Rum Diarys: Best rums for tiki cocktails Part III

The colour is the first thing you’ll notice – it’s not called gold for the fun of it after all!

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Ok so I covered the basic white rums. There were a few brands (and countries) covered but now we move onto my favourite type of rum: Gold Rum.

This section should allow you to expand your rum styles, and your geography knowledge, a little further. With Gold rums from Venezuela to Cuba and across the entire Caribbean; there is sure to be a choice for everyone…

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Diplomatico Anejo (Venezuela) £22.84 – The Drink Shop

Classic Venezuelan Rum at its best…

This smooth-sipping golden rum is blended from a combination of continuous still rums and potstill rums. Although blended, the average age of the finished product is 4 years old. Diplomatico is a very strong brand from Venezuela and can hold its own in almost any rum-sipping competition (its various products have won various awards over the years) and yet it blends into tiki cocktails remarkably well.

Fervent Shaker insider tip: If you’re looking for a well-balanced, blended gold rum and want to try something other than Caribbean rum then I strongly suggest giving this brand, including this particular rum, a go!

Ron de Jeremy – Reserve Adult Rum! (Panama) £33.32 The Drink Shop

Distilled by a Legend, tastes like it was too…

Ron de Jeremy is an extremely well-balanced 7 year old rum and is quite literally distilled by a living legend: Cuban Master Distiller Francisco ‘Don Pancho’ Fernandez. Don Pancho is 72 years old and is considered one of the most experienced and renowned master distillers in the rum industry.

Fervent Shaker insider tip: This rum is fantastic to sip, and will reward those with a well-developed palate. However it has been created in such a way that it will also mix well with other ingredients, especially when mixing cocktails. 

Mount Gay – Eclipse (Barbados) £19.70 The Drink Shop

A great rum at a reasonably low price… Perfect for mixing and a shoe in for this list…

Another long standing favourite of mine, this reasonably price rum is one of the sleeper hits of the last few decades. Whilst all of the top-end rums clean up at awards ceremonies, this rather unassuming bottle sits itself on the supermarket shelf and literally sells by the bucket.

Those who have been to Barbados and visited the distillery will know its history well and even those not interested in rum will have heard of it whilst on the island.

Hand-crafted since 1703, Mount Gay Rum is made using the finest Barbados sugar cane and pure spring water. This leaves you with a rum that can be sipped neat and yet is equally, if not more so, at home combined with your favourite mixer…

Fervent Shaker insider tip: this rum is reasonably priced and found in most of the bigger supermarkets in the UK. Failing that you can find it easily in online alcohol shops.

Flor De Cana – 4YO Gold (Nicaragua) £22.68 The Drink Shop

A Nicaraguan Rum perfect for light cocktails. Try it in your next tiki attempt…

Flor de Cana 4YO Golden Rum is a little something different. From central/south America this rum is well-balanced and perfect for combining with mixers and works brilliantly in light cocktails.

Palate notes: “A soft entry leads to a round, dry medium-bodiea palate with caramel, sugar cane and peppery spice flavours. Finishes with a dash of toasted coconut shavings and pepper. Very clean and pure.” – Flor De Cana.com

Appleton Estate Special (Jamaica) £14.00 – Sainsbury’s

A supermarket staple, this gold rum is perfect for adding to your collection…

The price tag on this rum may make you cringe and think ‘bargain basement’ but the idea here is to give you a cheaper option whilst making sure you get your money’s worth. Appleton Estate special Jamaica Rum is only £14 yes, but it’s an absolute bargain in regards to its taste and overall finish. It’s not as sophisticated as some of the other rums on this list, but its sheer versatility means it can be used in a range of tiki (and non-tiki) cocktails. And for that reason alone it makes the list…

Honourable Mention: Angostura 1919 (Trinidad & Tobago) £26.00 – Sainsbury’s

Links for further reading:

Flor De Cana

Appleton estate

Mount Gay

Diplomatico

Ron de Jeremy

Angostura

Sainsbury’s

Tesco

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King of Cool: Cocktails and Justin Timberlake…

“Take Back the Night… With a Cuba Libre”

At home I make cocktails all the time, granted I drink a lot of Cuba Libre’s, (hell if I have rum I’ll drink them all day long) but every now and then I push the boat out, buy some Tanqueray, and chill with a classic Gin fizz, but mainly I’ll use my Boston Shaker for something a little more challenging. Now when I do this, it’s like making a meal, I gather all my ingredients; making sure I have all the tools (utensils, shaker glass etc.) ready and the right measuring jiggers for what I need.

Now to really get into the ‘zone’ I like to chuck on some music, whatever I happen to be into at the time. When I want a classic cocktail from the prohibition I go for Jazz, it just sets the mood, but when I’m making something more modern I like to listen to a bit of pop. Mainstream I know but its easy listening and easy to jig along to.

Anyway, to the point, the other day I chucked on Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Take Back the Night’ and started to test out some cocktails for the Angostura 2014 Global Cocktail Competition. This was one of the more fun sessions I’ve had recently, both distressing from my current job, and also general life. You might say it’s my happy place… Now I’ll listen to anything me, I’m quite partial to a bit of the classic 80’s & 90’s stuff but also quite into artists like Diana Vickers. Something happy, upbeat and fun, that’s the name of the game for me. This is where good old JT comes in to the fray:

JT likes a drink or two… He’s also pretty good at music if you hadn’t heard…

I was jigging along to we take back the night, mixing away working out cocktails that worked and those that didn’t (those that were as crisp and refreshing as being hit around the face by a Pimms marinated cucumber, and those that were worse than a martini containing more brine than a walrus’ backside), when I realised I’d come up with something a little special.

What I came up with are 3 very fantastic but equally dangerous cocktails. I have no doubt that I will not be invited to the UK heats, as I’m sure that there are other people better than me, but I live in hope, the hope that I get to go to such an event and have someone professional judge my work. That’s my aim, for professional feedback from someone in the drinks business. The money always helps should I ultimately win it too hehe.

One of these cocktails is a tweaked version of a mule cocktail I published on a recent post; the Mordor Mule (that’s right the New Zealand themed Mule Cocktail).

I won’t be sharing the cocktails just yet as, should I be invited to the heats, I want them to be a surprise (you never know who’ll read the post right folks?)…

What I’m trying to get across is that for me, music and cocktail making work extremely well together. If I enjoy the music, it helps me get lost in the atmosphere I create, letting my creativity run a little looser than usual.  And the magic potion this time: JT’s Take Back the Night…

Although my favourite song at the moment is: Diana Vickers: Music to make boys cry…

It doesn’t always result in great cocktails every time, but I find it helps me focus in on the ingredients that work better than others. It may not work for you but that’s the point, I find it works for me, so thought I’d share that with you all… Not to mention this funny cocktail related picture 😀

Even the lesser mammals enjoy a cocktail or three…

Drink well, drink responsibly!

I Entered a Competition!!!

“I hope I win…”

So recently I entered two competitions, whilst one involved coming up with 3 cocktails (one initially but 3 in total should you make it to their UK heats) the other was a screenplay competition. In my spare time (when I’m not working on my cocktails, this blog or my book in progress) I love coming up with Sci-Fi novel ideas. None of which I’ve had the time to write up in full yet.

However these competitions have given me something to focus on heavily (hence the abundance of shorter posts from me in recent weeks). The screenplay was only for a 3 minute scene, but I actually got some great ideas written down for my own novel, which I’ll be working on this week coming.

This screenplay competition is something I’m extremely excited about from a personal point of view; however this next competition is something I’m also proud about from a business point of view…

With London cocktail week coming up (October 7^th-13^th) I wanted to enter a proper cocktail creativity competition. Then I saw the Angostura Bitters Global Competition. An annual competition, Angostura looks for ways to showcase one of their flagship products: Angostura Bitters.

The prestigious Angostura global cocktail championships…

This competition calls for three cocktails:

1)      A Rum based cocktail containing 5 dashes of Angostura bitters. Rest of the ingredients were my own, as were the garnishes, glassware and methods.

2)      A freestyle cocktail: Can use any combination of alcohol but must contain 5 dashes of bitters once again.

3)      An Angostura Rum (1919, 1824, Reserva, 5yo & 7yo Rums) & bitters drink.

All 3 are allowed up to six ingredients as long as 1 is Angostura bitters (5 dashes). Now I think 5 dashes is far too much, but I set out to prove myself wrong and try and come up with something a little better than I have done before. Now straight away I singled out Ginger Ale as the obvious mixer for at least one of my three drinks…

The others are very orchard like, and what I feel to represent the best fusion of Angostura Rum/Bitters with the British produce. One is a soft berry & mixed berry themed punch (my signature one) and the other rum one is an orchard special (using apple and elderflower).

I won’t be sharing the cocktails just yet as, should I be invited to the heats, I want them to be a surprise (you never know who’ll read the post right folks?)…

With any luck I can make it to the heats, be told how my cocktails are, and either take the brutal criticism on the chin or revel in some great remarks (most likely a mixture of the two).

Anyway I shall leave you with this, rather special, cocktail you should all try:

Open House Punch

750ml Southern Comfort

175ml Lemon Juice

175ml Fresh Lemonade*

175ml Fresh Orange Juice*

3 litres lemon-lime soda (7up/Sprite)

Perfect for large parties, this punch is soft enough but if you’re not careful it’ll kick like a Bucking Bronco…

Method:

1)      In a punch bowl combine all the ingredients, and stir well.

2)      Chuck in some fruit you like (citrus works well, and so do orchard fruit, soft fruit & berries).

3)      Chill well if making in advance (cover and place in fridge for 2/3 hours) if making to order:

4)      Add ice and stir until cold. The bigger the ice cubes the less the dilution. A single large block of ice is best.

5)      Serve out with a ladle and enjoy.

Top tip: Try experimenting with fruit liqueurs and different fruit juices, it won’t be an ‘Open House Punch’ but you just might discover something a little special…

*these can be found down your local supermarkets fresh juice aisle. The original recipe calls for frozen 6 oz cans of both the lemonade and OJ but over here in the UK we don’t have those readily available. Should you also want something a bit fresher (I’m aiming that one at all you north Americans (USA & Canada alike) then fresh lemonade and (not from concentrate) smooth Orange juice work as a great substitute.

Profound thinking… Oh and a Cocktail to boot!

Finally i have had a view from New Zealand!

The place I hold dear in my heart… And one of my cocktail inspirations (especially for summery drinks)

One of the few things i wanted to achieve when i set out with my blog was to reach as many countries as possible and spread the word that cocktails are great. So far, since humble beginnings back in October, I have reached 855+ views spread across 47 different countries and that’s a substantial amount more than I ever could have envisioned.

One country that holds a special place in my heart (ever since one of my best mates emigrated there nearly 10 years ago) is the wonderful land of Middle Earth… That’s right New Zealand! Well after 7 (and a bit) months I have, today, finally received not 1 but 2 individual views from the wonderful land of New Zealand…

So this is a more personal post, and it’s just to say that I’m nearly there… I’m 132 views away from the magic 1,000. If I can hit that figure by the end of this month I think it will have been a fantastic achievement. Not only that but with me looking to branch into some video blogs in the next few months alongside my normal text blogs, I’m hoping I can hit 2,000 in half the time it took to hit 1,000… In theory at least!

Anyway onto the cocktails: Yeah I’m sitting here enjoying a Cuba Libre! A little bit of a treat this time; using Angostura 1919 rum, a golden, slightly spiced and 100% beautiful-in-every-way-possible style rum. Add a half lime’s worth of freshly squeezed lime juice and top up with cola and you have one of the nicest Cuba Libres ever concocted…

I’m enjoying this lovely drink (or two!) and generally chilling out and I started thinking about different posts I’ve done before, and how well they’ve been doing… Now the one post that has done better than all the others (by a long mile) is the Licor 43 Spirit special I did a while back. It’s been superbly popular and its only about the alcohol’s history (in brief) and a couple of cocktail recipes to boot.

Recipe for the Cuba Libre i’m drinking:

50ml Angostura 1919 Rum

1/2 Lime Juiced (roughly 25-30ml)

Top up Coca Cola

Basically I was thinking how good it would be to pay homage to the post and the liqueur itself by gathering some of the best cocktail recipes using the spirit as well as some useful links about the spirit (hopefully showing its overall place throughout the cocktail & spirit worlds).

Well this will be the next large blog I do, and will probably be here within the next month or so, intermixed will be some more cocktail recipe blogs, as well as anything I think you all should know…

Anyway that’s all from me and this rather more sombre post, except to say that I’ve recently updated my about me and ‘services/rates’ pages and would love to direct you all there to have a look at what I can offer (services are unfortunately only open to the UK at this time but I will take emails from anyone who needs help!). Check out these links below for the pages themselves and have fun!

About me: https://theferventshaker.wordpress.com/about/

Services & Rates: https://theferventshaker.wordpress.com/hire-me-services-rates/

Keep your eyes peeled, and thanks again for reading!

Here’s a cocktail to whet your appetite:

A cocktail all the way from New Zealand… It has something about it doesn’t it?