This isn’t the highest bar in the Caribbean. Or is it?
As a standalone bar, i.e. unattached to a restaurant, it might be, at more than 2,100 feet above sea level.
Sure, there’s the bar (attached to a restaurant) at Strawberry Hill in Jamaica, and assorted mountain hotels in the Dominican Republic. And a number of others scattered around the region.
But, here, high above the green hills of St Thomas and scattered Virgin Islands, this sure feels like it.
This is Mountain Top, one of the most famous bars on the US Virgin Island of St Thomas, a massive complex that is two parts: one, a large shopping destination and two, a rather good bar.
The bar itself is located inside what feels like an old hangar (with about as many souvenirs, rum bottles and clothing as any store in the region), and it specializes in the banana daiquiri.
One can order the banana daiquiri in any of several different cups, themselves souvenirs, and then head out to the observation deck, where you can see just about every island in both the US and British Virgin Islands.
In the near ground, there’s St Thomas’ Magens Bay; to the far left, the tiny islet of Hans Lollik in the USVI, then Great Tobago, Jost Van Dyke and Tortola of the BVI, and then the USVI’s Lovango Cay, Thatch Cay, Grass Cay and St John.
The daiquiri itself? Superb. You might call it the Caribbean’s Highest Cocktail — and certainly one of its best.
It’s made expertly using fresh bananas and Cruzan Rum by the barman who identified himself as “Joe Banana.”
Whatever the size, you’ll likely finish it before you finish counting all the islands you can see.
And with the banana and the rum and all those islands in sight, you might get briefly disoriented.
But don’t worry — it’s just the altitude.
— CJ