by a rain storm and were in need of shelter and a place to prepare our freshly caught conch for some delicious conch salad. Sitting there, sucking back the local SANDS beer, I got into a conversation about cocktails with our Four C’s boat captain Pat, first mate Andrew and bar owner Roosevelt Nixon. Conversation about rum and cocktails, me? I know, crazy right.
I think I was talking about the origin of the Goombay Smash and Pat brought up the Gully Wash. He said it was a great Bahamian drink with gin, coconut water and condensed milk. Two of the three ingredients made the hairs on my neck stand up. I’ll stick with the SANDS and Goombays Pat.
Gully Wash Cocktail Recipe
- 2 oz. Gin
- 2 oz. Coconut Water
- 4 oz. Condensed Milk
Instructions:
Pretty simple, just mix the gin and coconut water in half the glass over ice. Then fill the rest with condensed milk. Raise glass and toast.
Gin is one of those ingredients that made me cringe. I would have to guess that if you add light rum instead of gin, the cocktail would be better. But then again, it might not be a Gully Wash then either. O’well, I’m willing to risk it.
Just about the time I got back from the Exumas, our buddies over at UncommonCaribbean.com wrote about the Gully Wash. So it was strange that I’d gone from never hearing about the drink to hearing about it twice within a week. Funny how things work.
Let me know if you’ve tried the Gully Wash and what you thought.
(Photo by mapetite via Flicker)
Cheers Castaways,
RumShopRyan
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Using a real coconut, with pieces of the coconut flesh in the drink makes it even more tempting, stimulating. Love this drink!
Also known as Sky Juice
Thanks for the comments MMM. I think I read that it’s called Sky Juice as well somewhere. Cheers!
I’m with you Ryan, some of those ingredients surprise me too! I’ll have to give it a try though. I’m really curious to see how it turns out. Sometimes these strange combinations can be really good.
I HAD to try this drink when we were in the Bahamas on a cruise last year. It was a very strong drink (and I don’t like gin), but I loved it! My husband wasn’t wanting one but got it anyway (he doesn’t like gin OR coconut)…I ended up with two. Mmm is right. It needs to be real milk with big chunks of coconut so you can eat it at the end. Yummy!
Thanks for the comment Erin! I’m with you guys, not a gin fan, but am willing to try anything once. Still waiting on my official Bahamian Gully Wash. Cheers!
I just got back from Grand Bahama Island and we had a local make us this drink. Obviously the fresh coconut makes a huge difference but he also added a pinch of nutmeg which definitely added to the flavor. I do not like gin either but if made properly you shouldn’t taste it.
Thanks Brian, I’m sure I’ll try one next time I’m over there, just to say I did. Thanks for the comment! Cheers!
+1 on the nutmeg. And we had them make the drink 3 ways: rum, gin, and vodka. It was definitely best with gin. Would have guessed rum.
Gin? Uh…I guess that’s good research. Thanks for letting us know Nola Mike. Cheers.
All in the name of science…
Just got back from Florida where I met ssome. Bahamians. They told me about it, and just got home and made one. Big fan! They said gin, nothing about nutmeg, but I’ll try that too. Not sure why they don’t use real milk, but I have heard that its expensive in the islands where there aren’t many (if any) dairy farms. They had also referred to it as gully wash
Just had my first Gully Wash at Tony Macaroni’s Conch Experience in Freeport, about a week ago… It was fantastic! Wake you right up!
Thanks for letting us know Amanda! Glad you liked it! Cheers.