Sunny&Rummy

That sounds like it would be quite good — and something you could actually take the time to do as a traditional swizzle if you top with ginger beer after the swizzle. Also looks like subbing a favorite dark rum in for the tequila would make an equally nice drink.

Great call on the Kingston Negroni whoever posted that one. Put a big dent in my new bottle of Smith & Cross making those the last two evenings.

Martinez was THE epiphany cocktail for me that got me to step out of my rum safe zone and get more broadly into classic/craft cocktails. The Beefeaters is probably a bit to assertive for a perfect Martinez. Try it with an Old Tom and you will find religion. This is also a safe one to serve cold and up and lose the ice. The drink is so good you will be finished with it long before it even has a chance to warm up ;-)

A fresh mint garnish, slapped to release the fragrance, is the crowning touch on a mai tai. Then sip with a short straw so your nose gets right in the middle of all the wonderful rich aromas.

Looking to purchase my first bottle of Creme de Violette. Drillaud or Rothman and Winter? Anyone here familiar with both brands and able to contrast them for me? Thanks.

I think scaling back the dram to 1/4 oz is my plan of attack the next time around as well. The St. Elizabeth is lovely stuff, but a dab will do you for sure.

Lion's Tail. Tasty, but the St. Elisabeth Pimento Dram overpowered the Buffalo Trace I used just a bit. Any suggestions on a good, sturdy bourbon up to the task of balancing out the allspice on this one? Bulleit is my first inclination, or opting for rye over bourbon altogether.

The rye and the St. Germain combo certainly works in something like a Ninth Ward (properly mede with Bulleit which is very rye heavy), so I think tweaking ratios and possibly subbing a drier dry vermouth like Dan suggested will give you a winner.

Agree with Boston on the great value for the price with St. James Royal Ambre. Recently I have been able to get it for around $23. For 'Ti Punch it's hard to beat, but for straight sipping the Extra Old and the Hors D'Age (which I only recently finally tracked down) are less rough-edged as you would expect. I wish Depaz was not as pricey as it is here, because I think it is fantastic. I had the Rhum Clement Cuvee Homere last week for the first time and it's one of the best rums I have ever tasted. And while $90 for the bottle is pricey, it would have been a bargain next to the $30 I spent on a couple measures out at the bar. Delicious.

Mixed up a Bar Eats You this evening. The mezcal and sarasparilla are oddly complimentary, both very earthy but in very different ways. I may need to play around with that particular pairing a little more when I get a chance.

As a person who has a bottle of Del Maguey San Luis Del Rio on hand, and especially as a Lebowski fan I think I am duty-bound to give this one a spin. I even have a Sioux City Sarasparilla at home which the Stranger tells me is a good sarasparilla. Original drink??

I hope there aren't too many pilots drinking straight from the bottle. Now, Pirates, on the other hand. . . :-) Barbancourt 8 is a wonderful sipper, but even though it is a cane juice rum it is not particularly vegetal like most of the agricoles. A fine starting point for the agricoles but not very representative of the typical flavor profile.

My recommendation for Drink Talk Like a Pirate Day is an authentic pirate Bumbo: • 2 tsp. demerera sugar • 1 oz. cool water • 2 oz. good gold rum (Sergeant Classick gold) • grated nutmeg to taste • grated cinnamon to taste Stir the sugar in the water to dissolve, add rum and spices, stir, drink pirate style without ice. The Sergeant Classick is actually unbelievably good in this drink. It's actually the only drink I have found where I'd consider Sergeant Classick as the preferred rum. As a pot still but unaged rum I wonder if it isn't somewhat similar to what 17th century pirate would have had access to.

La Paloma: • pinch salt in bottom of glass • 0.75 oz fresh lime juice • 1.5 oz blanco tequila (Antiguo) • 4 oz Jarritos Toronja Mexican grapefruit soda So tasty and refreshing, and so much better than the boozy Kool-Aid most restaurants pass off as margaritas.

If you are a rum fan, you can get Pussers 95.5 proof in England but you can o ly get the 84 proof in the US. The 95.5 is well worth having around if you can find it.

Went to a new local seafood restaurant last night. The food was no great shakes, but inexplicably behind their relatively stocked bar they had a bottle of Rhum Clément Cuvée Homère. The ~ $90 price tag had kept me from picking up a bottle, but it was a nice night out and I ponied up for a couple of glasses neat and served 'Ti Punch style with a half-tsp.. of simple and a lime squeeze. Easily the tastiest Martinique rhum I have had to date, though I have admittedly only had the ones that make it to Florida.

The only one I see regularly on US shelves and online stores is the Aalborg Akvavit with the whit eon red cross on it. As far as different styles, this BBC Home piece suggests there are @15 different styles of Aalborg Akvavit, but gives next to no info on what they all are.

Blackbeard's Nephew, ftw. J Wray and Ting Jamaican grapefruit soda is also excellent, as are any of the Jasper LeFranc punches that use Jasper's Mix along with J Wray. My favorite of these is an original cocktail called Podgy and Jasper that has gone over well every time I have served it for friends. • 1 oz. light rum • 1 oz Coruba • 1 oz Jasper’s Mix • 1 oz. 50:50 honey mix • 0.25 tsp. St. Elisabeth Pimento Dram Shake on ice, pour unstrained

I think your ED question hits the dichotomy square on the head. I can't get ED3 in Florida yet but as soon as I can that will suppland Cruzan white in the home bar. For drinks calling for a Cuban style dry white rum, I'll reach for Flor de Cana 4 year exta dry and not Cruzan. I think I would still do the same if the choice was Flor de Cana vs. ED3. My very loosey-goosey rule of thumb is if the drink is a Donn Beach/Trader Vic/Jeff Berry tiki drink that simply specifies white rum, I will go with something other than Flor or Matusalem white, whereas those are usually first choices for daiquiris, mojitos, etc.

The Cruzan rum I actually dearly miss is the Estate Diamond. Other than the Blackstrap which is unique and imo indispensable, and the 151 which is loads better than Bacardi for Rumrunners and such I can live without any of the others. And despite the protestestations of well-studied people here, unless I need a drier Cuban style white rum, for tropical/tiki drinks hat need a white rum it's the Cruzan I usually reach for. eta: Oh, the Cruzan Single Barrel is also excellent.

You are not going to fully embrace the J Wray until, as you say, you "get your head around" rums. But once you do it it is funky wonderful stuff that will find its way into all sorts of cocktails.

I think the Don Q Cristal and Gold are expendable. On the other hand, I think the Añejo is very good for the price and I wish I had regular access to it. I have yet to try the Gran Añejo. As for a head-to-head comparison of Cruzan's white rum versus Don Q, I prefer Cruzan and it isn't even close.

Going to have to try that ASAP, it sounds really interesting. I have some very good homemade limoncello courtesy of a friend and also a really interesting surinam cherrycello from another friend. I will have to try it with both and see what comes of it.

Starr Rum from Mauritius is unique and worth seeking out if you are a rum person. It is available online through drinkupny though, so it is difficult but not entirely impossible to get in the US. There is a sole Florida distributor who apparently just brings in enough for Disney's Animal Kingdom. I have tried in vain for years to get it stocked at my local sprits shops and nobody has been able to break the stranglehold of The Mouse.

Scofflaw with always dependable Old Overholt Rye. I originally encountered this as a cocktail calling for blended Canadian whisky, and when I got around to making it I was pretty unimpressed. Made proper with rye and real grenadine, though, this is everything a classic cocktail should be.