Word of Mouth: Cocktails in Cayman
Cocktail culture is getting more serious on Grand Cayman thanks to bartenders aiming to put it on the map as a global destination for food and drink
Grand Cayman is known as the culinary capital of the Caribbean, but it has yet to land a bar on the World’s 50 Best list—for now. Against a postcard-perfect backdrop of beaches and palm trees, talented bartenders across the island are working hard to change that. Chief among them is Jim Wrigley at the extraordinary Library by the Sea, who puts a tricked-out lab to work along with local artists to concoct some truly fantastical drinks. That said, all of the following destinations are mixing up creative cocktails worth seeking out—and maybe even planning a trip around.
Library by the Sea
Gorgeously built in the Kimpton Seafire’s former library and with touches of local history still present throughout, Library by the Sea has kept its bookish spirit even as it has transformed into a space for serious cocktails. Wrigley and his team draw inspiration from the rare and first-edition books lining the walls; they aren’t precious about letting guests pluck them off the shelf either. Like any great bartender, Wrigley is gregarious and warm and full of great stories. “We allow our imaginations to run wild and are limited only by our creativity,” he says. And he is not exaggerating: out back, he runs an industry-leading lab that offers complete control of every ingredient, from a rotary vaporizer to a 3D printer. There’s a zero-waste policy that helps explain a fermented carrot wine bubbling away in that rotavap for a future Benjamin Bunny-inspired cocktail to complement a Beatrix Potter book in the library.
The team’s passion seems to come particularly alive for children’s books; for a new drink inspired by The Little Prince, Wrigley says, “we were like little kids creating these spellbinding moments of nostalgia.” He hired local ceramicist Aimee Randolph to create hand-molded asteroids as the drinking vessel, and each comes topped with a figurine of le petit prince himself, made from recycled plastic pulled from the ocean.
It’s not Randolph’s first project for Wrigley; she also makes the ceramic oyster shells glazed with mother of pearl for the bar’s instantly iconic “From Cayman, with Love” cocktail. Ian Fleming set many of his stories in the Caribbean and it was apparently a Caymanian fisherman who taught James Bond how to scuba dive, a detail Wrigley couldn’t resist running away with. Bond himself would surely approve of the result: a subtly tropical twist on a martini made with local sugarcane spirit infused with island botanicals, sea-mineral vermouth and a homemade fruit cordial. “It wouldn’t be an oyster without a pearl,” Wrigley says, delicately placing a pearl onion shimmering with agar inside the shell.
Door No. 4
The chic art deco cocktail bar Door No. 4 would be at home in New York, Paris or London. All the better, then, that it’s on Grand Cayman, where former Diageo ambassador Simon Crompton now leads a popular “Cocktails & Canapés” class where you can learn a little something while you shake, stir and pour. The platonic ideal of a cucumber margarita is paired with local snapper aguachile and plantain chips, while an espresso martini has never tasted more delicious than it does served with a nanaimo bar.
The Brasserie
Vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs from the adjacent garden show up all over the food and drink menus at the bustling restaurant and bar, The Brasserie. An expert botanist tends to her green space lovingly; turns out, the chef is her husband. The white guava punch, made with Hennessy Pure White, is garnished with florals and bilimbi fruits, while the Cayman Fashioned extracts oil from banana skins and coconut for a velvety mouthfeel.
Cayman Cabana
Cayman Cabana is a party on the water where the good vibes are always, well, vibing. A weekly farm to table dinner with ocean views at communal tables overflowing with platters of fresh fish and conch fritters might just be the best deal in town. The owner, Luigi Moxam, is a local legend. Cocktails made with the local Seven Fathoms rum keep the party going long after sunset as strangers become friends over island punch.
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