What are YOU drinking

Last night I opened this very nice bottle...



...and now, right before dinner, I'm treating myself to one of my other alcoholic favs...

 

Mtn Dew has a new Fruit Cake flavor. All the Mtn Dew is too sweet for my liking, but it's great for cocktails as a syrup. So I mixed Pussers Gunpowder proof, MT Dew Fruit Quake, Ginger beer and a lime wedge. With the perfect proportions it tastes just like fruitcake.

 

I found a bottle of George Bowman Colonial Rum. George Bowman is more known for their whiskey. They make I guess a Kentucky style burbon, but it's made in Fredericksburg Virginia. Notice the Horseshoe shaped bottle. Supposedly it's made they same way they made rum in the 18th century. Being a history guy, I had to buy it. They're real cagey on where or how it's made, but it's definitely a pot stilled molasses based rum. Possibly Jamaica, more likely Barbados or Guyana, definitely a British Colony. The lady at the store claimed it's made in Fredericksburg, but I know better. Basically they imported some rum from the caribbean and aged it in their spent whiskey barrels. Which is smart. I don't like when companies keep everything a big secret. Where and how it's made makes a huge difference in taste.

I want to try it in a Rattle Skull. A Rattle Skull is an 18th century cocktail made of 2oz Dark Rum, 1oz lime juice, 1oz Demarara syrup, 12 oz or so of dark ale or stout. I ordered one at my local bar using Diplomatico, and it was fantastic. A few people ended up ordering one to try.

 

A bit more expensive than the one I opened 4 weeks ago (which was very good), but boy can you taste the difference! Yum!!



Much more mature... and rich!

 

Finally! Weekend!! (I only bring out the big guns on weekend-nights...)

Though My 15 year old Dalwhinnie is only halfway, i just couldn't wait any longer to open this one...



Oohohohohoo.... THAT is FINE!!!

 

Made some Sorrel drink, made of water dried Hibiscus flowers, sugar, fresh ginger, citrus slices, ginger beer and Rum. Its not badI just made too much, and it's actually really good for you.

 

I'm making my own coconut and pineapple infused rums. Just cut up the fruits put them in jars. For the coconut im using Bacardi silver, pineapple bacardi gold. Let it infuse for 2-3 weeks, shake everyday, and that's it. So in 3 weeks I'll have the best pina coladas ever.

 

But for now I am making my 18th century Rattle Skull. 2oz George Bowman Colonial Rum, 1oz of lime juice, 1oz of Demarara syrup and top it off with Legend Brown Ale.

 

I had some sangria with some friends today. I don’t like hard stuff and beer so my options are mostly limited to wine or like hard lemonade. The less it tastes like alcohol the better

 

Some hot coco... really cold here in these parts.

 

Yum!!
And you'll have some very nice rum-infused snacks to nibble on while watching a movie / Netflix / etc.

Sounds good!

 

I finished infusing my rums. The last day i split a vanilla bean and put it in the coconut rum. I started to put star anise in the pineapple, but the pineapple already has an afterburn the spice would probably worsen. Strained and double filtered with cheesecloth.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 17, 2022, Original Post Date: Dec 17, 2022 ---

I think with the coconut I'll make coconut milk, to then transform into cream of coconut.
I might juice the pineapple, or cut it into chunks and freeze, to blend into pina coladas, for an ice substitute.

 

Testing my homemade infused rums in a dirty pina colada. Pineapple and coconut rum with Coke.
Even though I only had the vanilla bean in for a day it's the first thing you taste, then a little coconut with a Pineapple finish. Not a bad drink.
A lot like vanilla coke.

 

Personally i don't buy flavored rums, because they taste artificial. Coconut rum to me tastes like sun lotion. But these natural flavors are way better. The Coconut rum tastes like coconut. The pineapple tastes like pineapple, the Shnozberries tastes like shnozberries. I just made it out of curiosity. It's debatable whether id do it again only because I generally don't use flavored rums, but I would like to try my own spiced rum, because I think most spiced rums have way too much vanilla flavor. A little bit of vanilla goes a long way. If I were to do it again id use a half a bean for 24 hours. Im going to use my depleted bean for spiced rum. Spiced rum takes days instead of weeks.

With the left over pineapple I made pineapple juice along with 2 other pineapples to make about a Liter. With the extra pulp, I blended it with some frozen chunks and ice, then put them in an egg carton because I didn't have ice cube trays. So a couple of these per barch thrown in the blender with your pina colada will give it a thicker consistency without watering it down.

 

I've been drinking sorrel form my local Jamaican restaurant for years. I'll make some of my own sometime. Great health benefits.

 

I made home made cream of coconut aka coco lopez, out of the infusion coconut. I put the coconut in the blender, covered it in luke warm water, blended, let it sit for an hour, blend and strain. Then in a sauce pan, i added the coconut milk, with equal parts sugar over a warm burner until the sugar dissolves. I accidentally bought gold sugar instead of white, that is why the cream of coconut is brown.

So all this effort in the attempt to make, objectively, the best pina colada ever. Because everyone who's ever made a pina colada claims that title. But there can only be one.
For my test i made a shaken pina colada. 1oz coconut rum, 1.5oz pineapple rum, 4 oz pineapple juice, 1.5oz coconut cream. Shaken with ice and 1 frozen pineapple pulp cube. It would be perfect frozen, but for a shaken pina colada its not bad. Definitely tastes natural. A little grit to it, that's why I think frozen would be better. Pineapple forward, but it has a creamy coconut while drinking. I think its the perfect blend. Not too rummy either, just a slight hint at the end, Definitely from the pineapple rum. The more I drink the more I am convinced it is indeed the best pina colada ever.

 

Blood Orange Wine - and do not care that it is a summer beverage.


We sip it in front of the fire, just fine.

 

Though it might take a little effort, doing it yourself has its advantages. You know whats in it... you know what's NOT in it too!
You can tinker with the recipe till it's precisely to your liking!

What @Flying spaghetti monster said:

, is one of the main reasons why I also dislike most storebought flavoured liquors.

There's a drink I know as "Dropshot"...


It's a licorice liquor-drink and it tastes fine, but not quite right...

So I tried something myself once... I took a bottle of Smirnoff (a good enough Vodka, no sense in potentialy ruin a bottle of Absolut or something...) and created some extra space in the bottle .
Then I took a bag of "Scheepstouw" (a hard salmiak/licorice-candy) and crushed it.

Then poured the crushed candy in the bottle of Smirnoff, shook it and let everything dissolve for a week (shaking the bottle every day).
It wasn't as nicely black as the original "Dropshot", but boy did it tase good!!

One of these days I want to try it with actual licorice-root, salmiak-powder and perhaps some soft black licorce candy, for a bit of extra coloring.

 

I had a bad experience with Licorice. I was at my local bar and I saw Absinthe on the shelf. However it wasn't real Absinthe it was the kind you coat the glass in for cocktails. I ordered a whole shot. You know when your mom said you make a face too long, it'll stick that way? I almost had a permanent face of disgust. Licorice and Anise have a very similar flavor. Star Anise would be a good substitute without the adverse effects licorice root has.

At any rate, you might be able to add black coloring using activated charcoal. That's how they make black lemonade. I tried to use it in a cocktail, but it had a grittiness to it. Maybe a different brand would be less so, or possibly longer time to dissolve would work.


Im experimenting making a pirate drink. Much like the Rattleskull (rum, lime, sugar, ale), but instead of Ale, I used Red Wine. It's strong. Like a pirate drink should be. I like it maybe even better than the Rattleskull.