Mom, I had Ron Jeremy and I liked it….

Relax, Mom.  What I meant to say was I had Ron de Jeremy RUM.  An interesting play on words, considering ron is Spanish for rum.   A clever name for the rum branded with the former special education teacher turned adult film star and multi-faceted entertainer, Ron Jeremy.    Ron isn’t the first celebrity to endorse a brand of spirit, thinking immediately to Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka.    While I can’t speak for Dan’s product, I can say that a celebrity endorsement can make or break a product.  However, Ron “the Hedgehog” Jeremy seems to have the gift for getting those endorsements and having them pay off.

I have to admit I have a cynical attitude towards celebrity-endorsed products.  By that I mean, their particular endorsement of a product does not automatically make me reach for my wallet.  However, I am a fan of certain musicians, actors, etc….and if celebrity endorsements didn’t mean anything to people like me, the advertising agencies would have a their work cut out for them.  I said all of that to say this….it’s not THE factor to get me to buy anything.

Ron de Jeremy is marketed as The adult rum.  I am not sure what that means, but the bottom line for me as a spirits enthusiast and amateur cocktailian, is taste.    Imagine receiving a sample of Ron Jeremy…uh, I mean Ron de Jeremy for your opinion.  Admit it…it brings either a smile to your face or something’s wrong with you.  Anybody who has seen an adult film in the last twenty years or so has probably seen Ron’s work.  If not, you know the name.  What I want to know is the RUM.

A Panamanian blend of  seven-year-old rums by Cuban Master Distiller Francisco “Don Pancho” Fernandez, the color of Ron de Jeremy is deep amber.  The aroma is very rich and strong, containing notes of vanilla, cane sugar and spice.  The taste…very rich and long lasting, with a smooth, slightly spicy finish.  I feel this rum would stand up well with fruit and cream-based drinks, coconut, etc.  It would also be a great addition to cola, or simply sipped neat or with ice.  Could you imagine a rum from Ron Jeremy being anything else?

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Brave Spirits: At Ease Rum

The world rests just a little bit better now.  Thanks to the men and women that serve our country, there has been a victory in this seemingly endless war on terrorism.   Regardless of religious or sexual preference and complete disregard for their own safety, our men and women in uniform have risked their lives to achieve a momentous victory.  On this Memorial Day, we remember the sacrifice they have made and the families they have left behind.  .  I sleep in safety at night because of their sacrifice.  However, political and social commentary aside, it seems fitting and past time to review Brave Spirits’ At Ease Rum.

Summertime is the perfect time for fruity, refreshing drinks.  I enjoy them around a poolside, out with friends, or at home after a nice dinner evening with friends.  Two spirits come to mind…tequila and rum.

Brave Spirits At Ease Rum is perfectly suited for for your summertime rum drinks.  Highly mixable, it does well lending a hint of flavor that clear rums do to drinks such as the Mojito.   Upon tasting, it was pretty hot on the palate, and needs something to cool it down a little.  By hot, I’m referring to the alcohol burn associated with drinking highly alcoholic beverages.  More time in the barrel cuts back on this somewhat, by lending more flavor (and color) to the rum.  As you can see by the graphic to the right, At Ease Rum is perfectly clear.  Also, by saying hot…I’m not saying that is a bad thing.  There is a certain amount of ‘heat’ to all alcoholic beverages.  I just happen to see it more in clear liquors.

Back to summertime and relaxing….if you are going to be making a big picture of Mojitos, Painkillers, or the like…At Ease Rum will put you ‘at ease’.  Summertime is all about enjoying yourself with family and friends, vacation and relaxation.  It’s time to enjoy your summer and breathe a sigh of relief with Brave Spirits At Ease Rum.

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Review: Don Q Mojito Rum

Oops! I know back when I reviewed two delicious products from the Don Q Family of Rums, Cristal and Limon, that I said at the end of that post that Don Q Gold would be the next up. Well, trust me it is coming!

I was surprised with the opportunity to review this rum, as I was not expecting a professional sample from Don Q. (Thanks @jaejr! ) I hadn’t written anything in a while. In fact, I hadn’t had too much to drink in quite a while. I wasn’t planning on having folks over, but I got this message via facebook (where else) from my older sister proclaiming Mojito Mondays were back!

I think the Mojito was one of the first drinks I made for visitors to the home bar, and I just so happened to have this lovely bottle of Don Q Mojito Rum sitting precariously on my shelf. I couldn’t resist. What better way to sample a Mojito-flavored rum than with a Mojito.

Adapting the traditional Mojito recipe, I omitted the fresh mint (shock). Keep in mind now, folks, I had yet to lay a lip on this stuff. I added a 1/2 oz of lime juice, an 1/2 oz of simple syrup, and 2 oz of Don Q Mojito Rum. Whiz bang! Topped off with a little club soda with lots of ice and hey, I was serving mojitos. I would have loved to have the mint handy to add as a lovely garnish and to enhance the flavor of mint subtly hidden within the bottle. The drink was a hit. I tasted it, and so did others. Nice and refreshing! That’s what a Mojito is supposed to be. Like a good gin is to the Tom Collins, good rum is to the mojito. Don Q Mojito did not disappoint!

So, I told you I hadn’t properly tasted this rum. Quickly pouring myself a shot, I sipped the rum. Simply delicious! I didn’t feel the burn of alcohol in the least, but instead a slightly sweet taste. I could detect the presence of lime and mint flavors, which are subtle. I know it makes a hell of a good Mojito as it’s name implies, but also could be used as the base for other rum-based drinks, adding a new dimension to some old favorites.

Wherever you live, go to your liquor store and demand Don Q rums….I’m quite sure they’ve an edge over the competition! After all, Don Q is the #1 rum in Puerto Rico and in other areas of the globe.

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The Forgotten 100: The Alamagoozlum Cocktail

I began a series of posts began a while back, when I made the  announcement that I was going to make all one hundred or so cocktails in the book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh.  This is one of the first books which really thrust classic cocktails onto the scene and started what might be called as an obsession with the rest of us.  Now in it’s second edition, the book is simply enchanting.   I think I’ve waited long enough to start mixing these concoctions, so here goes!   Without further adieu, from recesses of time, comes forth The Alamagoozlum Cocktail.

According to the text, this drink first appeared in  Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask by Charles H. Baker, Jr. in 1939.  Purported to be the creation of one illustrious banker, J.P. Morgan, it packs a wallop but with a sophistication unparallelled in many drinks out there.  The recipe is as follows:

The Alamagoozlum Cocktail

• 1/2 egg white
• 2 oz   Genever
• 2 oz water
• 1 1/2 oz Jamaica Rum
• 1 1/2 oz Green or Yellow Chartreuse
• 1 1/2 oz gomme syrup
• 1/2 oz orange curacao
• 1/2 oz Angostura bitters

This drink calls for some hard-to-find ingredients, but thanks to some enterprising minds out there spirits like Genever are now readily available.  The most difficult ingredient for me to locate was the gomme syrup.  In the book, it suggests using a very rich 2:1 or 3:1 simple syrup.  However, gomme syrup is a simple syrup made with the addition of gum arabic, which gives it a silky feel on the tongue.  There are several good recipes for gomme syrup on the internet.  At A Mountain of Crushed Ice, Tiare Olsen demonstrates a great recipe which I found to be easy to follow and replicate.   The only difference from Tiare’s recipe and the one we made was the addition of a little grain neutral spirits (vodka) to serve as a preservative.

The Alamagoozlum is a strong drink.  This was my first time using Chartreuse in a cocktail.  I was delighted.  The  two ounces of Chartreuse and the healthy dose of Angostura bitters gives this drink a strong herbal bite which gently warms as it goes down. Perhaps the drink would serve well as a winter drink because of its warming properties.  The spiciness reminds me of winter.   The recipe above made two decent sized drinks, perhaps 6 oz each, instead of the three mentioned in the book.

Another first was the egg white.  There are many drinks which call for egg, but I’ve never been brave enough to do it.   I keep going back to memories of the film Rocky, when Sylvester Stallone’s character gulps down a breakfast of raw eggs.   However, through some encouragement from Dr. Cocktail, I went for it.  Never again will I leave egg out of a drink.  Never.    The egg white not only gave this drink a nice ring of foam on top, it also gave it a silky feel in the mouth.

While I tried to be as true to the book and the recommendations that it gives in regards to spirits, I will admit that I did not use Jamaican Rum.  I decided to forego another trip to the liquor store and use Don Q Gold Rum in its place.  I’m not sure if using a true Jamaican rum like Myers or Appleton Estate  would have made a significant difference in the taste, however, because of the herbal intensity of this drink.    This question will have to go unanswered for now.

I suppose you are wondering what’s next.  If you have the book, which you should definitely get (see my previous post on the book), you know the answer.  For those of you who don’t, shame on you.  You’ll just have to hang around awhile.

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Review: Don Q Cristal and Don Q Limon

I have a problem with rum.  I love it for it’s drinkability and it’s taste.  So it has been no chore in doing this review of Don Q Cristal and Don Q Limon Rums.  First however, let’s get a little history on the company and it’s products, which will be reviewed in upcoming posts.

Don Q Rum is the number one selling rum in Puerto Rico.  It is produced in the municipality of Ponce by the Serailles Family, who have been producing rums since the early to mid 1800′s.  In 1930, they launched the Don Q product line and now export to the United States and many other countries around the world.

The Don Q line-up includes many different products from new to anjeo rums.  Among those being reviewed on this site are Don Q Cristal, Don Q Gold, Don Q Anjeo, Don Q Grand Anjeo, and Don Q Limon. There are several other flavored rums by Don Q not reviewed here such as Mango, Mojito and Coconut.

Don Q Cristal is the first up for review, as it should be, not only because it is the first mentioned in the Don Q line,but because this crystal-clear spirit is the youngest of rums.  Clear spirits like this are not aged in wood barrels, and therefore, are the clearest and lightest in color and taste than aged spirits.  So naturally, I expected Don Q Cristal to be as its name implies, clear as crystal.

The aromas of Don Q Cristal are slightly fruity, perhaps with a hint of pineapple and citrus, with a strong alcohol smell. Tasting Don Q was a similiar experience in that I got the slight citrus taste with an astringent finish.  There was quite a lot of burn with Don Q Cristal on tip of my tongue.  Overall, I can say that Don Q Cristal  is distilled very nicely and gives me what I expected from a young rum.

I decided to make a classic Mojito with it, and found that it worked out extremely well.  In fact, I can say it was probably one of the best Mojitos I’ve made or tasted.  Because Don Q Cristal is so light and well-distilled, it allows for the subtle flavors of lime and mint to shine through.  I’ve made mojitos with Captain Morgan Silver Spiced Rum and Bacardi Silver Rum, and found the former  too sweet compared to Don Q Cristal.  Don’t get me wrong, these products are just fine. For my taste, they didn’t work as well.  Perhaps they would work better with stronger flavors.  On the other hand, I don’t think that Don Q Cristal would be my go-to rum for say, a Cuba Libre (rum and coke), due to it’s astringency and lightness in flavor.  Personally I like richer tasting rums in drinks like those.  Making a Daquiri or Mojito for your next party?  If so, Don Q Cristal is your new favorite spirit. The recipe I used for the Mojito is below:

2 oz Don Q Cristal Rum

1/3 oz Light Agave Nectar (I use this because of it’s low glycemic index)

1/2 a lime, cut into four quarters

10 mint leaves

In a mixing glass, add lime quarters, mint, and agave nectar.

GENTLY MUDDLE

Add rum.

Fill shaker tin with ice and shake well for 20 seconds.

Strain into an ice-filled highball glass (you may want to use a fine mesh strainer as well to double-strain the drink to get the small bits of mint. As you can see, I didn’t). Top with no more than 4 oz of club soda and garnish with a mint sprig.

Next up is Don Q Limon, one of the flavored rums from the Serailles Family.  I chose this rum to review alongside Don Q Cristal because it too is a young rum.  However, it is infused with lemon flavor.

The aroma of Limon is up-front lemon, although not quite the same as fresh lemon.  Perhaps that is due to the alcohol smell which accompanies it.  I tasted this spirit and found that the lemon flavor overpowers any of the other aromas found in sampling Don Q Cristal.  Overpoweringly LEMON, but without the tartness associated with that flavor.

I decided to make a traditional Daquiri cocktail.  The drink was very good.  The lime juice and flavor of the Limon really pumped up the citrus flavor, yet still very crisp and light.  Here’s the recipe:

Don Q Limon Daquiri

2 oz Don Q Limon Rum

1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 oz Light Agave Nectar (again for the low glycemic index)

Shake vigorously over ice and strain into an pre-chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon spiral.

Like the Cristal Rum, I found Don Q Limon to work well in drinks where you naturally want to accentuate the citrus component of the other ingredients.  I would be curious to try this instead of vodka in a Cosmopolitan.  I think it would work well in this application because of the clean base spirit and the citrus flavors normally found in that type of drink.  Both Don Q Cristal and Don Q Limon work well in certain drinks, and not well in others.  Of course, your bartender should know better.  If not, perhaps you can make a suggestion to him.

So far,  only two of the Don Q family of rums have been reviewed.   Next up, is Don Q Gold.

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Reviewing: Brave Spirits

Recently I came across a spirit company on Twitter called Brave Spirits.  I visited their website to find that they produce four spirits– Valor Vodka, First In Whiskey, Standing Guard Gin and At Ease Rum.  Hmmm..a patriotic-themed take on spirits.

The whole concept seemed a little over-the-top for me.  My first thought was “how far will people go to sell their booze”.  I did some thinking over the next few days and the fact that a spirits company that donates $2 for every bottle sold to military, police, and firefighter charities was worthy of a second look.

I began thinking about all the retired military personnel that live around me, the National Guard base just behind my office, and the major Army base just a short drive away.  You know, these folks would appreciate Brave Spirits.

I thought further on the idea, taking a step back from the spirits sales point-of-view, and realized that behind the charities that receive monies from Brave Spirits are real people.  This really hit home.  I’ve met some of these people in my line of work who have given more than I could give for our freedom and safety.  Suddenly, the slick promotional side of Brave Spirits gave way to something bigger.

I contacted Powell Arms, COO of Brave Spirits, LLC to inquire further about the company and the spirits they produce.   I thought that Brave Spirits was relatively unknown, but found that to be an incorrect assumption. I was pointed to several resources for more information including their own website, www.bravespirits.com.  While I could reproduce the information given there, I would prefer to let you be the judge and view it yourself.

Hey! Wait a minute!  While this may give you lots of background information on the company, their charitable contributions, and product line it will not give you the information you’re really after….how do these products taste?

Fortunately, I have those answers for you coming up in a series of reviews on each of the four products from Brave Spirits.  First up is naturally, First In Whiskey.

(to be continued)

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