Flavored rums

[Elizabeth Clauser]

I was watching Alton Brown's new series, Feasting on Waves, this weekend and he went to someplace (in St. Kitts, I think) where a woman was selling homemade flavored rums - passion fruit, hibiscus, etc. She didn't share her process with him, but he thought that for the passion fruit, she would have steeped the fruit in sugar syrup, added it to the bottle, and topped with rum. He wasn't sure if the process would be the same with hibiscus.

My question is, does anyone here have any experience with these - either making or partaking? I'm very intrigued. They look delicious and lot more fun the pineapple or coconut stuff they sell at the store.

[Chris Amirault]

I've done it several times, usually with pineapple. It's pretty simple: cut up pineapple; steep in rum until you like it; strain and filter. Makes killer Daiquiris, among other things. Same with passion fruit. With hibiscus, I'd guess you'd want to reconstitute it with a bit of hot water before starting the steeping.

I don't add any additional sugar since you can always do that for your cocktails with simple syrups, etc. Indeed, I'd rather have a hibiscus syrup than a hibiscus-steeped rum, I think.

[helenas]

not sure about rum but i recently made a hibiscus/rosebuds vodka infusion - it came out very nice; and i just poured vodka over dried petals and let it infuse for a month or so.

Edited September 15, 2008 by helenas (log)

[Chris Amirault]

So just using the water in the vodka, eh? Inneresting.....

[jmfangio]

I haven't worked with rum as a base spirit, but I've done lots of vodka infusions, and also made my first batch of Nocino this year.

Here's a recipe from Saveur for an orange and coffee flavored rum, and there's also this thread on vodka infusions which may give you some tips and ideas.

[gethin]

I regularly make a sorrel (hibiscus flower) rum, usually with a bit of ginger and a few pimento (allspice) berries as well . I use cheap own brand white rum, add the flavorings and a bit of sugar , shake it every few days and after a week or so strain off the bits.

I've just put a handful of dried pomegranate flowers to steep in white rum too, not a load of taste on that right now, so may add something more in a day or too (dried rosehips or rose petals perhaps)

gethin

[Kent Wang]

I've done it several times, usually with pineapple. It's pretty simple: cut up pineapple; steep in rum until you like it; strain and filter. Makes killer Daiquiris, among other things. Same with passion fruit. With hibiscus, I'd guess you'd want to reconstitute it with a bit of hot water before starting the steeping.

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Do you put the pineapple in a blender before steeping? Do you use white or dark rum?

[Chris Amirault]

I just roughly chop up the pineapple -- no need to blend if you shake hard regularly. As for the rums, I'm draining bottles to find a balance, with some Flor de Cana or Appleton white, some Lemon Hart demerara, some Wray & Nephew overproof, and maybe a bit more of this or that.

[DCP]

I have done simple syrup infusions for herbs and spices (rosemary, cinnamon, cloves, etc.) and both syrup-based and direct infusions into rum.

The rum (all in Ronrico) infusions that have worked well for me are:

* 2 cups toasted coconut (unsweetened, toasted myself) in 750 ml rum - lost about 25% to the coconut, which was reused for another (alcoholic) purpose.

* 2 split, scraped, and chopped vanilla beans in 750 ml rum

* Coffee syrup in a variety of proportions - starting with instant coffee/espresso powder or ground beans, in a variety of sugars (white/brown/blend), reduced different amounts.

All were infused for 4 weeks, then strained, filtered, and aged another 2-4 weeks before bottling. The coconut and vanilla rums were very lightly sweetened with 2:1 simple syrup prior to bottling, just enough to take the edge off the harshness (likely in no small part from the cheap rum!)

[edited to add a note on yields]

Edited January 26, 2009 by DCP (log)

[RobertM]

My wife and I were in Cancun last October and the resort there had flavored tequilas. Each day they would put out fresh bottles of these different flavors. Some of them that I recall were Coconut, Hot Pepper, Pineapple, I believe there was a peach - they merely put the "flavor" in an empty bottle and filled it with tequila, let it steep for a week or two and then drink.

Now, with that said, we just returned from the Dominican Republic where we discovered their island unique drink called Mama Juana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_Juana) which is a rum based drink. The makers fill an empty bottle with various branches, twigs, herbs, etc and then fill the bottle with a mixture of rum, red wine and honey. Allow it to steep and then drink. I did try this while in the islands, and while some people really loved it, I found it tasted like turpintine -

But, in going along with the topic, it is a 'flavored' rum