2013/06/09
In 1959 the Florida Derby was looking to have a cocktail associated with their race in the same way that the Mint Julep was associated with the Kentucky Derby. Mariano Licudine, the master mixologist of the Mai Kai, created the Derby Daiquiri. I had a little taste of history tonight; the Derby Daiquiri as served at the Mai Kai.
I find the weather somewhat depressing. Probably because it reminds us just how small and insignificant we are. There is no reasoning with or controlling of ‘Mother Nature’. When you can’t beat the weather I find it helps to drink the weather so I am consuming Dark n Stormys tonight. The Dark n Stormy is a drink popular with the sailing crowd and my brother-in-law, an excellent sailor, impressed on me the proper way to make a Dark n Stormy. The ginger beer goes in first and then the rum, in this case Cruzan Black Strap (yum), floats on top. As the dark rum settles into the ginger beer it resembles storm clouds. Another bottle of the Cruzan Black Strap bites it tonight.
2013/06/06
You cannot drink rum all day if you don't start in the morning. Argghh!!
2013/06/05 My friend Michelle put this on my Facebook page today.
2013/05/29
Zombie garnish; fresh pineapple, cherry, and a party pick.
2012/08/10 I don’t want to re-ignite the great debate of our time. All I am going to say is that Van Halen were at their best when Diamond Dave was the front man. With that said you have got to love Sammy Hagar. Sammy Hagar wanted a better tasting Tequila for his bar. The result was Cabo Wabo which became the number two brand of Tequila in the US. Sammy sold 80% of the ownership in Cabo Wabo for 80 million dollars. That’s right, 80 million dollars. He vowed after that sale, with his fortune set, that he would never again do anything just for money. "Now I never do anything unless it's fun, unless it makes me happy." Sammy has spent the last few years working on a rum. The rum is distilled in Maui, Hawaii. I had been waiting for a chance to get my hands on a bottle when I found one at a nice liquor store in Cape May, NJ.
Sammy's Beach Bar Rum.
When I got home from work today I had received a special delivery. It was the newest rum for my rum collection. This rum was distilled in Guyana in 1995. It was then cask aged in Scotland for 16 years. It was bottled in 2011. Only 390 bottles were produced.
I have bottle 165 of 390.
Party host Michelle with zombie.
2012/04/12
I received a special delivery today. Some more rum for my rum 'library'. I got two Guyanese Demerara rums via FedEx. El Dorado 5 year old amber and El Dorado overproof.
Picked up a couple of vintage rum coasters. Guyanese Demerara rum coasters. Very nice!
I scored one of the last bottles of the old label and old formula Lemon Hart 151. I know the new label is out in the market but I have only seen pictures.
Whenever I'm in a new location, somewhere I haven't been before, I like to search for rums that I don't have. In Ocean City, Maryland I found these two white rums that I have never seen in Syracuse. I picked up a white rum from Haiti and one from Barbados.
2011/09/08
The most official Dark N Stormy cocktail is made with Gosling's Black Seal and Barritt's Ginger beer. It's a very nice cocktail. When I started my Dark N Stormy experiment I expected this to be my favorite. But, truth be told, my favorite Dark N Stormy is made from Cruzan Blackstrap and Saranac Ginger Beer.
2011/08/26
2011/April
I cracked open the El Dorado tonight and I am enjoying a little on the rocks. Just the rum. It’s a nice sipping rum. El Dorado rum is a product of Guyana, specifically from the Demerara region. The Demerara region of South America is located around the lower courses of the Demerara River. The El Dorado 12 year old special reserve is a dark brown rum distilled from fermented molasses. The rum is aged in used whiskey and bourbon barrels. El Dorado rums are blended from different batches or ‘vintages’. The youngest batch is at least 12 years old while some of the blend may be older than that. The tropical climate of Guyana has a great impact on the rum. The high humidity and steady temperature speeds up the ageing process. The 12 year old El Dorado has a maturity that is more like a 20 year old rum produced in a colder climate. Guyana has a rich three hundred year old history of quality rum production. The rum is delicious. You can smell the brown sugar, vanilla, hints of cinnamon and a little citrus. It has a nice clean finish.
Monday night I had a Kraken Spiced rum with ginger ale and wedge of fresh lime. The base rum in the Kraken probably comes from Trinidad or Tobago in the Caribbean. The rum is then infused with spices at a distillery in Indiana. I liked the Cruzan Blackstrap with ginger ale more than the Kraken and ginger ale.
I have about 35 rums now in my rum library including Barbancourt. I am acquiring rums faster than I am tasting or drinking them. This is not a bad place to be. Having more rum coming in than is being consumed means one never has to hear the sad Jack Sparrow lament “why is all the rum gone?” Societe du Rhum Barbancourt was founded by a Frenchman from the cognac producing region of France. The product is double distilled, which is similar to the process used to make cognac. It is made from the juice of the sugar cane; not from the molasses. In Martinique rums made from the sugar cane juice are referred to as agricole (or agricultural) as opposed to those made from the molasses which are considered a more industrial process. The Barbancourt rums are considered to be some of the best in the world. Certainly Barbancourt is the most known Haitian business outside of Haiti. I enjoyed a little Barbancourt and ginger ale with lime.
2011/03/11
We have a small refridgerator at work tucked under the desk in an empty cube.
2011/01/22
Saturday night and I had a simple cocktail. Cruzan Black Strap rum and ginger ale with a wedge of fresh lime. Cruzan is a rum producer located in Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cruzan Black Strap is a hearty Navy style rum made from the blackstrap molasses of sugar cane. The rum is aged two years in used whiskey and bourbon barrels. The rum is sweet with a nice aroma and mixed well with the ginger ale. This was a nice cocktail.
2011/01/24
My ministry of rum coffee mug on my desk at work.
Khan tiki mon's rum diary
Khan Tiki Mon's travels through the world of rum. Is it the destination or the journey?
My friend Michelle came back from the Dominican Republic and she brought me some MamaJuana. Or rather she brought the makings. MamaJuana is purported to be an aphrodisiac; sometimes called the Dominican viagra. MamaJuana is concocted by allowing rum and red wine to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. The alcohol extracts the curative properties from the herbs and the drink is taken as a shot. I have never made MamaJuana before but this is how it is supposed to go. I will add dark rum and red wine to the bottle containing the bark and herbs. The concoction will work in the bottle for a week or so. There will be a kind of maceration process. In winemaking maceration refers to the process where the materials of the grape, the tannins, coloring agents, and flavors, are leached from the skins, seeds, and stems of the grape. I believe this process will be similar and the result should be a reddish potion somewhat the consistency and strength of a fortified port. As to the potency of the tonic we shall see. I will post results of this experiment as they become available.
I scored a bottle of the new formula and new label Lemon Hart 151. This fine overproof Guyanese Demerara rum is a must for many classic Tiki cocktails.
2012/11/10
2013/01/19
2012/09/15
Marty and Laura gave me a bottle of Plantation 5 year old Barbados rum. This rum is made from 100% sugar cane juice and so is similar to a Rhum Agricole. It can’t be called Rhum Agricole because that is an appellation like Cognac or Bordeaux and so only rums from specific locations can be called Rhum Agricole.
2012/09/15
Phil and Kathy gave me a bottle of Pyrat rum. Pyrat rum is an Anguillian rum. Anguilla is a very small island in the Caribbean five miles north of St. Maarten. The island is very small and there is no sugar cane on the island. The rum is not distilled on Anguilla but rather is blended there from 9 different Caribbean rums. It is then aged in oak barrels on the tiny island.
2012/05/08
2012/01/14 I tried my hand at making some Zombies for the first time. There really isn’t a definitive recipe for the Zombie. There are many variations. Here’s the one I tried for the party Saturday night: 1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice 1 ounce simple syrup ¾ ounce pineapple juice ¾ ounce passion fruit juice 2 ounces amber Jamaican rum 1 ounce white Puerto Rican rum ½ ounce float of overproof rum Combine all ingedients except the overproof rum in a Boston shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and pour contents without straining into a Tiki mug. Float the overproof rum on top. For the Jamaican rum I used Appleton. For the Puerto Rican rum I used Don Q. For the overproof I used Gosling Black Seal 151.
I just recently acquired a bottle of extinct rum. I say extinct because I don’t believe the rum is in production anymore. The bottle is full and the seals are intact. The label says Hawaiian Isle Hawaiian Rum. The label says it is a product of Hawaii but was bottled in Chicago, Illinois. I did a Dun & Bradstreet check on the company listed on the label, Hawaiian Isle Trading Co. and came up empty. I will try to sleuth up some more info on this one.
Michelle, my secret Guyanese rum connection, was in Puerto Rico last week. She toured the Bacardi distillery and brought me back this awesome bottle of rum. The Bacardi Reserva Limitada was first made available to the public in 2003. The rum was introduced to the public in honor of and to celebrate the inauguration of the Bacardi Visitor Center in Puerto Rico. As the name would suggest the Reserva Limitada is truly a 'limited reserve’ and is available almost exclusively in Puerto Rico (very small amounts available in the Bahamas, the Caymans, and Aruba). The Reserva Limitada is aged in lightly charred American white oak barrels. Rums as old as 16 years are in the blend. When I crack this one open I will review it here. Thanks Michelle!
2011/09/28
2011/10/22
2011/April
In the month of April I am conducting a Dark N Stormy experiment. The Dark N Stormy is a cocktail made with rum and ginger beer. The Dark N Stormy is called the national drink of Bermuda. The official Dark N Stormy is made with Gosling's Black Seal rum and ginger beer over ice with a wedge of lime. The Dark N Stormy is popular with the sailing community. I have three different kinds of ginger beer. I have Barritt’s Stone ginger beer from Bermuda. I have Saranac ginger beer which is brewed nearby in the foothills of the Adirondacks. And last I have Gosling's ginger beer that I am not sure where it is made. The Barritt’s is advertised as having pure cane sugar while the Gosling's is made with high fructose corn syrup. Not sure about the Saranac. I have Gosling's Black Seal rum and I am going to compare that to the Cruzan Blackstrap. I have really been enjoying the Cruzan Blackstrap of late. With two rums and three ginger beers I have six possible combinations to check out.
2011/07/15
2011/04/19
2011/02/23
My brother Darren sent some rum. This past Thanksgiving, while I was visiting my brothers and their families in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we looked for some Seven Tiki rum. I had some cocktails while at the Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale last year, made by Jeff “Beachbum” Barry, where he used the Seven Tiki rum. I couldn’t find it in New York and was equally unsuccessful searching in New Mexico. I did get some Lemon Hart 80 proof in Albuquerque. My brother was in California on business and found theSeven Tiki rum there. He also picked up some Trader Vic’s rum and sent that as well. The gift of rum is always very much appreciated.