Tonight’s mix: Rebellion Spiced Amaretto Hot Chocolate

At tonight’s board game night, a guest asked for something nice to drink. A conversation about what culminated in “Something on Disaronno Amaretto, please.”

So I produced some Ibarra Hot Chocolate, and to a cup of hot chocolate I added 15ml (1/2oz) Rebellion Spiced Rum, 30ml (1oz) Disaronno Amaretto, a good spoon whipped cream, and dusted the concoction with freshly ground cardamom.

The result is a frothy and spicy hot chocolate with a pleasantly strong almond tone that emerges just after the head.

Very nice, would mix again.

Tonight’s mix: Rebellion Spiced Amaretto Sour

A good Amaretto Sour tends to include a bit of Bourbon or something, to give it some extra kick. Seeing as I just received my latest Masters of Malt order, I felt like trying out my brand new Rebellion Spiced Rum. 

I first met Rebellion Spiced at [kil-der-kin], where I tried it in a Daiquiri and immediately liked it. And seeing as I have recently tried and really enjoyed Amaretto Sour, the combination was inviting.

At a sip? Decent. It is a halfway-point between Amaretto Sour and Daiquiri, and the spices blend nicely with the lime and the almond flavors.

Recipe:

1oz Lime juice
1oz Rebellion Spiced Rum
2oz Amaretto Disaronno
A sprinkling of sugar

Shake sugar with lime (to avoid having to dig out simple syrup), then add ice and booze. Shake until fingers are numb. Strain, serve.

Chaelburn

Also in my wrecked notes, I wrote down about a surprisingly nice cocktail we had: the Chaelburn.

Rum, port, pear liqueur, chocolate bitters. It keeps tasting better and better the longer you drink it.

Smuggler’s Cove: Final rum tally

This post is long overdue. I managed to damage the notebook I kept my notes in, so here it comes before I lose the notes entirely.

I finally got around to finishing up my Smuggler’s Cove membership in an epic round of rum drinking during a San Francisco visit last year.

Here are my impressions:

Chairman’s Reserve Silver

A heavier white rum. Tart, spicy flavour notes, pleasant and with potential for citrusy drinks. Would mix with, not drink neat.

Ragged Mountain

Exciting! This is a New England revival style rum. Tastes of mountain spring wayer. Odd — would drink again, neat.

Weber Haus

Cachaça. Slightly yeasty nose. Thick, earthy flavour with bright flashes. Not as bad as I expected, but I would not seek it out.

Plantation Barbados 5 yo

Cinnamon, cloves, honey. Might try this again.

Since this I have on several occasions bought the Plantation Barbados on bottle and used for mixing.

The Scarlet Ibis

Trinidadian rum. Some licorice notes, tingly, pepper-sharp. Spicy. Might try to mix with.

Cruzan Single Barrel

Slight honey nose. Spicy, yet unassuming. Boring.

JM Blanc

Agricole. Solvents, biting, unpleasant. Probably removes gummy substances. Aftertaste was, surprisingly, not nasty. Would not drink again.

Neisson élevé sous bois

Agricole élevé sous bois. Honey, burner spirits, and with a sharp aftertaste. Would not drink again.

La favorite vieux

Agricole vieux. New car smell. Pine. Plasticky. Boring flavour, but not actually offensive as a drink. Would not drink again.

And at this point, the collected agricoles and cachaças of this night produced a killer headache.

Novo Fogo Aged

Aged Cachaça. Boring start. Unpleasant finish. Did not even finish this glass.

Barbancourt

Haitian rum. Herby, “christmas”y nose. Bitter, harsh head. Would not drink again.

Appleton

Aged Jamaican. Unremarkable. Easy to get distracted from. Would not seek out.

Smith & Cross

London Dock / Export Jamaican rum. Honey, lemon, spice. Too strong. Dilution improves the flavour. 

Jägermeister dispenser dispensing Old Fashioned

Successful Caribbean Coffee experiment

The last of my bottle of Rumbullion went into a pair of experimental Irish Coffee variations today. They turned out really nice, and so I’ll give an overview of the recipe here:

Pour 30ml Rumbullion into an Irish Coffee glass.
60ml for a more noticable rum tone that covers the coffee flavour.

Add 3 dashes of Fee Brother’s Aztec Chocolate Bitters.

Add 1 large glob (approx. 1/2 dl) of whipped cream.

Fill the glass up with coffee.

Top the glass with whipped cream.

Result? A coffee even I enjoy drinking. This in itself is an achievement.

Mixing with Nyponsoppa

I’ve realized, lately, that Nyponsoppa is amazing for mixing.

Flyt mixes a drink with Nyponsoppa, Licor 43 and whipped cream. The result tastes of citrus and more like rosehip than the original drink itself.

I tried at home to mix Nyponsoppa and Triple Sec. Disappointing. The result tastes like biting into orange peel.

Note for non-Swedes: Nyponsoppa is a thickened and sweet soup on rosehips. Very common drink in Sweden.

Swedish Punsch

Having produced this classic of the Swedish traditional alcoholic beverages scene several times for my own consumption, and for the benefit of friends, I realize it might be worthwhile putting the recipe as I use it up on the web for public consumption.

I base my approach on the recipe made available by Pelles Kök; but the take I have on it has evolved somewhat from that recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 liter vodka or other flavorless white spirit
• 1 liter simple syrup
• 375 ml Batavian Arrak
• 100-200 ml ridiculously strong tea
  (take about 2 parts tealeaves to 3 parts water, and simmer until very dark and flavorful)
  Pelle recommends Earl Grey. I have had very good results with Lapsang Souchong. 
• juice of 1 lemon
• 50 ml rum
• 40 ml brandy
• 30 ml madeira
• (optional) 50 ml single malt whisky

Procedure:

Mix vodka, simple syrup, arrak, tea, lemon.

Add remaining spirits little by little, to taste. I have had good results with the order Madeira, then Brandy, then Rum, adding each until it’s clear no more should be included. This step, like all seasoning, is a bit difficult to describe in text.

Rest the mixture in bottles for at least 14 days, probably not much more than 1 year, before drinking.

Infusion:

If you want your punsch infused, I recommend leaving the lemon, tea and simple syrup out of the mixture, infusing the mix of everything else, and adding the missing parts after finishing the infusion. Some infusion types I have tried and enjoyed:

• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Oak (I need to get hold of American white oak to re-try this experiment)
• Licorice root (this turned out to be an amazingly good idea)

Go forth and experiment! And if your results turn out well, please let me have a taste. ;-)

Innis & Gunn bar in Edinburgh

There is a new player in town — a bar that went straight into my list of favorite hangouts from the moment I spotted its existence.

Replacing an old student-oriented bar just next to the central Mosque and the Informatics Forum, there is now an Innis & Gunn brewery bar. They have Innis & Gunn on tap, and a complete assortment of the variations on the theme — the current seasonals, and of the various other versions out there.

We went there with the conference crowd last week. Innis & Gunn’s classical brew is delightful as always, and it is pleasant to be able to get it from tap. In addition to that, the Rum cask, the Irish whiskey, and the Highland cask were all fantastic beers to drink.

Checking their range now, I realize I will have to go back there the moment I return to Edinburgh — there is now a Spiced Rum finish for the beer; and I will have to go sample this too.

Rebellion Spiced Daiquiri

During the recent ATMCS conference in Edinburgh, I took the chance to show off Places I Like to all my friends at the conference.

So we stepped into the [kil-der-kin] for, oh, three nights of that week. And that particular week, they had Rebellion Rum on special. So in order to try it, I asked for their Rebellion Daiquiri; but on the spiced rum instead of the white.

It was delicious.

The Rebellion Spiced comes with a pretty well-pronounced orange peel / citrus note to its flavor, which melds VERY well with the lime in the daiquiri to a citrus-toned delightful daiquiri version.