MxMo XXVII--Rum

[eje]

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays.

This month's event is being hosted by Blair over on his blog Trader Tiki's Booze Blog. The theme is simply Rum!.

To quote Blair from his explanation of the topic:

I figure it’s about time to explain my hopes and wishes for entries in the upcoming Mixology Monday XXVII, RUM! Hosted here at tradertiki.com. Rum is such a widely ranged spirits, from light and lovely to dark and delectable, even occasionally downright nasty (I do so need a bottle of Screech). In the spirit of the spirit, I would like to see a wide range of posts...Have fun, be creative, but most of all enjoy...

If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Monday, May 12th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizer.

Yaaar!

[Chris Amirault]

Because of a few projects (pimento dram, pineapple-infused rum, orgeat), I've been tearing through a lot of rum drinks. Here are a few quasi-originals that I didn't throw out:

• Black Daq
  1 1/2 oz Cruzan blackstrap rum
  1 oz Lemon Hart 80 demerara rum
  1/2 oz pimento dram
  1/2 oz lime (scant)
  dash Angostura (or Hess house if you've got it)
  Shake, strain into a cocktail glass, and float a bit of Lemon Hart 151 if you're feeling whiskery.
  

• Carson City Cocktail (variation on

the Nevada)
1 oz Flor de Caña light rum
1/2 oz Barbancourt five star rum
3/4 oz grapefruit
3/4 oz lime
scant 1/2 oz 2:1 demerara
dash Angostura (or Fee's whiskey barrel aged, if you've got it)
Shake, strain into a cocktail glass, and flame a thick disk of grapefruit over the top.

• Papaya Punch
  2 oz Flor de Caña light rum
  1/2 oz Lemon Hart 151 demerara rum
  3/4 oz lime
  3/4 oz lemon
  1 oz 1:1 papaya syrup
  scant 1/2 oz 2:1 demerara syrup
  2 dashes Angostura
  Shake, strain into a highball glass or tall tiki mug with fresh crushed ice, serve with a straw.
  

• Pimento Sour
  2 oz Flor de Caña light rum
  1/4 oz Lemon Hart 151 demerara rum
  1/2 oz pimento dram
  3/4 oz lime
  1 tsp ginger syrup
  dash Angostura (or Hess house and clementine bitters, if you've got 'em)
  Shake, strain into a cocktail glass.
  

I'd also be a cad not to share Beachbum Berry's receipt for the

• Surf Room Mai Tai
  1 oz white rum
  1 oz dark rum
  1 oz demerara rum
  1/4 oz curacao
  1/4 oz simple (or omit -- ca)
  1/4 oz orgeat
  1/4 oz lemon
  1/2 oz lime
  1 oz pineapple
  1 oz orange
  Shake, strain into a tiki mug with fresh crushed ice, and garnish if you're in the mood.
  

[TraderTiki]

Wow Chris, that's quite the Lion's share of recipes there. I'll have to try them out before Monday!

[Chris Amirault]

I write to add that a dash of Angostura (or, if you've got 'em, the barrel-aged bitters from Fee's) is a fine addition to that Mai Tai above. Also, to ask: where are the rest of y'all?

[thirtyoneknots]

I think I might have mentioned this a while back, but here's a little something I came up with to entertain myself and a couple of late night bar guests.

2 oz Flor de Cana 7

1 scant oz M&R red vermouth

barspoon Kahluah

2 dashes Angostura

Stir/strain/up: I think I garnished this with orange zest, but I don't quite recall.

It's decent but not earth-shattering. The most notable thing about it is that at least when made exactly as above, the pattern on the palate creates, for lack of better word, a hole where the flavor of white chocolate would be, sort of like a negative image. It sounds weird and it's kind of an inadequate description but I'd never experienced something like that before and don't know how else to say it. I'd say it's probably worth trying once.

-Andy

[eje]

Some friends asked me to come up with a cocktail for a collaborative zine project they are working on.

The zine is based around a group of wood cuts and illustrations by one of the artists.

Criteria:

Crab malice.  An angry crab on rocks in a glass. The cocktail of choice for a certain octopus who lives in the waters near Alcatraz.  The octopus is in love with a swimmer.  They can never be together for obvious reasons. oh yeah, as in the past and as it will probably be in the future, parts of the city are underwater.

A bittersweet and whimsical love triangle.

This one stumped me for quite a while. For obvious reasons I thought it should be bitter, but wasn't sure what to use for a base spirit. The deadline for the project actually passed. But a note of salvation! The deadline had been extended! Then yesterday, uh duh, Campari occurred to me. Sheesh! Red like a crab!

Crab Malice Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Campari

3/4 oz White Cuban Style Rum

3/4 oz Lime Juice

1/4 oz Cointreau

Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled glass. Top with soda water or selzer.

Whew! We've got bitterness and a nice red crab-like color. A nautical theme from the rum and the bubbles from the selzer. Actually, now thinking, a nice long lime peel twist made with a vegetable peeler around the side of the glass would up the aromatic quotient, and be kind of sea weedy. As a special bonus, it's pretty darn tasty and refreshing, as long as you don't mind bitterness (no super tasters need apply!)

edit - The only cocktail that I sort of had in mind when making this was the Jasmine. Similar ingredients, but inverted proportions to make up for using selzer and rocks. Aside from the Americano, is there anything else it is similar to?

Edited May 12, 2008 by eje (log)

[Chris Amirault]

To the "SpongeBob SquarePants" theme:

What cocktails are tippled deep under the sea?

Crab! Malice! Cock! Tails!

With bitters and bubbles as fresh as can be?

Crab! Malice! Cock! Tails!

Ahem.

What rum is that, Erik?

[eje]

To the "SpongeBob SquarePants" theme:

What cocktails are tippled deep under the sea?

Crab! Malice! Cock! Tails!

With bitters and bubbles as fresh as can be?

Crab! Malice! Cock! Tails!

Ahem.

What rum is that, Erik?

←

Wow, fantastic! A theme song!

I was using Flor de Cana's Extra Dry to preserve the red color.

I actually think it might be a bit better with more of a character rum.

Edited May 13, 2008 by eje (log)

[Chris Amirault]

I'm also wondering about Toby's pineapple-infused Campari....

[bostonapothecary]

i never like the idea of using lots of random rums in one tiki drink... it always seemed like just a technique to pour a drink faster in a busy bar... but last night i couldn't decide what run i wanted to use so i compromised...

"shift drink"

.5 oz. rum from the east side of africa (grapey, heavy and minerally)

.5 oz. rum from the santa catalina islands (smokey)

.5 oz. frum from somewhere on barbados (amber)

.75 oz. granadilla juice (tart)

.75 oz. grenadine (sweet)

spoonful of lime juice

2 dashes of peychaud's bitters

shake...

pretty cool. you can parse each of the rums and the sour component of the drink is a good time...

[Tiare]

I'm also wondering about Toby's pineapple-infused Campari....

←

That sounds really interesting..!

[TraderTiki]

.5 oz. rum from the east side of africa (grapey, heavy and minerally)

.5 oz. rum from the santa catalina islands (smokey)

←

Hi bostonapothecary,

nice entry. I'm curious about the rums you suggest. For the east side of Africa Rum, are you suggesting Starr? I keep seeing bottles of it on the liquor store, I'm curious now if it's worth a try.

And Santa Catalina Islands... drawing a blank there. Research suggests some Dominican Rums (Santa Catalina Island), Brugal, Bermudez, neither of which have I taken the opportunity to try.

Congratulations, you've piqued my curiosity.

[Tiare]

Forgot my rum drink:

BELL PEPPER PUNCH

* 35 ml Havana Club 3 years (or Appleton White rum).

* 35 ml fresh Pineapple Juice

* 15 ml Roast Paprika Syrup

* 15 ml fresh Lemon juice

* Dash Grapefruit bittters - preferably home made

Shake, strain and serve over a mountain of crushed ice lightly dusted with Madagascar vanilla powder. Garnish with a pineapple leaf.

Cheers!

[eje]

Forgot my rum drink:

BELL PEPPER PUNCH

    * 35 ml Havana Club 3 years (or Appleton White rum).

    * 35 ml fresh Pineapple Juice

    * 15 ml Roast Paprika Syrup

    * 15 ml fresh Lemon juice

    * Dash Grapefruit bittters - preferably home made

Shake, strain and serve over a mountain of crushed ice lightly dusted with Madagascar vanilla powder. Garnish with a pineapple leaf.

Cheers!

←

Now it's my turn to ask...

By "Roast Paprika Syrup", do you mean what we in the US would call roasted "red bell pepper"? Or do you mean actual dried paprika?

If so, how to prepare either?

[Tiare]

Now it's my turn to ask...

By "Roast Paprika Syrup", do you mean what we in the US would call roasted "red bell pepper"?  Or do you mean actual dried paprika?

If so, how to prepare either?

←

Sorry, i should have made that clear of course..its what you in the US call Bell Pepper, its called Paprika here. You just make a simple syrup:

Take 1/3 of a red paprika and 1/3 of a green and roast/grill them in the owen until the surface gets blackened. Let cool and take off most of the skin but leave just a little on.

Make a 2:1 simple with white sugar to 1L water and add the paprika and some lemon zest and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Add a little JW&N overproof rum, let cool and strain. This syrup gets a lovely paprika lemony flavor.

This is for the rum drink...(but i also believe it could be nice in Tequila drinks, which i`m going to experiment with but i`m out of Tequila.)

[bostonapothecary]

.5 oz. rum from the east side of africa (grapey, heavy and minerally)

.5 oz. rum from the santa catalina islands (smokey)

←

Hi bostonapothecary,

nice entry. I'm curious about the rums you suggest. For the east side of Africa Rum, are you suggesting Starr? I keep seeing bottles of it on the liquor store, I'm curious now if it's worth a try.

And Santa Catalina Islands... drawing a blank there. Research suggests some Dominican Rums (Santa Catalina Island), Brugal, Bermudez, neither of which have I taken the opportunity to try.

Congratulations, you've piqued my curiosity.

←

Aguardente de Santo Antão from Cabo Verde

hmm. i mixed up my islands on the brazilian rum...

Armazem Viera Esmerelda from Santa Catarina

[TraderTiki]

For those interested parties, the wrap-up has been posted.

[eje]

Aguardente de Santo Antão from Cabo Verde

hmm. i mixed up my islands on the brazilian rum...

Armazem Viera Esmerelda from Santa Catarina

←

Oh, cool! I just got to try the Armazem Vieira Esmerelda out at the bar the other day.

Mighty tasty stuff!

It's just starting to show up out here in bars and liquor stores. Couldn't resist picking up a bottle, it's such a unique and interesting taste.

[slkinsey]

.5 oz. rum from the east side of africa (grapey, heavy and minerally)

.5 oz. rum from the santa catalina islands (smokey)

Hi bostonapothecary,

nice entry. I'm curious about the rums you suggest. For the east side of Africa Rum, are you suggesting Starr? I keep seeing bottles of it on the liquor store, I'm curious now if it's worth a try.

And Santa Catalina Islands... drawing a blank there. Research suggests some Dominican Rums (Santa Catalina Island), Brugal, Bermudez, neither of which have I taken the opportunity to try.

Congratulations, you've piqued my curiosity.

Aguardente de Santo Antão from Cabo Verde

hmm. i mixed up my islands on the brazilian rum...

Armazem Viera Esmerelda from Santa Catarina

Isn't La República de Cabo Verde a Macaronesian archipelago off the West side of Africa?

Armazem Vieira Esmeralda comes from Florianópolis, the capital city of the State of Santa Catarina in Southern Brazil. Specifically, from the barrio of Saco dos Limões on the island of Santa Catarina -- which is about as much of an island as Long Island.

[bostonapothecary]

.5 oz. rum from the east side of africa (grapey, heavy and minerally)

.5 oz. rum from the santa catalina islands (smokey)

Hi bostonapothecary,

nice entry. I'm curious about the rums you suggest. For the east side of Africa Rum, are you suggesting Starr? I keep seeing bottles of it on the liquor store, I'm curious now if it's worth a try.

And Santa Catalina Islands... drawing a blank there. Research suggests some Dominican Rums (Santa Catalina Island), Brugal, Bermudez, neither of which have I taken the opportunity to try.

Congratulations, you've piqued my curiosity.

Aguardente de Santo Antão from Cabo Verde

hmm. i mixed up my islands on the brazilian rum...

Armazem Viera Esmerelda from Santa Catarina

Isn't La República de Cabo Verde a Macaronesian archipelago off the West side of Africa?

Armazem Vieira Esmeralda comes from Florianópolis, the capital city of the State of Santa Catarina in Southern Brazil. Specifically, from the barrio of Saco dos Limões on the island of Santa Catarina -- which is about as much of an island as Long Island.

←

you are right. i'm more or less dislexic... i actually had a weird conversation a few days ago trying ot figure out where it was without looking at a map... i took my friends advice that it was on the east side based on an anecdote they supplied... we liked the rum because it was under 20 dollars, had a totally unique taste and hails from lands foreign to us... it barely matters to me that santa catarina is the equivelent of long island... its tastey, exotic, and from more unknown territory relative to me... i like to tread on the frontiers of the imagination when i drink but i should probably take better notes...