North America → Bahamas → Nassau
🥤 DRINK
Sky Juice
The Bahamas' true local drink: gin shaken with coconut water and sweetened condensed milk over ice, finished with fresh nutmeg.
Bahamian · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 0 min
~148 cal · 3g protein · 26g carbs · 4g fat · 1g fiber · 24g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Sky juice, known to locals as gully wash, is the drink Bahamians actually reach for while the Goombay Smash is left to the tourists. Pale and cloud-like, it is an unlikely but popular mix of gin, coconut water, and sweetened condensed milk, sold from stands at Nassau's Fish Fry and mixed in gallon jugs at home.
Its odd base of gin to Prohibition, when imported London dry gin was cheaper and more plentiful in the Bahamas than rum. Fresh coconut water came straight off the islands' palms, condensed milk from the pantry gave body, and a heavy grate of fresh nutmeg finished it. The result sits somewhere between a cocktail and a tropical milk punch, creamy but balanced by the coconut water and the herbal gin.
Simple, cheap, and completely Bahamian, sky juice is best from a friend's jug or a Fish Fry stand. Built on coconut water, it is not nut-free, but a coconut or oat swap for the condensed milk makes it dairy-free.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 2 cups fresh coconut water
- 1 cup gin
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- to taste freshly grated nutmeg
- a handful per glass ice
Instructions
- 1Stir the coconut water, gin, and condensed milk together in a jug until the milk fully dissolves.✎ Chef’s noteFresh nutmeg grated over the top, not from a jar, is what regulars insist makes a proper sky juice.
- 2Taste and adjust: more condensed milk for sweetness, more coconut water to lighten.
- 3Fill glasses with ice and pour the sky juice over.
- 4Grate fresh nutmeg generously over each glass and serve.
Nassau Fish Fry tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Nassau. Nassau is conch country, serving it raw in citrus salad, fried into crisp fritters, and simmered into chowder. Bahamian cooking pairs seafood with peas and rice, johnnycake, and guava duff steamed for dessert.
🗺️
Bahamas. Bahamian food is all about conch, cracked, in fritters, and in fresh salad, plus rock lobster, peas and rice, and tangy souse. Bright, coastal, and lime-forward, it's the taste of the shallow Caribbean seas.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bahamas
Bahamian Stew FishFish simmered in a dark browned-flour gravy with tomato, thyme, and lime, a Bahamian breakfast-to-dinner staple.
Boiled Fish and Johnny CakeA light, limey grouper broth with potatoes and onion, served with a slab of sweet Bahamian johnny cake for dunking, a true island breakfast.
Bahamian Conch SaladFresh conch diced and cured at the table in lime and sour orange with sweet peppers, tomato, cucumber, and fiery goat pepper.
Browse all Bahamas recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Bahamas meal
Cracked ConchDinner
Guava DuffDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Bajan Rum PunchBarbados
Seaweed ShakeBelize
Rum SwizzleBermuda
Black RussianBelgium
CaipirinhaBrazil
PoncheCape Verde
Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Sky Juice?
The Bahamas' true local drink: gin shaken with coconut water and sweetened condensed milk over ice, finished with fresh nutmeg.
Where does Sky Juice come from?
Sky Juice is a Bahamian dish from Nassau, Bahamas.
Can Sky Juice be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sky Juice recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. It cannot be made nut-free without changing what the dish is, so the recipe does not offer that version. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sky Juice safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sky Juice take to make?
About 5 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.