Aurum Rum Cocktail (The Zio Renato Cocktail)

This Rum and Aurum Liqueur cocktail is light, fruity, not too sweet, and is perfect for any pre-summer celebrations (even Easter or Mother's Day Brunch). Sweet pineapple, Tarocco blood oranges, strawberries, lime, and crunchy freeze-dried coconut chips make a delicious fruit punch juice base for this cocktail. 

Add a little San Pellegrino or other sparkling mineral water and watch a beautiful layer of pink foam develop (making it even prettier).  We suggest making extra juice (it's really good), to have for breakfast or for those who may want a Renato Mocktail instead.

If you enjoy this cocktail, you may want to try my Homemade Limoncello (The Authentic Italian Way), or this Arcobaleno Bellini (Rainbow Bellini Cocktail)!

What's a Zio Renato Rum Cocktail? 

Zio Renato and Zia Gloria (Uncle Renato and Aunt Gloria) are Luca's aunt and uncle from Pescara, Italy, in the Abruzzo region. Like all of Luca's family, every time we visited them, they had copious amounts of homemade local specialties to stuff us with. They'd always finish the meal by serving us locally-made Aurum liqueur and biscotti or another small dessert.

Aurum is an 80-proof liqueur distilled from sweet local Abruzzo oranges, blended with herbs, fruit, and brandy, then aged in oak casks. It gets its signature gold color in part from the addition of saffron.

The famous poet, journalist, and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio from Pescara gave this liqueur its name, taken from the Latin word for "gold" (aurum).

Aurum has a sweet orange flavor similar to Cointreau, so it works perfectly with rum here to add a bit of fruity warmth to fresh-squeezed homemade fruit punch juice.

Zio and Zia gifted us this bottle the last time we saw them, and when we finally decided to open it, I wanted to make a drink that reminded me of them. Bright, fun, and full of life (and also a frou-frou drink they probably would've laughed at and made fun of ♡).

The Zio Renato Rum Cocktail (Rum + Aurum Cocktail) Ingredients 

Fruity and warm, this cocktail is a perfect drink for summer. Be sure to get a perfectly golden pineapple so that it's sweet and fragrant.  Juice extra fruit punch so anyone who may not want an alcoholic beverage can still have enjoy a healthy juice, or mocktail. Feel free to change up the fruit with whatever you have on hand, but this assortment is really fruit-punchy.

Cocktail Ingredients

• 4 ounces Havana Club Rum Especial (110g)
• 1 ounce Aurum Liqueur (25g)
• 12 ounces homemade Fruit Punch juice (345g) (*recipe follows) 

Homemade Fresh-Squeezed Fruit Punch Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh sweet pineapple (500g)
• ½ medium Tarocco Blood orange
• juice from ½ lime
• 5 ½ ounces strawberries (about 6 strawberries) (160g)
• freeze-dried coconut flakes (optional but recommended)
• San Pellegrino sparkling water (optional but recommended and it creates a beautiful foamy top)

How to Make a Zio Renato Rum Cocktail

This is an easy cocktail to make, and it's full of summery flavors. I like to add the sparkling mineral water to the tops because it makes the drink a little less sweet, gives it some carbonation, and makes a really fluffy foam layer at the top.  

1. Wash and peel the fruit. Peel the kiwis and oranges, and wash the blueberries and strawberries.
2. Rim the glass with strawberry sugar. Using a slice of lime, rub it around the rim of the glass. Then dip the rim into strawberry sugar (or other sugar if desired).
3. Juice the fruit. Juice the fruit and give it a stir to combine all of the juices. 
4. Assemble the Cocktail. Pour 12 ounces juice into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and add 4 ounces Havana Club Rum Especial (110g) and 1 ounce Aurum Liqueur (25g). Shake vigorously until nicely chilled and split the mixture between 2 glasses. Top each glass off with a little sparkling water (if using), garnish, and serve immediately, and Enjoy!