A Mountain of Crushed Ice

KING CAKE VODKA

It`s King Cake season and for the first time a King Cake flavored vodka of all things is being launched in New Orleans…and where else really?:-)

The Mardi Gras or Carnival season officially begins on January 6th or the “Twelfth Night,” also known to Christians as the “Epiphany” and to New Orleans from France the king Cake came – sometimes in the 1870s, so it´s a very old tradition and you can read more about it here and here is a pic and a recipe too of a traditional King Cake.

The King Cake is similar to a coffee cake and has various fillings like pecan-praline, cream cheese, cinnamon, apple, lemon, cinnamon, strawberry etc. It´s covered with icing and dusted with colored sugar and the traditional colors are purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power)

Last year Haydel`s bakery got in the Guinness record book for the worlds largest King Cake, it went twice around the Superdome.-) pretty cool if you ask me..

So now you know what a King Cake is unless you knew already…

So now this year we have for the very first time – a King Cake vodka….it´s made by Lucky Player Brands and distributed in the US by Republic National Distributing Company.

Those who knows me knows me as a rum enthusiast but when i see that such a thing as a King Cake flavored vodka ready for Mardi Gras it picks my curiosity….even though i`m always suspicious when it comes to flavored products but there´s only one way to find out – try it!

Whether you`ll find it delicious or gross i think it´s quite the perfect thing for Mardi Gras, and seeing to the HUGE interest among people from all over the US it´ll most likely be da bomb! I believe there´s no in the middle with this product though, you either like it or you don`t and i believe it very much depends on your sweet tooth…

And that´s why i`m gonna try it out, i wanna see how it tastes and mixes and what kinda cool party drinks you can make with it – does it stand up in the jungle of flavored products flooding the market?

The flavor profile is based on the king cake from Haydel’s Bakery, they even had King Cakes flewn to France where the vodka is made to get the flavor profile right. I think it has a lot of amaretto in the flavor, a mix of almond and sugar and then there`s also a taste of cake icing.

I did expect some cinnamon flavor but i cannot detect any. It`s smooth and has almost no alcohol burn, i have no problem with drinking it straight apart from of course that it´s too sweet to drink straight, it needs to be chilled with ice or mixed with things that cuts the sweetness and mellows and marries with the almond flavor.

As a small shot with ice the almond flavor is less strong since the ice both dilutes and cuts the sweetness and it only has a very slight burn - but it really is sweet. One shot of this and then a chaser with cold beer would probably do if you`re into that kinda drinking.

Mixed in cocktails i believe it might do well with fruit juices, soda, sparkling wine or champagne and real natural sweet & sour-mix (no chemical sweet and sour powder mix – and more on the sour side) made from fresh lemon and lime. And since this vodka is sweet in itself use any simple syrup a little bit at a time to taste.

Then we have the bottle – it´s pretty, a work of art my friends, and made by artist Andrea Mistretta, the motif is the Mardi Gras Queen, and so right on the spot for a Mardi Gras product as you can get.

Clearly designed for the Mardi Gras reveler, it´s a party vodka so let´s see how ot mixes, here´s four drinks, two twists of classics and two originals.

PURPLE, GREEN AND GOLD

2 oz Lucky Player King Cake Vodka

0.5 oz fresh lime

0.25 oz sugarcane syrup

1 oz grapefruit juice (yellow)

1 oz pineapple juice

a handful fresh mint leaves, teared

Add to shaker and shake hard with ice, double strain into a purple sugar rimmed cocktail glass and garnish with a mint crown.

This drink is the nicest of the drinks i think, not too sweet and it`s fresh without being overpowered by the amaretto flavor.

KING ZULU

2 oz Lucky Player King Cake Vodka

2 oz pineapple juice

0.5 oz coconut syrup

0.5 fresh lime juice

Some soda or sparkling wine to top

Glass rimmed with gold colored sugar

Shake it all with ice and strain into a big glass with ice chunks and rimmed with gold sugar. Top with soda or sparkling wine.

This is like liquid candy…pineapple and coconut mixed with almond and sugar….for the sweet tooth! I like both sweet, sour and bitter so i liked this drink.

MARDI GRAS FIZZ

2 oz Lucky Player King Cake Vodka

1 oz heavy cream

1 egg white

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 small tsp sugarcane syrup

Soda to top

Garnish with a King Cake green sugared rim and a lemon twist.

Shake for a good minute with cracked ice to incorporate the egg white or use a hand mixer, strain into a chilled green-sugar rimmed chimney glass and garnish with the lemon twist.

A simple twist of the famous Ramos Gin Fizz replacing gin with the King Cake vodka and omitting the orange flower water which isn`t needed here.

This drink tastes like a fizzy amaretto and lemony drink, quite light and bright and quite heavy on the King Cake vodka flavor, the subtlety of the original Gin fizz is transformed to an amaretto fizz. Easy to drink up though, probably easy to get drunk with too…so careful.

For the last drink i decided to try the King Cake vodka more as an accent flavor, together with another spirit – rum, and since it tastes very much like amaretto i decided to use it instead of orgeat in a Mai Tai. I know…it´s a totally crazy idea…but fun. And really…that`s what cocktail bloggers do…

KING CAKE MAI TAI

1 oz Smith and Cross Jamaican rum

1 oz Appleton Extra Jamaican rum

0.75 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz orange Curacao

0.25 oz Lucky Player King Cake Vodka

0.25 oz sugarcane syrup

Fresh mint sprig

2 cups crushed ice and shake, strain into a double old fashioned glass rimmed with yellow King Cake sugar and filled with crushed ice. Spank a sprig of mint and garnish, put a short straw near the mint.

I downed the lime from the usual 1 oz to 0.75 since i found it a little bit on the too tart side. Well, this tastes like a Mai Tai with amaretto, i think the other drinks suits this vodka much better so stick to the real Trader Vic´s Mai Tai if you gonna make that drink.

No need to garnish the drinks all up the way i done here unless you want to. This is for the blog and because i like to have fun! When you blog about cocktails and spirits you have all the time in the world to play with garnish. A lime wedge on the glass would also do.

But where is the baby?

Of course there should be a plastic baby in the bottle…big enough to not fall out of the neck into somebody´s throat if drinking straight from the bottle – but the government didn`t approve a plastic baby in the bottle due to hazard reason of plastic mixing with alcohol.

Testings in France with a baby in the bottle has been done and is still in the works so hopefully there´ll be a baby in the bottle next year.

Conclusion:

I think this is a funny product and definetily suitable for what it´s made for, it also has a festive bottle that would brighten up any Mardi Gras party table. Since it´s quite heavy on the amaretto flavor and sweet i would suggest the drinks being made with lots of citrus and fresh juices, topped with soda, champage or sparkling wine rather than something like sweet fruit sodas or God forbid red bull..

If you like almond and sugar then you´ll like this, if not, pass. I`m very curious to see how the reaction of the King Cake vodka will be since i know there´s such a tremendous interest…

Of the drinks i made here there´s especially one i`ll do again and that is the Purple, Green and Gold, i liked that one. I`m also intending to experiment more with it using it like an amaretto liqueur for example and so a few more drinks might find their way to this blog later on.

Here´s a link to the King Cake Vodka page on FaceBook.

You can see Andrea Mistretta`s 27 years of Mardi Gras posters here.

The beautiful back label and the neck.

ST GEORGE´S RUM PUNCH

Welcome to the world of Rum Punch!

Here we got a real old school Caribbean Rum Punch from the Grenada containing nutmeg syrup. And it was the nutmeg syrup that picked my attention since i never done that before and i like nutmeg, it adds a very pleasant flavor to drinks and food.

I`m not surprised they make nutmeg syrup in Grenada since it´s the spice island in the Caribbean and lots of nutmeg is grown there. The nutmeg adds a special flavor to this rum punch.

Here`s how to make it:

NUTMEG SYRUP

12 nutmeg pods + sugar to thicken

Cut those pods into quarters and place in a large pot and blanch them with boiling water to get rid of the small amount of acid that nutmeg contains. Pour out the water and add 5 quarts fresh cold water and let sit overnight.

Next day, boil for 20 minutes and then leave to sit again for 24 hrs. I know…it´s a bit of a daunting task to make this syrup but once you get started it´s not that bad..

Now, bring it to a boil and when it starts boiling start adding the sugar, 3/4 cup to every 2 cups water – and lightly boil until it reaches the consistency of maple syrup, don´t boil too hard.

This makes about 5 quarts, you may brake it down to a lesser amount if you gonna make just a couple punches, then break down the drink recipe accordingly.

ST GEORGE´S RUM PUNCH

3 cups fresh lime juice

3 cups fresh orange juice

3 cups nutmeg syrup

3 cups pineapple juice

1.5 bottles dark rum (i used Coruba, Smith and Cross and Plantation original dark overproof – in the ratio 1 coruba, 0.5 S&C and 0.5 Plantation op)

1 cup apple juice

1 cup pineapple chunks

1 cup frozen, pitted unsweetened cherries

6 ounces Angostura bitters

Freshly grated nutmeg

Blend lime an orange juices, nutmeg syrup, pineapple juice and rum. Add apple juice, pineapple chunks, cherries and bitters and stir well. If possible use a huge ice chunk in the middle of the bowl. Finish with some grated nutmeg on top of the ice.

Now – i didn´t have any apple juice…but i had grapefruit so i used that and it turned out really good but why not try both? and the grated nutmeg on top of the ice added a nice touch, it smelled so goood!

Now, THAT`s good in the middle of the winter! this punch was so yummy i had to make another despite i made a double…

ILE DE LA MARTINIQUE

It´s time to visit my sunny agricole rums again, not that i haven´t but it was a while since i made a drink with only rhum agricole because usually i mix my rhum agricole with molasses rum because i like how they get together.

If you wanna know what rhum agricole is you can read about it here and here.

The flavors in “Ile de la Martinique” are that of sunshine and tropical islands with the typical grassy notes that agricole rums has – but if you haven´t had rhum agricole before you might need some time to get used to it, it does have a very special flavor.

I revisited my bottle of St James 12 yo which is a smooth and nice rhum agriole and it turned out perfect for this drink. But any good quality aged agriole would do.

I based it on another one called “Martinique Passion” which i found among my cocktail files from long ago and decided to change it a little bit and add Angostura bitters for some contrast and spice.

Googling the name to try to find out from where i first found it was useless the only thing i found was another and totally different drink with that name and therefore i decided to change the name.

A little taste from the islands..

ILE DE LA MARTINIQUE

2 oz aged or rhum agricole vieux, i used St James 12 yo

0.5 oz falernum

0.75 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz passionfruit syrup

Dash angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a tall glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with speared pineapple chunks. Let it just sit one minute or two before drinking so the ice mellows into the drink just a little bit, it gets nicer that way and just the right amount of dilution really adds to the balance and taste.

This was a short post today…

CAJUN SPICED POINSETTIA COCKTAIL – HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

And with that i raise a toast with a Nola style Poinsettia Cocktail with Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum!

Who said you can`t mix dark rum and champagne?

CAJUN SPICED POINSETTIA COCKTAIL

1 oz Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum

1 oz cranberry juice

Dash hibiscus grenadine

Champagne

Rim the glass with sugar and let chill for a while

Pour the rum, grenadine and cranberry juice into a mixing glass and stir, then donate to the champagne coup.

Top up with champagne.

Garnish with a speared piece of Poinsettia “flower” (it´s a leaf really) it´s not edible.

Now, that´s a refreshing little New Year drink!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

CURACAO BITTERS

I love to play with bitters, the salt and pepper of a cocktail. It´s also something very intriguing with bitters bottles…i`m sure all bitter nerds know what i mean.

The Curacao bitters are made by the Masters of Malt. The flavor is intense bright orange/spicy. It`s a quite down to earth burnt orange flavor, that is crisp and fresh. The bottle has a dropper for exact measuring which is a very good thing.

They are made using only two ingredients; the spirit (High-proof Dark Rum) and Curacao Orange Peel. There´s no additional flavourings, colourings or bittering agents added.

I first gonna try them in a cocktail called “Sweet Gentleman” created by Gabriel Bessone, bartender at Warhol Sweet Point, Argentina. He also had his drink featured in the Barforum magazine in Barcelona.

Ii´ts a bit changed since 2 dashes of the curacao bitters are added, the original recipe doesn´t contain any bitters. I also had to switch Jack Daniel´s for bourbon which i think is the closest even though JD is through it´s maple charcoal filtering process not referred to as a bourbon but rather as Tennessee whiskey.

When it comes to the garnish it´s supposed to have a clove studded orange slice in the glass and fresh cherries but unf i didn´t have any orange at home ( i thought i had it…and it was too late for shoppping) and nice fresh cherries can´t be found this time of the year, those i have seen were all very bad. So i had to use those red ones i don´t like since they´re chemical disasters.

Instead of an orange slice i added some mint and rimmed the glass, but anyway, here´s the drink:

SWEET GENTLEMAN

1.5 ozl Jack Daniels

0.5 oz Cointreau

2 oz apple juice Baggio

0.5 oz Cherry syrup

Dash of lemon juice

2 dashes Curacao bitters

Shaken and served in old-fashioned glass.

Garnish: orange slice, 4 cloves, 5 cherries.

This is a nice drink. What i`ve found out is that 2 dashes of the curacao bitters is a bit too little, so try 3-4 dashes instead. It depends on what you mix with of course, but with the spicy whiskey or bourbon in this drink i think 3-4 dashes is better.

And now on to a twist of this drink i made using pineapple juice and Navan vanilla liqueur:

NAUGHTY GENTLEMAN

2 oz Rye

0.25 oz Navan

1 oz Pineapple Juice

0.5 oz lemon juice

0.25 oz sugarcane syrup

2-3 dashes Master of Malt Curacao bitters

Garnish: orange slice with cloves, a pineapple chunk, cherry

Shake and strain into a double old fashioned glass with cracked ice.

Put cloves in the orange slice, cut out a pineapple chunk and drop that plus a cherry or two in the glass.

I think the curacao bitters are perfect in this drink, it´s no flavor contrast but the bitters adds some depth.

And finally…since it´s curacao bitters i`m dealing with i wanna try them in a Mai Tai twist as well, can´t keep my hands off that rum…

LADY FROM CURACAO

1 oz Smith & Cross

1 oz Coruba dark

0.5 oz. dark orgeat (made with dark sugar)

0.5 oz. orange curacao

3 dashes Master of Malt Curacao bitters

0.25 oz. sugarcane syrup (Petit Canne)

1 oz fresh lime juice

Shake with ice and spent lime shell and garnish with fresh mint, a cherry and the spent lime shell.

Tastes like a Mai Tai with a pinch of something you cannot put your fingers on at what it is…

You can get the Curacao and other bitters as well as spirits at the Masters of Malt, they ship worldwide.

PLANTATION RUM ORIGINAL DARK OVERPROOF

Now this is really interesting – here is one more producer creating rum especially designed for today’s exotic and tiki cocktails. To me that is a proof that the tiki drink trend is here in full force but not just as a trend, i believe it´s here to stay – that the tiki drinks finally have gotten their recognition and place in the cocktail world.

They have been here for long i know but after they were abandoned and eventually replaced by overly sweet slushy concoctions not worthy the name “tiki drink” the so called faux tropical, exotic or tiki drinks have been very slowly coming back – and finally is today really getting more and more recognition everywhere.

To quote Paul Clarke over at Cocktail Chronicles:

The thing I like about many tiki drinks–is the kind of baroque complexity in the glass. Ideas of mixological structure and balance are thrown completely aside in many of these drinks, but if you keep a close eye on the proportions in your mix–you can create something that’s pleasantly unexpected.

And now we get rums especially designed for them! The next such rum i have on hand for review is Plantation rum original overproof made by the house of Cognac Ferrand.

I first tried this rum (yeah this one too!) at the UK rumfest or more specifically in the RumFrat House which is the HQ for the Rum XP folks. I really liked its rich deep taste and that little taste i got there did really spark my curiosity concerning this rum and i`ve been very eager to get going mixing with it.

This rum is like i said, created by the esteemed Cognac Ferrand estate, the birthplace of artisanal spirits owned by Alexandre Gabriel. Plantation Original Dark Overproof is bottled at 73% alcohol by volume making it 146 proof and is created in Trinidad. It is a stronger, bolder and more flavorful version of Plantation Original Dark Rum which is a blend of Trinidad dark rums aged in young bourbon casks.

Plantation Original Dark Overproof is available both in the US and Europe – thanks for that! In the US it will retail for $29.99 for a 1-liter bottle and is available nationwide. In Europe you can get it from Drinkology and The Whiskey Exchange.

It joins the Plantation Rum portfolio as a unique addition for two reasons: 1) It is the only overproof rum in the collection and 2) It is the only rum that is not double aged, Ferrand’s proprietary rum finishing process which they are alone in using.

The double aging process is where the rums are distilled and aged in their country of origin and then shipped to the Ferrand estate in Cognac, France where they are perfected and aged for several more months in small, used French oak barrels. The reason Original Dark Overproof is not double aged is that at the delicate changes imparted by the double-aging technique would be lost on a rum that is such high proof.

So how does it smell and taste like?

Nose – I can feel sweet sugarcane, some wood, banana peels and spice. Especially the banana peels are present but not overpowering, it gets me to think about those exotic banana food wraps… The nose is very refined and so delightful i could sit and sniff all day..

Palate – Toasted and dried tropical fruits, strong but not unpleasant alcohol burn, wood, molasses and tropical dried fruit.

The sum of it – I`d say it´s a very pleasant strong, complex and fruity rum that is fantastic to mix exotic drinks with but i also do believe it would make a stunning daiquiri paired with some other rum or Plantation Original Dark.

I decided to make a few of Martin Cate´s drinks with it since i`m a big fan of his flavorful and inventive rum cocktails. So here we go – starting with a favorite:

DEAD RECKONING (Martin Cate, Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco)

0.5 oz Plantation Original Dark Overproof

1.5 oz Plantation Original Dark

0.5 oz Navan Vanilla Liqueur

0.5 oz Maple Syrup

0.5 oz Tawny Port (Sandeman)

1 oz Lemon Juice

1 oz Pineapple Juice

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a tall glass or tiki mug filled with cracked ice. Top with 1 oz of soda

Garnish with a fresh and spanked mint sprig, pineapple leaves and lemon peel.

Tasty as always, i choosed to go Plantation all the way instead of using 1 oz of another type of rum but you can always experiment! This is one of Martin`s legendary drinks. He is a drink-genious did i tell you that?

TRINIDAD DRY FLOAT (This is the demerara dry float with Plantation overproof…name courtesy Martin Cate)

2 1/2 oz fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 oz passion fruit syrup

1/4 oz sugar syrup

1 oz Plantation Original Overproof Rum

1/4 ounce 151 Demerara rum to float

1/4 ounce Maraschino

Shake everything except the 151 rum with ice, strain into double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice, and carefully float the 151. Do not stir.

This version of the Demerara Dry Float is a killer cocktail! - a dangerous drink… so tasty and so strong since it contains no less than two overproof rums…so be careful. I really enjoyed this one.

TRINIDAD HOOK (Martin Cate, Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco)

1 oz Plantation Trinidad Overproof

1 oz Plantation Original Dark

1 oz passion-honey mix

.5 oz – .75 oz fresh squeezed lime juice (to taste)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all in an ice-filled cocktail shaker; shake and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a lime peel spiral.

Passion-honey mix:

Gently heat honey until liquid and whisk in an equal amount of pure unsweetened passion fruit nectar. Let cool and refrigerate.

I made my passion-honey mix with homemade passionfruit syrup and honey instead since i can´t find any passionfruit nectar. It worked like a charm, very tasty. If you need a recipe for passionfruit syrup it´s here – or go get B.G Reynold´s.

This is a strong and very yummy daquiri-ish cocktail that went down waaaay to easily….very tasty!

So what`s next? there´s a whole parade of strong tiki drinks to use this rum in, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry mentioned the Zombie….but be careful with overproof rums, too much will give you a headache, just right is the way to go.

For more information about Cognac Ferrand, visit www.cognacferrand.com or www.plantationrum.com or www.facebook.com/PlantationRum

RUMBULLION

A spiced rum came my way…it´s called Rumbullion – the name sounds like a concoction made in an iron pot on fire..

But Rumbullion is made by the Master of Malt or more specifically Professor Cornelius Ampleforth. According to the website it contains a blend of high proof Caribbean rum, madagascar vanilla, orange rind, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. The final blend is 42.6 ABV or 96 proof.

The bottle is wrapped in krinkled brown paper with imprints of a Navy grog tub, emblazoned with the words: “The Queen, God Bless Her” and sealed with black wax, it looks really cool. This spiced rum is at first a veritable clove explosion and my first thought is that it would be good in Christmas cocktails and tiki drinks.

At the palate the first thing that hit was a warm strong rum and clove flavor. But under the clove came other flavors out like that of burnt orange peel, cinnamon, honey and heavy molasses.

The nose is interesting, it`s spicy and it reminds me of ancient rum barrels in a rum cellar that is very very old..also it reminds me of christmas, gotta be the spices…

To me this rum fits best in drinks that are good with a very spicy flavor and you can sip it, no problem, maybe together with some christmas treatments. But it would also do well in some tiki drinks due to it´s spiciness. Don´s Caribbean Punch comes to mind..

But let´s start with a christmas drink, something warm.

RUMBULLION CHRISTMAS BREW

1 oz Rumbullion

1 oz Appleton extra

0.25 0z Cointreau

Just a little dash of sugarcane syrup too if you have a sweet tooth..

1 cup freshly brewed strong fullbodied flavorful coffee like Community Coffee, Kona or Blue Mountain

Whipped cream

Dust cinnamon or nutmeg on top

Stir together in a glass and add whipped cream and cinnamon or nutmeg dust on top

Warm and spicy…the Rumbullion is doing well here - it`s a sure winter warmer. To me it´s not so much a sipper as a spiced drink rum. But let´s see how this rum performs in a tiki drink, so on to something colder, a spiced up version of Donn`s Caribbean Punch.

SPICED CARIBBEAN PUNCH

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz falernum

0.5 oz simple

1 .5 oz rootbeer

1 oz Rumbullion

1 oz Tiki Lovers dark rum or Smith and Cross

3 dashes Angostura bitters

1/4 tsp grenadine

3 drops pernod

0.5 oz orgeat

8 oz crushed ice

Mix in blender with crushed ice 5 sek.

Not bad at all…it blends well too with the other rum.

So my conclusion is that Rumbullion is a rum best used in winter holiday drinks and in some tiki drinks.

You can find Rumbullion at the Master of Malt.

TIKI LOVERS RUM

Ever heard about Tiki Lovers rum?

I first heard about this rum at the UK Rumfest but i never got a chance to try it out..Luckily now instead it found its way to me and you don´t need to ask me twice if i wanna try out two new rums especially designed for tiki drinks.

The lables looks very much alright, very exotic and very tiki – but does the rum itself live up to what the labels suggest? and what are the rums in the bottles?

Time to find out:

TIKI LOVER`S WHITE RUM

The folks behind this rum are the Bitter Truth under the label Tiki Lovers and there´s a white rum and a dark rum. The white rum is made from pot stilled Jamaican rum that is aged 3-5 years, charcoal filtered and blended with column still rum from Trinidad.

The result is very good, it`has a nose that is a mix of floral, fruit and sugarcane and then i detect some subtle notes of the same flavor that you find in JWray overproof but this one is so subtle, maybe more like a slight hint of RumFire which is like a light JWray if that makes any sense. I´m quite intrigued..

The flavor is like the nose but stronger, sweet, floral, smooth with a slightly sharp edge, very pleasant and it does have character, it won´t disappear in a mixed drink.That is one thing they have got just right, both rums stand up against all those mixers beautifully.

The white rum is not like a little brother to RumFire though – don´t get me wrong – this is a rum of it`s own. This is so interesting – a white rum that is smooth and nice yet with character with those subtle hints of the flavors you find in JWray and RumFire but with it´s own personality.

It´s a good rum for Tiki drinks that´s for sure! the white rum is 42% alcohol or ABV 84. At the back of the labels are recipes and i`m gonna make one of them with the dark rum.

But let´s move on to the other bottle.

TIKI LOVER´S DARK RUM

The dark rum is much stronger, it´s 57% or ABV 114. My first thought was – is this made to be like the style of Smith and Cross?

It`s also Jamaican pot still rum but this one is blended with Barbados rum as well with a final touch of column still rum from Trinidad and Guyana – so that alone tells me this must be good…an especially with a higher proof too. Well, all i can say is that i`m NOT dissapointed, instead i`m very impressed.

The nose has woody character with burnt sugarcane and dried tropical fruits. The flavor is strong, full bodied and spicy. There`s a slight alcohol burn but not unpleasant and since it´s an overproof rum it has to have an alcohol burn.

It´s spicier than Smith and Cross but much smoother, not as funky since Smith & Cross is unfiltered pot still which i find great for mixing but not for sipping while this rum actually is sippable too even though it´s overproof. I`m not planning to sit and sip it though, this is made for mixing – specifically tropical/exotic/tiki drinks.

Tiki Lovers Dark Rum won gold medal recently at the 2011 German Rum Festival as the best overproof rum and i heard some very famous rum experts loved it – well i also love it now after i tried it!

I come to the conclusion that i want to have them both in my bar at all times – yes really. I think i have two winners here!

The first drink i made was a boozy Planters Punch with the two rums and homemade hibiscus grenadine. Tiki Lovers Planter´s of course.-)

TIKI LOVERS PLANTERS

1 oz Tiki Lovers White Rum

1 oz Tiki Lovers Dark Rum

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1 oz sugarcane syrup

Dash Angostura bitters

1/4-1/2 oz hibiscus grenadine (use homemade or B.G Reynolds) adjust the ratio to your own preference since various grenadines tastes different. A rule of thumb is too much will ruin a drink.

Shake with ice and strain into a zombie glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a pineapple leaf, speared pineapple chunk and cherry.

The hibiscus grenadine really adds a tropical tang to this drink perfectly in harmony with the lemon juice and the high proof spicy dark rum adds punch while the white rum plays nicely in the background with the bitters.

A simpler more straight forward taste description – this is a damned good and strong tropical drink with two perfect rums in the glass! get your asses to the kitchen or bar and start mixing!

The next drink is made with the white rum:

BITTER END

2 oz Tiki Lovers white Rum

1 oz grapefruit juice

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz falernum

4 dashes angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a tiki mug or glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with mint and lime.

I found this drink a bit too sour so i added an extra 0.5 oz demerara syrup. Not sure if the Bitter End is a real tiki drink or not but it doesn`t matter, these rums suits any tropical style drinks.

Then i made the one at the back of the dark rum label, the Waikiki Punch.There´s many more drinks i really wanna try with these two rums which i cannot find space for in this blog post, will do later.

Really there´s a whole parade of tiki drinks that would most likely be awesome with these rums.

WAIKIKI PUNCH

50 ml Tiki Lovers Dark Rum

10 ml Pimento Dram

10 ml Orgeat

20 ml fresh lime juice

60 ml passionfruit juice

Shake with ice and strain into a tiki mug (or glass) filled with crushed ice

This drink just goes down as easily as the Mai Tai…this dark rum blends WELL! oh my YUMMY!

Gotta try the Daiquiri too:

TIKI LOVER´S DAIQUIRI

1 oz Tiki Lovers White Rum

1 oz Tiki Lovers Dark Rum

0.75 0z fresh lime juice

0.5-0.75 oz sugarcane syrup, adjust to your taste

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

This is a dark boozy daiquiri…suits those who like the flavor of strong rum.

Conclusion: Here´s two excellent tiki and exotic/tropical drink rums! full of flavor and strong enough to stand up against the mixers you use in especially tiki drinks. That these rums are designed for this type of drinks is evident.

As soon as you can lay your hands on the Tiki Lovers rum you should.

You can get them here.

A TOAST TO REPEAL DAY 2011

Today is dec 5th and it´s time to toast the Repeal Day! and if you don´t know what is the Repeal Day i advice you to go and read about it here – there´s everything you need to know.

Remembering and toasting for Repeal Day is something we all should joyfully do (unless you hate alcohol, but if you do i don´t think you read my blog:-)

I could make a nice tiki drink to toast with of course but exotic drinks ii do all the time so instead i have decided to make a nice Daiquiri Floridita, Daiquiri-lover as i am.-)

DAIQIRI FLORIDITA

1.5 oz of light rum
1 lime
1 teaspoon of sugar
a few drops of maraschino

Mix in blender with cruched ice and serve iced.

You don`t need any garnish for this drink but i choose to rim the glass with sugar because i think that is very nice and adds to the festive spirit!

Happy Repeal Day!

NOLA BEER GOES TO SWEDEN AND SWEDISH BEER GOES TO NOLA

It`s all about our beers…

It´s soon time for the “The Kindness of Strangers Beer Event” at the Avenue Pub in New Orleans. When i came back from Nola in august there was a Nola festival here at Akkurat Bar and Restaurant with Abita and Nola Brewing beers, Louisiana inspired menu and the yearly crawfish boils turned Louisiana style too, heck they even threw a belated Mardi Gras party! that´s not exactly what i expected to happen here coming back after almost a month in Nola. It´s actually the first time it happens and i hope it will be a tradition.

Now it´s time to send back those empty beer barrels this time filled with 18 different Swedish beers to Nola to be served at the Avenue Pub on the Swedish Beer Festival on january 21 – the first ever held in America. Also there´s gonna be a Swedsih Beer Dinner at Boucherie.

I think it´s a really cool idea to switch beers like that!

Among the beers to be served is one called the Stormaktsporter which is one of the most coveted imperial stouts in the world. It’s only available in a few places in Sweden and made in tiny batches. I have never yet tried it.

If you wanna read more about this and also see a list of the beers that are going to be served continue reading here.

Those of you my dear readers who are curious about some craft Swedish beers and living in Nola or going there in january, head over to the Avenue Pub on jan 21!

And if you go to Avenue Pub you`ll find one of my friend´s art there.

1732 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans
(Between stops #11 and #12 on the historic St. Charles Avenue streetcar line)

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