Infusion #2: Strawberry Rum

You really have to feel sorry for strawberries. Much like limes, their flavor is one that very poorly translates into our modern world of processed foods and artificial flavors. Sure, you may enjoy those old strawberry candies or even that strawberry-kiwi drink from the soda machine, but those don't actually have a flavor like fresh strawberries. This is also mostly true of liqueurs and flavored liquors. Strawberry vodka is an abomination, as is the bottom shelf syrupy nonsense that you can sometimes find at your local liquor store. Long have I wanted an honest strawberry flavor in a spirit, and so that's what I set out to accomplish. It's quite easy, really.

A concoction that's been floating around for a while is the Tequila Por Mi Amante. It's basically a recipe for a strawberry-infused reposado tequila, and I've heard from several people that it's simply delicious. I chose to start there for my experiment, but used rum instead of tequila because, well, I know rum better than tequila, and frankly put, good rum is cheaper than good tequila.

I reached for the Cruzan Estate Light, like I always do. Its subtle but likable flavors are a good platform on which to build things. I poured about 500mL of the rum over top about 3/4 pint of fresh strawberries and 3/4 pint of organic frozen strawberries. (You just can't get sweet fresh ones in the spring here on the east coast.) I stored this mixture in small container and stashed it in the fridge, where I let it sit for a little over 3 weeks.

When I took it out and strained it, it was a tad bitter. I believe I should have removed the fruit earlier, but it still tasted good. I made a rich simple syrup and began to slowly add it to the rum in order to counterbalance the bitterness. Would it not have needed sugar if it infused for less time? I don't know, that's a question for another time.

In the end, I finished with a slightly sweet strawberry rum (not unlike the sweet flavored rums you can buy on the market) that actually tasted like it should, and has a beautiful almost-neon red color (though not as pretty as the cranberry rum). Its best application I found so far? In an aperitif glass over crushed ice with a lime wedge/twist.

Scoreboard: Angel's Share 2, DJ 0

Time flies. The day has come again for me to evacuate the liquor from my small barrel and see what's what.

In the barrel this time was 2L of Cruzan Estate Light rum. What has come out of the barrel is a rum that's darker in color (big surprise!) and its aroma, as I expected, smells highly of wood. But wait a second... why is the rum gone??? Where did my rum go? Damn those angels... the angel's share is certainly a mighty opponent, I've come to learn. It's official: aging things in this barrel for about 5 months tends to yield results that are less than half of the original volume. It's time to taste the rum!

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Cruzan Estate Light, at-home aged

Smell

Mostly of wood, though it doesn't taste of whiskey, which I feared. There's not much smoke either, like I predicted. What we have here is an aroma mostly of dry wood, with a little rum seeping through.

Taste

Honestly, this stuff is fantastic. It's certainly doesn't taste much like a traditional rum. Most of the rum's original flavor is gone... pummeled by the wood. [insert dirty joke here] Much like its aroma, only the slightest rum taste remains as a base, and atop it is a full woody flavor that manages to taste completely of itself, and barely smokey. Although "dry" and "sweet" tend to be opposing terms in the world of wine and spirits, this result manages to be both. The intense woodiness of this stuff lends a very dry mouth feel that's almost bitter, but at the end of sip there's a glorious sweetness that rests and spreads on the tongue. Quite honestly, I don't know where the sweetness came from: this seems sweeter than the Cruzan source material, and I don't think that there would be any sweetness in the barrel. Perhaps the enormous loss of rum via evaporation has concentrated what sugars were there. All I know is that this result is excellent, and I'm very pleased with it.

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That next passenger for this barrel is a mixture of grape spirits. I've put in 1 liter of Ansac VS cognac, which is one of the best brandy values I know. It's on the fruity side, with a deep flavor and a sweet finish. Then I poured 750mL of Machu Pisco. Pisco is distilled from grapes like brandy, but is aged less for a more vegetal and spicy taste. Its aroma and flavor are fruity... it almost smells like apple juice to me. I chose to add pisco so that the overall contents of the barrel wasn't too old before I began to age it even more. The resulting mixture had the darkness of a younger gold rum, and I'm ok with that. Oh yeah, and I also added about 200mL of 190 proof grain alcohol... call it my desperate swipe at the angel's share.

Not Booze: New Mountain Dew Flavors

Truth be told, my passion for booze started when I was of the age 21, and not before. (no, really...) Before that age (which admittedly wasn't that long ago) my passion was soda. My days were spent digging up soda news and posting on soda forums. Today, I still enjoy a good soda, though my metabolism has urged me to slow it down from times past.

Particularly exciting is when I find new and limited edition products. My eyes scan the grocery store aisles and convenience store coolers and instinctively pick up on new colors or label designs (yes, I'm a sickening, brainwashed consumer), at which point I compulsively purchase them. As sad as it is, new products like these manage to get me the most visually excited in my day-to-day life, and the people that are closest to me would confirm that.

Among The Big 3, Pepsi is always the one that is most aggressive with issuing new products (I've always enjoyed their flavored colas.), but this is particularly so with their brand, Mountain Dew. (The new stylization of the logo is actually "Mtn Dew", but that's stupid so I won't type it anymore) Between Code Red, Livewire, Pitch Black I & II, and a slough of others, the amount of variations on Mountain Dew seem to be endless... and I approve!

Like 2008, Pepsi is running another DEWmocracy campaign in 2010, where they issue several prospective new flavors of Dew, we drink as much soda as we can, and we go vote on our favorite, which then becomes a new permanent product.

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The new DEWmocracy campaign has begun, and the candidates are out for our scrutiny:

Typhoon (fruit punch flavored)

Comments: Nice!!

Distortion (lime flavored)

Comments: This could be a good sign. For ages people have gone to Taco Bell for Mountain Dew Baja Blast on tap, which is a variety of Dew which is exclusive to Taco Bell. Oh yeah, and it's delicious. I doubt this Distortion is the same product, but it's a step in the right direction, as far as I'm concerned.

White Out (smooth citrus flavored)

Comments: This is strange, of course, because Mountain Dew is a citrus-flavored soda. It turns out that this is a grapefruit flavored variation(several other grapefruits sodas are white), which is an interesting and possible good turn for the brand. I like it.

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I nabbed a 12-pack of Typhoon to try first. It's unfortunate that I had to buy so much just for a taste, but that's how I react with new soda.

I was very excited about this flavor, because I'm quite the fan of fruit punch in most of its iterations. Unfortunately, this product falls short. I was hoping for it to be tangy but sweet, fruity but still Dew. What the result is, instead: a product that's much too sweet with a fairly dull flavor.

In reality, what Pepsi probably did was very much like multi-brand car manufacturers do today; they use components of one brand to save money in another. Pepsi owns Tropicana, and so I imagine they took some of their bottled Fruit Punch* and poured it into the Dew. The result is very lackluster. I hope the other flavors are worth keeping.

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Incidentally, my friend Alex was able to get his hands on all three, and so I shall post some of this thoughts here. Call it a guest writer on Spirited Remix:

I tried Typhoon first. It smelled a lot like a package of Tropical Starburst. The taste was immediately very strong, but faded quickly. The Mountain Dew detracted from the fruit punch , I think. While the flavor wasn't particularly satisfying, its quick fade was still dissatisfying and ultimately left it tasting watered down a few seconds after each sip. Ultimately, I would not purchase it, but I don't know that I would classify it as bad.

White Out was second, and it, unfortunately, does not have this recommendation. While my wife was turned off by the color, comparing it to dirty water, I thought it was actually kind of nice. Like drinking a cloud. Unfortunately, White Out had none of the charm of any clouds I've met. The flavor was slightly grapefruity (a taste I cannot abide) and slighty dishwasher fluidy (a taste that, while better than grapefruit, I'm also not a fan of). Fresca, the only other grapefruitesque soda with which I am familiar, at least leaves you with a crisp and subtle taste. White Out overwhelms you with terrible and never lets you go.

Distortion is the only of the DEWmocracy beverages that I would actually consider buying. It has a strong lime flavor (although, again, the Dew actual does it no favors). "It doesn't make me want to gag" hardly seems like a strong recommendation, but, given what I had just gone through with White Out, it was the first thing that sprang to my mind upon drinking it. It's not great and it's not crisp, but it is drinkable. It tastes like a legitimate soda. Typhoon tastes like an amateurish effort by a recent Soda School graduate, while White Out tastes like God playing a sick joke on me.

So Distortion wins the DEW-off. It wasn't particularly close, despite Distortion's middling score. It is probably worth mentioning, however, that, after my wife and I had sampled each of them individually, we mixed all three flavors together into one glass. It was surprisingly better than any of the flavors individually.

*The only decent picture of Tropicana's bottled Fruit Punch product, which is strangely absent on the internet, is this, and that's even only the label (it's the 20 oz bottle version found in vending machines). The picture is from Soda Finder, a young chap who loves soda even more than me, and you can order your favorite obscure sodas from him. Call him your carbonated guardian angel.

Recipe and Rating: Twelve Mile Limit, take 2

About two months ago, I made a cocktail that Rumdood posted on his site in order to provide my take on it. My take turned out to be misguided, for both the venerable Frederic and the Dood himself made comments on my post, declaring my rum choice inferior.

This goes to show how much variability there is in the "rum" category. I had used Appleton Estate White, a fairly decent light Jamaican rum, but apparently it didn't pack the "punch" that the drink needed. I was advised to use a rum stronger in flavor, and so I've gone overboard in this advice by using Neisson Blanc.

Neisson Blanc is rhum agricole, which is basically a type of rum made in the French West Indies fermented from raw sugar cane juice, instead of molasses. The result is usually a high proof fiery mixture which tastes grassy and rubbery instead of smooth and spicy. What's worse, I'm using a blanc rhum agricole, which is "rested" in barrels for only a few months, while even the lightest white rums are usually aged much longer. The resting is used more so that sulfuric compounds can evaporate from the distillate, not for aging. The product of all this is a harsh spirit which tastes entirely of its source material, and is not favored by spirit novices (if the past rum tasting that I hosted with friends is any indication). So here I go, trying the drink again with this very very different r(h)um.

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Twelve Mile Limit


1 oz white rum (used Neisson Blanc)
.5 oz brandy (used Salignac VS cognac)
.5 oz rye whiskey (used Old Overholt)
.5 oz grenadine (used 1-2-3 Cocktails brand... all natural with cane sugar)
.5 oz lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.


What a difference. When last time I could almost only taste lemon, now I can taste everything. It's as if the lemon juice needed a strong rum to keep it in check, and when done, they both fall to the background. I immediately tasted the cognac, and in the background, the nuttiness of rye. As I said above, rhum agricole is known to be harsh and uninviting, but in this I can only taste its positives; its fire and rubber remain docile as its floral flavors take over. I never thought this one ingredient could change so much, but it did.

Rating: 7/10

MxMo: Punch

The word "punch" means many things today, and almost none of them grasp the word's original meaning. As a man proudly built from the little juice boxes of his childhood, I still appreciate the high fructose corn syrup- and red #3-laden products on store shelves which call themselves "punch". I don't really care to talk much about the evolution of punch, but I do care to talk about how this month has a punch-themed Mixology Monday, hosted by Hobson's Choice. The theme was inspired by cocktail and spirit legend David Wondrich, who does care to talk about the evolution of punch... in his new book.

I've wound back the clock a bit this time to make a traditional 18th Century British punch, one of the original iterations of the stuff. Word has it (thanks to Wondrich and others) that the concept of punch originated with the British Royal Navy, when Naval Officers' wine stores began to spoil before their voyages had concluded. Thirsty and irritable, they eventually began mixing spirits (which didn't spoil) with other palatable flavors to create potable mixtures which lended the desired effects. They used whatever they had around; as we know, the British Royal Navy covered alot of ground by 1800. Arrack from the Pacific, rum from the caribbean, and citrus fruits from the tropics were usually included. In fact, the first versions of grog could be considered punch, in this sense. Punches generally had the same low proof of wine so as to mimic its easy consumption.

What we're making today isn't the officer's punch, but rather the kind that was probably drunk by the nobles back in England. The punches were indeed prepared in bowls and imbibed communally during social events. The punch that we're aiming for is the sort that was probably drunk at parties during the latter quarter of the 1700s; while the melodies of Johann Sebastian Bach played in the background, stodgy aristocrats and politicians would sip their punch and perhaps complain about names like Washington, Adams, Franklin, and Greene. By this time, rum from Jamaica was imported regularly, as well as various fruits from the tropics, and so we're comfortable with making a punch that uses the familiar ingredients from the Old World, yet also a few of the exotic, the kind to which they would have had a bit of access.

I say "we" because joining me for this venture is my friend Remington, after whose name we shall fittingly name our punch. We researched various old-style punch recipes and settled on our own combination of ingredients that we feel are fairly period, and in a combination that is in the realm of a proper punch. It's not the simplest or quickest drink to make, but we believe its authenticity warrants making a small batch, just once...

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ORIGINAL REMIX

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Remington Punch

**This recipe can be easily halved. Don't forget to halve both the ingredients and the amounts of water involved.**


Brew

4 cups water

24 cloves

8 slices orange

8 slices lemon

12 chunks pineapple

Tea

2 cups water

2 bags (or servings of loose leaf) black tea

2 bags (or servings of loose leaf) green tea
5-6 tsp demerara or white sugar (depends on taste)

Spirits

1 cup dark rum

1 cup brandy

.5 cup scotch

Step 1: Brew the fruit and cloves mixture by adding the orange slices, the lemon slices, and the cloves to a small pot. Add the water (for the brew), and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes, then turn off the heat. Wait till it cools completely, strain, and put into your punch bowl.

Step 2: Bring the next amount of water (for the tea) to a boil, add tea, and let brew for about 6 minutes. Remove the tea leaves/bags, and dissolve the sugar into the brewed tea. Pour into your punch bowl.

Step 3: Add spirits to your punch bowl.

Serve in small glasses or tea cups, with the optional garnish of an orange and/or lemon slice, and grated nutmeg. Serve at room temperature or warm (not hot).


The flavor of this punch is dry and complex. The strongly-brewed tea adds the underlying body of the drink, lending a bitterness and dryness that defines it. The brewed water adds the slightest bit of fruitiness and clove, which supports the tea, and doesn't overpower it. The brandy gives its acidity and backbone, the dark rum falls to the background with just a bit of smokiness, and the scotch adds a bit more smoke and a pungent kick that perfects every sip. This is a balanced drink, perfect if you'd like to curse some Yankee rebels and eat some scones.

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Of similar fare is the old-style milk punch. Milk punch has many iterations, from the whiskey and milk concoctions to the complicated and old school punches that Erik over at the Underhill-Lounge makes, where milk is used as a curdling agent and for its lactic acid! What we have here today is a recipe using mostly European ingredients, and was inspired by this recipe at Saveur, but with a few minor changes.

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Milk Punch


1 oz half-and-half
2 oz whole or 2% milk
1.5 oz brandy
1 dash absinthe
1 dash green Chartreuse
nutmeg

Shake all the ingredients except the nutmeg in a shaker, then strain into a punch glass filled with ice. Garnish with nutmeg.

The nutmeg is what makes this drink so good... if you don't have it, don't make it. The acidity and fruitiness of the brandy cuts through the dairy, and the two green spirits play support. This is a really fun drink... great for brunches!

How to Char a Barrel

This nifty clip comes to us from Camper English at Alcademics.com. Camper is one of the most prolific booze bloggers around. This time, he's on the west coast of Guatemala seeing how Zacapa produces their exceptional rum... one of the few rums not produced in the Caribbean!

He recorded a few seconds that display how they char the inside of their barrels. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about not re-charring my own little one....

Choose Your Shirts Wisely

Did you know February is Tiki Month?

Well, now you do.

I figured that I already do enough tiki posts (as I've said before, it comprises my cocktail roots), so perhaps I shall celebrate the month by sparing readers from tiki rather than providing it for them.

I'll tell you who isn't sparing his readers, however: Doug Winship. In fact, he's gone so far as to change his site's logo for this month, but the change isn't only superficial. Doug's Tiki Month blog content has been of exceedingly high quality, and you'd do yourself a favor to check some of it out.


I will share one of my favorite posts of Doug's for this month that talks about a subject near and dear to my heart, thereby employing what Doug calls "Rule #2". I hope you enjoy the post.

On Choosing a Good Hawaiian Shirt