So, is anyone into rum? I’ve been getting more into rum and rum cocktails these past few months and am really appreciating all the good rums out there. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy my bourbon, but if you haven’t delved into rum I recommend exploring because there are some good rums to sip neat, and to make your cocktails better than the guy’s who lives next door. Here are some ones I recommend trying:
1) Appleton Estate 12 year - so far my favorite all-purpose aged rum for just about everything. This is a delicious rum at a reasonable price and it makes a killer Mai Tai. Also very enjoyable neat.
2) Rhum Barbancourt 8 year - a solid offering sipped neat and in cocktails. Has a slight grassy undertone being an agricole.
3) Ron Zacapa Systema Solera 23 - a little on the pricey side (~ $50) but a solid rum to enjoy neat. If you are a bourbon lover, you’ll appreciate this rum, which is aged in American Oak barrels that were used to age bourbon.
4) Cruzan Blackstrap rum - this is my go-to for a Dark and Stormy.... er I mean Rum Buck
5) Plantation 3 year - very good and inexpensive silver rum for your favorite rum cocktails. Regularly on sale at my local ABC store.
6) El Dorado 3 year - right now my favorite silver rum. An excellent cocktail rum.
7) For those who like to experiment - buy a bottle of Wray and Nephew Overproof white rum (cheap) and pour it into an airtight bottle with 2 oak staves. Let it "age" for 60 days in a dark cabinet. Poor man’s aged Wray and Nephew. A classic tiki rum. Delicious.
One of my favorite summer cocktails is a classic Daiquiri (not the slushy fru fru one you had in college):
2 oz good silver rum (or try an amber rum)
0.75 oz FRESH lime juice
0.75 oz simple syrup (1:1 sugar and water mixture)
Add to a shaker with ice and shake it like you mean it. Double strain into a coup glass or a small mason jar and garnish with a thin lime wheel. If you want to mix it up, use pomegranate syrup or passion fruit syrup in place of the simple syrup. If you like strawberries, muddle a strawberry with the simple syrup before adding the rum and lime juice. This cocktail is so simple yet very effective.
Another favorite cocktail of mine is the original 1944 Trader Vic’s Mai Tai:
2 oz Appleton Estate 12 year rum (or 2 oz of the "aged" Wray and Nephew rum above)
0.75 oz FRESH lime juice
0.5 oz Orange Curaçao
0.25 ounce rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
0.25 ounce orgeat (this is a rich almond syrup - make your own)
Put everything into a shaker with 12 oz crushed ice and 3 large ice cubes and shake. Pour (untrained) into glass of your choosing (I like mason jars). Take a small bunch of mint and slap in all around the rim and then nestle it into your glass. If you want to be fancy, take half a spent lime and push it back into shape - place it into your glass and nestle the mint next to it so it looks like a palm tree sticking out of a small tropical island.
Happy Spring and Summer folks.
1) Appleton Estate 12 year - so far my favorite all-purpose aged rum for just about everything. This is a delicious rum at a reasonable price and it makes a killer Mai Tai. Also very enjoyable neat.
2) Rhum Barbancourt 8 year - a solid offering sipped neat and in cocktails. Has a slight grassy undertone being an agricole.
3) Ron Zacapa Systema Solera 23 - a little on the pricey side (~ $50) but a solid rum to enjoy neat. If you are a bourbon lover, you’ll appreciate this rum, which is aged in American Oak barrels that were used to age bourbon.
4) Cruzan Blackstrap rum - this is my go-to for a Dark and Stormy.... er I mean Rum Buck
5) Plantation 3 year - very good and inexpensive silver rum for your favorite rum cocktails. Regularly on sale at my local ABC store.
6) El Dorado 3 year - right now my favorite silver rum. An excellent cocktail rum.
7) For those who like to experiment - buy a bottle of Wray and Nephew Overproof white rum (cheap) and pour it into an airtight bottle with 2 oak staves. Let it "age" for 60 days in a dark cabinet. Poor man’s aged Wray and Nephew. A classic tiki rum. Delicious.
One of my favorite summer cocktails is a classic Daiquiri (not the slushy fru fru one you had in college):
2 oz good silver rum (or try an amber rum)
0.75 oz FRESH lime juice
0.75 oz simple syrup (1:1 sugar and water mixture)
Add to a shaker with ice and shake it like you mean it. Double strain into a coup glass or a small mason jar and garnish with a thin lime wheel. If you want to mix it up, use pomegranate syrup or passion fruit syrup in place of the simple syrup. If you like strawberries, muddle a strawberry with the simple syrup before adding the rum and lime juice. This cocktail is so simple yet very effective.
Another favorite cocktail of mine is the original 1944 Trader Vic’s Mai Tai:
2 oz Appleton Estate 12 year rum (or 2 oz of the "aged" Wray and Nephew rum above)
0.75 oz FRESH lime juice
0.5 oz Orange Curaçao
0.25 ounce rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
0.25 ounce orgeat (this is a rich almond syrup - make your own)
Put everything into a shaker with 12 oz crushed ice and 3 large ice cubes and shake. Pour (untrained) into glass of your choosing (I like mason jars). Take a small bunch of mint and slap in all around the rim and then nestle it into your glass. If you want to be fancy, take half a spent lime and push it back into shape - place it into your glass and nestle the mint next to it so it looks like a palm tree sticking out of a small tropical island.
Happy Spring and Summer folks.
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