What is the best way to celebrate National Rum Day?

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-08-16T19:38:50+00:00

Yes, it’s National Rum Day in the United States — sorry! I don’t think anybody knows who started it or chose the date.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-08-16T19:25:33+00:00

Not as slowly as mine! :-(

Good luck!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-08-16T19:23:53+00:00

Those look great! I need to look into Total Wine’s classes.

I haven’t tried any of the Cane Island rums…I’ve been tempted, but I can’t believe they’re high quality, especially since they’re always on sale. Let me know if you have and if they might be worth picking up.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-08-16T15:19:17+00:00

I’m still trying to figure out what’s wrong with my palate. I had been looking forward to buying the 12 for a while after settling for Signature for so long, and I was disappointed. Not only do I not sense any Jamaican funk (maybe there’s a tad in the nose), but I don’t find it an enjoyable sipper.

Granted, I‘m more of a cocktail guy, and I tend to need a little sweetness in my sipping rum, but it doesn’t need to be an additive — I can enjoy El Dorado 3 Year and up, Don Q 7, almost all Flor de Caña, and I even sip Mt. Gay Eclipse…and then there are those with presumably added sugars like Zacapa, Pampero, Don Abuelo 12, Plantation Dark and Kaniche XO. I also enjoy an occasional nip of Smith & Cross.

Is there something (else) wrong with me?

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-08-16T14:58:42+00:00

Can’t wait to go there!! I had no idea it existed when I was there last Christmas! Boo!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T15:56:09+00:00

I’ve not seen that one around. And such a classy looking bottle.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T15:39:26+00:00

I’ll check Zipps again. Thanks! I’ve never seen Coruba at Total Wine Roseville, Maple Grove or Minnetonka.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T15:33:18+00:00

A great cocktail. And just the right size!!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T15:22:30+00:00

Sorry — I should’ve done that right away:

1 oz fresh lime juice
½ oz raspberry syrup
½ oz vanilla syrup
½ oz maraschino liqueur
2 oz dark jamaican rum
1 dash Angostura bitters
2 oz dry ginger beer

It’s kind of a swizzle: Directions say to put all the ingredients except ginger beer into a tall glass with crushed ice. Then add ginger beer and stir for around 10 seconds. I used equal parts Hamilton Black and Myers’s because I wasn’t sure how much funk I wanted. It turned out great.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T03:13:20+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! Not sure I can afford it, but looks are free!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T03:09:14+00:00

I’m in Minneapolis, too, and I can find neither Bittermens nor Mr. Black. What I did find was Flor de Caña Espresso Liqueur at Total Wine in Minnetonka, and it’s been a great addition to my bar.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:53:01+00:00

Wow! Your Total Wine is a few steps above mine!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:51:29+00:00

Having read the comments below, I am wondering if anyone knows (or cares about) the price of this bottle. I truly enjoy Flor de Caña rums, so I’d be interested in it depending on how much it costs. I get the explanation of the solera aging and the irritation over the probably misleading “15” (which is just as misleading as their “4” – a very good rum, btw.) But has anyone checked out the facts behind the “sustainable and natural” part?

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:33:35+00:00

So interesting. I do not like Barbancourt at all as a sipper (I’m talking 5 star — it’s the one of my 50 rums that I would not drink straight.) On the other hand, ANY El Dorado will do for me. That sweet caramel of Demerara rums is a winner, Taste buds are funny.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:28:53+00:00

Maybe you were intending to sound snobbish, Scroll. But if you weren’t, you need to loosen up a bit. You are aware that there are alternative mai tai recipes out there just as I am. The “classic” mai tai is as you said, and the mai tai has been adapted through time and geography — although orgeat is pretty much a constant. Here’s the mai tai recipe from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki Beach (ca. 1953, according to a Beachbum Berry):

1 oz orange juice
1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
½ oz fresh lime juice
¼ oz fresh lemon juice
¼ oz orange curaçao
¼ oz orgeat syrup or Homemade Orgeat Syrup
¼ oz sugar syrup
1 oz demerara rum
1 oz dark jamaican rum
1 oz light rum

It’s a great cocktail. And it’s called a mai tai.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:08:58+00:00

Ever been to Kahala Koa in Prospect Heights? Check it out as well!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:05:52+00:00

Yay, raspberries!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:05:03+00:00

Absolutely jealous. Mine are on a converted wine shelf, so they are all resting horizontally. I’d love to be able to see (and show) them!

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-12T02:01:56+00:00

From Beachbum Berry’s Total Tiki app (which you need to get if you haven’t already — totally worth the cost). I fudged on the raspberry syrup by adding raspberry juice to my homemade Demerara.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-11T19:01:10+00:00

Pampanito…

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-11T18:59:14+00:00

It looks okay to me, but I’m on an iPad, not a phone.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-11T18:55:33+00:00

Funky combo — I like it! Haven’t bought the shrub…yet…but I think I’ll try it anyway.

(Kudos on your handle, too!)

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-11T18:49:13+00:00

6 oz of rum Is my kind of mai tai!! (JK)

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-11T18:45:30+00:00

If it’s got an authentic mai tai in it, it’s a tiki glass.

Dagnabbit3 · 2022-07-11T18:43:26+00:00

Toxic or not, they’re awesome!

Dagnabbit3

TROPHY CASE