This is a very nice mildly sweet and mildly tart, rum-based cocktail.
1.0 oz Orange Juice
0.5 oz Lime Juice
0.5 oz Simple Syrup
1.5 oz Light Rum
The original recipe calls for blending a handful of ice with the ingredients for 15 seconds, and then pouring, unstrained into a cocktail glass. I chose to shake crushed ice with the ingredients and avoided cleaning a blender.
Grenadine, or a sugar syrup made from sugar and pomegranate (in a 1:1 ratio) is a common ingredient in cocktails. You can buy it, or you can make it. If you buy it, you are usually getting high fructose corn syrup, coloring, and artificial flavors. Making the real deal is easy:
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup pomegranate juice
Place both ingredients in a saucepan or small pot. Place the pot on a stove element and turn the heat to high. Carefully start stirring. It won’t take long until the sugar starts to dissolve. As soon as it begins to do so, move the pot off of the heat and keep stirring. The sugar should completely dissolve within a couple of minutes. If it takes too long, you can place the pot back onto the still warm stove and continue stirring. If you leave it on the heat too long, the syrup will begin to discolor and will become bitter.
Once the liquid is clear, allow it to come to room temperature on a cool surface. When cool, add 0.5-1.0 ounces of vodka to help preserve it. Pour it into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.
Simple Syrup, or sugar syrup (in a 1:1 ratio) is a common ingredient in cocktails. You can buy it, or you can make it.
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
Place both ingredients in a saucepan or small pot. Place the pot on a stove element and turn the heat to high. Carefully start stirring. It won’t take long until the sugar starts to dissolve. As soon as it begins to do so, move the pot off of the heat and keep stirring. The sugar should completely dissolve within a couple of minutes. If it takes too long, you can place the pot back onto the still warm stove and continue stirring. If you leave it on the heat too long, the syrup will begin to discolor.
Once the liquid is clear, allow it to come to room temperature on a cool surface. When cool, add 0.5-1.0 ounces of vodka to help preserve it. Pour it into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.
To make Rich Simple Syrup (in a 2:1 ratio), use the same procedure as above, but use
Ingredients
2 cups of white sugar
1 cup of water
The Rum Howler Blog also has quite a collection of rum reviews
The Rum Howler Blog: Rum Reviews
The Fat Rum Pirate has a great site, with lots of rum reviews
The Fat Rum Pirate: Rum Reviews
Josh has a great background piece on Rum, some head-to-head comparisons, and rum reviews
Rum 101
Light Rum Challenge
Dark Rum Challenge
Spiced Rum Challenge
The Tipsy Bartender is quite the showman. His YouTube channel features cocktails of all types, colorful bar tricks, and some informal taste tests.
His video on “Rainbow Shots” is fun to watch
One of my favorite resources on YouTube is Common Man Cocktails! Derrick and his friends mix up quite a few cocktails of all types. I think some of their most useful videos are blind tastings and “exploration” series. You can help fund him on his Patreon page.
Here is their Orange Liqueur Blind Tasting
Also, one of my favorites, the Spiced Rum Blind Tasting
After re-reading my Living in an ABC State post, I wanted to clarify a few things.
First, I realized, especially after adding a photo of a nearby ABC store to that post, and the interior of it in the post Intro, that showed a massive wall of vodka.
The first visit that I made to an ABC store did have an entire wall of vodka, impressive, but much smaller than that of the article photo. The entire store was perhaps 24′ x 24′. The new store in my area is probably 48′ x 80′, but it is one of the largest. Out of curiosity, I stopped into a store in an adjacent county. This store was probably closer to 20′ x 20′ and very little variety.
Second, and to the point of the post, is the limitation imposed by the state. That of choice. To be sure, the large store pictured, has an enormous amount of product. However, if you want something that isn’t in the ABC system, you can’t just drive across town to another store that chooses to stock that alternate item. You can’t buy it. That is unless you go out of state to buy it.
I am incredibly happy to live near the pictured store. They have a friendly and helpful staff. The manager is actively stocking items in this store that, while on the state list, might not be on the shelf at smaller stores. But even he is limited in terms of variety.
As a final example, I was looking for blackberry brandy. The ABC system lists one: Mr Boston Blackberry Brandy. Its on the shelf. If you can manage to find and read, or watch one of the rare reviews, you would not want to spend your money on Mr Boston Blackberry Brandy. But again, in the ABC system, no variety, no choice.
Limoncello was an intriguing concept for me, typically made from the zest of tart lemons that have little bitterness. Lemon zest, or peels without the pith, are steeped in a base spirit until the oil is released. The resulting yellow liquid is then mixed with simple syrup (Wikipedia link).
The result fruity citrus liqueur with a lower alcohol level, that is consumed chilled, straight, after dinner in some parts of the world.
My son gave me a bottle of Pallini Limoncello. Upon opening, I got the immediate scent of Lemonheads candy! I poured a sample into a shot glass and took a sip. It was sweet, and the taste of lemon candy persisted. I was not tart as I was expecting. As is the case for me, even the lower amount of alcohol wiped out my taste buds.
While I do not drink it straight, I have used it in cocktails in place of lemon juice or sour mix, to interesting effect.
Proof: 52 (26% ABV)
Price: $0 (was a gift, usually $25)
Buy again: Maybe
The Tipsy Nerd's Lair