Famed cocktail draws locals and visitors alike to North Side beach club; Monday Night Bar B Q added to the Rum Point Experience

To no one’s surprise the Rum Point Club’s signature mudslide won the recent Best Drink competition in the Taste of Cayman Food and Wine Festival − the third win in the last four years. The Rum Point team served up more than 800 premium mudslides at bargain prices to appreciative festivalgoers who happily handed over their tokens to give the Wreck Bar and Grill their vote in the Best Drink category.

“We call it ‘Carol’s Traveling Show’ because people usually come to Rum Point on their boats or in their cars for a mudslide, but during Taste of Cayman the mudslides come to them,” said Carol Boulton, Food and Beverage Manager at the club and head of the Rum Point team.

Carol says Rum Point mudslides are always made with top shelf ingredients: equal parts Molly’s or Baileys Irish Cream, Kahlua and Vodka, even on the road and no fillers are ever used. The spirits go in a blender with a cup of ice for about 30-40 seconds until the ice is thoroughly crushed and everything is blended well. Finishing touches include floating Kahlua down the straw, for an initial wallop, a dusting of cinnamon and the drink is topped off with a maraschino cherry.

People lined up at the Rum Point tent for full 8-ounce mudslides served complete with toppings for CI $4, with amounted to a 50% discount on the drink. The team also shared mudslides with fellow vendors working the event, the largest fundraiser for the non-profit Cayman Islands Tourism Association.

“We’d make a tray of mudslides and our team would go out to share and “make friends’,” says Boulton, “it was all for a great cause.”

As popular with locals as they are with visitors, Rum Point mudslides often make the “must enjoy” lists when coming to Grand Cayman, along with relaxing on Seven Mile Beach, diving or snorkel Cayman’s gorgeous reefs or swimming with the Stingrays at Stingray City. North side legend says that during the1970s guests came to the Wreck Bar and asked for a white Russian – a cocktail of vodka, Kahlua and cream. The bartender, named Old Judd, didn’t have cream but improvised with Bailey‘s Irish cream.  And thus the mudslide was born at the Wreck Bar at the Rum Point Club.

“There have been variations over the years and rumor has it that the original trials of this illusive libation contained vanilla ice cream,” says Rum Point Manager John Buckley, “but the recipe at Rum Point has stayed the same for the past three decades. No fillers, no ice cream nor chocolate, it is all alcohol.”

Which explains why last year, 23,674 mudslides were sold at Rum Point. Buckley says the goal for 2014 is to serve up 25,000 of the drink that consistently gets good reviews and mentions from visitors and travel writers.

From a writer at Uncommon Caribbean: “Anyone and everyone working the bar that day was happy to tell me that Rum Point is the home of the world’s best Mud Slide, and I gotta’ say, I agree.”

“The best Mud Slide on the island!” raves a Rum Point visitor on Tripadvisor travel site.

Another fan posted the mudslide recipe on food.com. “Seriously, these things were so good, that I made a point of trekking back to Rum Point the very next day expressly for another taste after my hiking adventure on the Mastic Trail.”

“Lots of visitors come to Rum Point and say ‘I’ve been told I can’t leave Grand Cayman until I come here to have a mudslide!’” says Carol Boulton. “It makes us feel damned proud because it’s a damned good drink!”

Island residents have the Rum Point experience down to a science, arriving early on weekends to enjoy the calm waters, quiet serene setting and the mudslides.

Rum Point’s Monday Night Beach Bar-B-Q offers another reason to visit Grand Cayman’s tranquil and romantic North Side during the week when the sun sets and the stars come out. For CI $38 per person guests enjoy cocktails and dinner on picnic tables by the water while they listen to island tunes and enjoy the Caribbean night. Dinner includes selections such as Curried Chicken, Grilled Mahi Mahi and Jerk Pork with all the sides.

A free sail aboard a luxury 65-foot catamaran is available for people on the west side of the island from the Safehaven dock to Rum Point courtesy of Red Sail Sports.  To get the evening started once they arrive at Rum Point guests receive a free daiquiri or piña colada and a cash bar is available after that.

“Guests who come across on the beautiful catamaran enjoy a great outing and they often come back for dinner at the Rum Point Restaurant on another night, which is one of those bonuses about the Rum Point experience,” says John Buckley.

The Wreck Bar & Grill is open daily from 10 AM – 6 PM and serves cocktails, beer, wine, soft drinks, smoothies, starters, salads, sandwiches and more.  The Rum Point Restaurant is open from 5.30 PM – 11PM.  Free ferry service from Safehaven Dock to Rum Point is available nightly aboard a luxurious 65-foot catamaran that departs at 6:00 PM and returns at 10.30 PM. To make reservations for the Beach Bar-B-Q or the Rum Point Restaurant call 345-947-9412. To reserve a spot on the catamaran ferry call 345-526-2934 or 623-5965.