Florida Old Reserve Rum

     Last week while wandering through the Pier House Key West Bacchanalia event, I ran across Mark Bell from the Florida Caribbean Distillery in Auburndale, Florida.  He introduced me to a rum that I haven't had the pleasure of tasting before.  Florida Old Reserve Rum, the name is a bit of a misnomer, because it is only a two year old rum, but the rum is absolutely wonderful.  This blend of two year old rums that has been aged in sherry casks offers flavors that will truly surprise you.

    Florida Old Reserve Rum comes in a bottle that is hand numbered, Batch No. 526 and the  signature of Master Distiller Ron Call.  This sherry cask Aged, Florida rum is sourced from local sugarcane molasses, with water from the "Floridian Aquifer".   It is bottled at 84 proof to preserve the flavors of the barrel from being diluted by lowering the proof.

     This is an inexpensive rum, generally around $19 a bottle, but one that you can enjoy on a regular basis at home or at your favorite rum bar.   Take the time to look this one up and see if you can find it, then purchase it and take it home to sip of make some of your favorite cocktails with it.  ;o)   

Let Mother Nature Help with Summer Rehydration

     The summer heat is upon us and drinking spirits can add to your summer dehydration.   Here is an idea that might help with the problem.  Natural coconut water is a great electrolyte to help replenish you fluids loss to heat and sweating.   "Coconut water may be better at replacing lost fluids than a sports drink or water -- as long as you enjoy the taste. A study recently published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise shows that coconut water replenishes body fluids as well as a sports drink and better than water but the athletes preferred the taste of the sports drinks."

     This is an idea that might help if you are drinking alcoholic beverages in hot weather.   Down here in the tropics the local myth is have a glass of water between cocktails and it will keep you hydrated.  I'm afraid that it will take a bit more than that, but by having a cocktail made with coconut water and eating a few pretzels or maybe a banana along with the water between cocktails you might be able to better maintain your safe hydration levels in the heat of the summer.

Bahama Bob's Hydration Cocktail

• 2 oz.  Brinley Gold Mango Rum
• 1 Banana
• 4 pieces of Pineapple  (Fresh if Available)
• 2 oz.  Vida Coco Sugar free Coconut Water
• 1 oz.  Orange Juice

Place all ingredients into a blender with a cup or so of ice and blend until smooth.  Pour into a pint glass and garnish with fresh fruits.

 

     This is not a cure all, but it can't hurt to put some thought into your cocktails if you are out in the heat this summer.  Keeping hydrated is really important when you are drinking out on the boat or working in your backyard, it is really easy to get dehydrated and really sick as a result.  Alcoholic beverages add to the dehydration problem, but with a little bit of thought about what you put into your cocktails, you can help the situation.  Drink Smart this Summer, watch for any signs of dehydration.  ;o)

Crystal Clear Water and a Summer Day

     Sunday's remind me that people love to head out on the water and just enjoy the day in the sun and the beautiful crystal clear waters around the keys.   The bright sun on the beautiful waters around Boca Grande Key to the west of Key West has some of the prettiest waters I've seen anywhere.

Prichard's New Distillery at Nashville's Fontanel Mansion is Open

     Prichard's Distillery, the first craft distiller founded in Tennessee in the past 50 years, celebrated the grand opening of their second distillery on Wednesday, June 18 at the Fontanel Mansion in Nashville. Prichard's hosted visitors at a log cabin converted to a tasting room and shop on the grounds of the Mansion at Fontanel, the former home of country music legend Barbara Mandrell.    The Estate is now a museum, hospitality and entertainment destination that welcomes over 500,000 visitors a year.   The new Prichard's production facility is adjacent to the log cabin tasting center and includes a 400-gallon Alembic copper still custom-designed by Vendome Copper and Brassworks in the style of French cognac.  It is the first still of its kind in Tennessee.

 

    The Pricard Family is known for their fine bourbons and rums.  The new facility will give many new visitors the opportunity to enjoy their fine spirits.   This family’s heritage in the spirits business goes back many generations and I’m glad to see the growth into their new facility at the Fontanel Mansion.   The new still and plant will give them capabilities far beyond what they were able to do at the “old school house” in Kelso, Tennessee. 

 

    Best wishes and congratulations to the entire Prichard family for their latest endeavor, looking forward to getting up your way to visit the new distillery.  ;o)

 

2014 Rum Brand Champions Announced

     Here are the 2014 Rum Brand Champions as announced by "The Spirit Business".

Rum Brand	Owner	Sales in Millions	Percent over 2013
Bacardi	Bacardi	19.1	-4%
McDowell's No.1 Celebration	United Spirits	19	7%
Captain Morgan	Diageo	10.3	3%
Havana Club	Pernod Ricard	3.8	2%
Brugal	Edrington	3.5	-13%
Contessa	Radico Khaitan	2.5	4%
Cacique	Diageo	2.2	5%
Madira	Telekinetic	1.8	-10%
Montilla	Pernod Ricard	1.5	-12%
Appleton	Wray & Nephew	1.2	0%
Nigrita	Bardinet	1	11%

     Please welcome the newest member to the Rum Brand Champions, La Martiniquaise’s Negrita, which sailed into millionaire territory with an 11% increase in sales.

     Having formed part of the French drinks group’s stable since its acquisition of Bardinet in 1993, Negrita has been the subject of intense focus for La Martiniquaise in the past 24 months. Not only has the brand re-launched globally, with new, updated packaging, but the release last year of Negrita Spiced was catalyst enough to see the brand break through the one million case barrier in 2013 and enter the Brand Champions for the first time.

     Meanwhile, the title race for the world’s largest-selling rum brand will have to wait another year, after Philippine brand Tanduay failed to share its sales data in time. With Bacardi reporting a 4% decline and Tanduay now launched in the US, the brand was looking strong to become the number one international rum brand.

  Read More at http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2014/06/brand-champions-2014/

     Negrita Spiced Rum is described as being flavored with vanilla and "a hint of lemon," which suggests to us a more citrus styled drink very likely designed for daiquiri cocktails or perhaps mojitos. It is sourced from the Caribbean and then blended and bottled in France. 

     This is a very interesting list of very strong expressions of rum from all around the world.  I am disappointed that Tanduay did not choose to become a part of this sales championship.

Barbancourt Pango Rhum Runner

     After a fun weekend with my friends from Rhum Barbancourt, I started thinking of some new ways to use their really nice flavored Pango Rhum.   This is a great 4 year old rum that is blended with macerated Mango and Pineapple.   This can be put into many, many cocktails and put them into a wonderful new dimension. 

     I'm thinking how it can bring a Rhum Runner into a Caribbean world with all the fruitiness of the islands.   After fooling around for a while with some ideas this is what I came up with.  I love the combination of the Mango, which is just starting to fall off of the trees here in Key West and fresh pineapple flavors that always add to a great tropical cocktail.  

Bahama Bob’s Pango Rhum Runner

·         1 oz Barbancourt 4 Year Rhum

·         1 oz. Barbancourt Pango Rhum

·         1/2 oz. Banana Liqueur

·         1/2 oz. Blackberry Brandy

·         1 oz. Orange Juice

·         1 oz. Pineapple Juice

·         1 oz. Cranberry Juice

·         Lemon Hart 151 Float or Plantation Overproof (Optional)

Place all ingredients except the Lemon Hart 151 in a shaker filled with ice, shake  until chilled.   Strain into a 12 oz. tumbler filled with fresh ice.   Garnish  your Rhum Runner with a lime wedge.

    This is one of the really refreshing patio or aft deck cocktails that you can relax around the pool, on the lake or at the beach with this summer. 

 

 

   Give this fun Mai Tai to your friends and guests on the patio or the aft deck of the boat this summer, they will really be hang around for a while, or at least until you run out of them.  ;o) 

Stay in Bed Morning in Key West

     Thunder and lightning is dominating my Tuesday morning here in Key West.   It is one of those days that you really don't want to leave the boat at all.  But I grabbed a large trash bag and did my best homeless impression and walked down the docks in the rain to the office.   Things are improving, but still pretty stormy yet.   Based on the radar, it should be gone by 10 or 11 this morning yielding us with a nice partly cloudy rest of the day.

    I love to sit in the helm of the boat and look out during these thunder storms.   it is the perfect place to enjoy the exciting show of mother natures forces as the bolts of lightning dance through the clouds.   This morning it was just flashes of light as the lightning was fairly far off.  The cracks of thunder were plenty loud enough though.  I'm still hearing claps of thunder to the south of us as the storm starts to move off. 

    The boat is rocking gently in the winds, while the rain running off of the top and down the sides of the windows.  Sitting in the captain's chair, I can feel the gusts of wind hitting the side of the boat and moving it around in the slip.   Sitting nearly 20 feet above the water this is a really neat feeling as the boat's rocking from side to side is exaggerated by the height of my seat.  

    I've really procrastinated as long as I can, I really need to get up to the office and get writing.  Going to get a little wet on the way, but this too will pass.   They, the "elusive they" promise better weather this afternoon so I can get out on the dinghy for lunch at the Hurricane Hole.  I guess the rain is necessary to keep the tropical paradise growing and happy.  ;o)

The 2014 Gay Pride Parade Culminates a Week of Activities

     The Annual Gay Pride Week finished up on Sunday evening with the fun filled a quirky fun parade that is always a crowd pleaser here in Key West.   The fun of the Drag Queens putting on their shows as they move down the streets.  The 801 Bourbon Streets crew were dressed as the Supreme's and singing their songs.  There were several other fun filled floats that were just plain fun to watch all of the shenanigans going on.  

     Wednesday night there was the "Miss Key West Pride Pageant at the 801 Cabaret, along with Drag Queen Bingo and Karaoke.  

     The Street Fair on Saturday was also filled with the fun loving participants of this wild and nutty week.

     The Parade was made famous a few years back when they made a 1 mile plus long rainbow flag that stretched the entire length of Duval Street.  There are pieces of the flag that are stretched every year as the parade progresses down Duval Street.

     The Gay Community here in Key West do a great job of making this one of the really fun events each year in Key West and this year was no exception.   ;o)

2014 Key West's 5th Annual Bacchanalia

This was a great group of events that were enjoyed thoroughly enspite of the heat and almost no breeze during the evening.   It was a great group of events that were enjoyed by those who attended. 

Darrell Gwynn Foundation, whose mission is to provide support for people with paralysis and PREVENT spinal chord injuries. Proceeds from Key West Bacchanalia will benefit the Darrell Gwynn Foundation.

 

 

A Feast of Ice and Fire at Pier House

     Friday, June 13th, 6 – 8pm at the Pier House at 1 Duval Street, Key West, FL Enjoy world – class tapas prepared by renowned Chef Norman Van Aken, the only James Beard Winner from Key West, prophetic author and restaurateur!   Chef Norman reunited with Pier House’s extraordinary Chef Maria Manso!   I Enjoyed speaking with the Chefs as I tasted their dishes and had the opportunity to watch Chef Norman autograph his book.  The ABC Bartending School was there to serve the incredible cocktails made with wonderful  Bartbancourt  rums.  An elite event, that I enjoyed visiting.
 

Burger Wars and Cocktails at the

Rums  of  Puerto Rico  Grand Tasting Village

     Saturday June 14th, from 3pm until 7pm at Rick’s Entertainment Complex, on Duval Street Key West, Florida.  40 will enjoyed unlimited Rums of Puerto Rico Cocktails along with other great spirits!  We sampled Angus Beef burgers from “Bravo TV’s Top Chef “and restaurateur – Howie “the Bulldog” Kleinberg while chefs from Key West’s great restaurants competed for the “Burger Supremacy” – your vote decided! 

Bulldogs,  Rum and BBQ
 

     Sunday, June 15th  from 11:30am until 2pm.   Hog’s Breath Saloon at the Corner of Front and Duval, Key West was the final stop for 2014’s  5^th Annual Key West Bacchanalia,   You brought your bulldog to one of the most legendary hot spots in Key West.   Enjoying the music and open bar of Rum Cocktails and Party for the Cure while they enjoyed “Bravo TV’s Top Chef” star,  Howie “the Bulldog” Kleinberg prepared you the best tasting Angus Beef BBQ in the world. Howie shared his secret tips of cooking so you can be a master too – this one sizzled and has become a cult favorite through the years!!Heaven! Unlimited cocktails and BBQ included, wow what a party..

 

 

Lake Norman the Storm is Approaching

    Last week, I was lucky enough to get out on Lake Norman and spend some time on the waters that I lived on for nearly 18 years before coming to Key West.  It is still an absolutely beautiful lake that I really enjoy getting out on and doing some photography while I'm there.  I hope that you enjoy the view of the lake as much as I did cruising across the lake last Monday.

Friday The 13th and a Full Moon

     Today promises to be a wild and crazy day at the Bar.  It is rare when you get hit by two excuses for crazy people to hit the streets in the same day.   There are a lot of people that will stay in bead on a day like this, but I've been pretty lucky so far in any Friday the Thirteenth in the past.  This is a very interesting combination of star crossed events, both in the same day.

     Beside the day at the Rum Bar, I have an event at the Pier House for Barbancourt just to add to the fun before the day came to an end.  

    Friday the 13th and all the Full Moon parties should add up to a really fun and crazy day here in Key West.  Lets see what it actually does bring to the rock.   No matter how it turns out, I bet I'm going to have a really fun day of it.



     Hope you enjoy your day of crazy and weird events to celebrate the day designed for crazy and nutzoid people to get out and play.  ;o)
 

    

Counting Up All the Ways America's Booze Laws are Terrible.

I ran across this article this morning and though you might find it very interesting.  It really shows the need for a set of  uniform alcohol laws in this country.  It is no wonder that many of the finest spirits in the world choose not to bring them to America.

Source: Slate

By Jim Saksa

Jun 12th

      Last week in Slate, Alison Griswold highlighted a costly hurdle for would-be bar owners in Boston. The liquor licensing system in Massachusetts places population-based caps on the number of licenses available in a municipality, forcing restaurant and bar owners to look for liquor licenses on the secondary market, where they cost as much as $450,000.

      When I read about the quota system in Massachusetts-the state I was born in-I immediately thought of the similar systems in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the states where I grew up and currently live, respectively. While $450,000 for liquor is no Citywide Special, it would be considered a bargain in some parts of Jersey, where licenses have sold for $1.6 million. Pennsylvania is comparatively cheap: Lucky buyers can find licenses in the Philly burbs for just $200,000. 

      So are liquor license quotas common, or are they only common in states where I've happened to live? Apparently, no one has bothered to look this up before, so I reviewed the liquor laws in all 50 states. After a few hours of thrilling statutory parsing, I had my answer to which states had quotas: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington. (Certain neighborhoods in D.C. have a moratorium on the issuance of new licenses, too, if you want to pretend that D.C. is a real state.)

      In most of these quota states, a locality's population limits the number of available licenses there. In New Jersey, the cap is one license per 3,000 municipal residents, and in Massachusetts, it's one license per 2,000. Utah probably has the strictest system, with a quota of one license per 4,925 residents.

      In Utah, licenses are expected to go for about $1 million on the newly legalized secondary market, which is about how much liquor licenses already cost in New Mexico and Montana. Meanwhile, in nonquota states, liquor licenses cost a few hundred dollars in registration fees.

 

Read more at http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/06/america_s_booze_laws_worse_than_you_thought.html

Sitting in an Airport Sometimes very Interesting.

     I have been in Charlotte, North Carolina since Sunday evening, this trip was with Delta, meaning it wasn't a direct Key West to Charlotte like previous ones.  I have had several hours of "layover" time on this trip.  People are crazy!!!!!!   I have seen and smelled by the way diaper changes in the waiting areas,  people who can't agree on anything, and a few lovers that needed a room.
     As much as I enjoy watching people, I think that my next trip back to Mooresville will be after US Air starts flying again in October.  The lost productivity time and the long waits and running between terminals is about to wear me out.

     Now lets talk about the mass rush to board the plane.  Those with special needs, first class super premium passengers, then finally the zone passengers.  By the time they get to the zone there are only about 20 or so people waiting to board.   Thing have changed, and I wonder how much of it is really for the good.  The zones really work, because it gets people on the plane in an orderly fashion with people seated by the windows and in the middle seated before those on the aisle so you don't have the aisle blocked as people keep getting in and out of their seats because people that fly a lot are already seated.

     I get to repeat the process two more times today before I get home to Key West, and I'm sure that it will be very interesting again. I love to travel and watching what is going on around me is really one of my joys.  ;o)

Aft Deck Cocktail Time

     Summer is here and it is time for some really refreshing aft deck daiquiri's   I had the urge for some watermelon yesterday and it gave me an idea for a new daiquiri.   In the true style of the El Floridita, it is a frozen daiquiri, still Havana day dreaming, no better place for great daiquiri cocktails.  Anyway back here in America, here is an idea that I thing you might really enjoy.

Bahama Bob's Watermelon Daiquiri

• 3 oz.  Matusalem Platino
• 2 Pieces of Fresh Watermelon (Seeds out)
• ½ oz.  Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao or Triple Sec
• Juice of 1/2 Lime
• 1 splash 7-Up or Sprite
• 1 Watermelon Slice Garnish

Place Rum, Watermelon, Curacao, and Lime Juice  in blender with about a cup of ice.  Blend until smooth and pout into a Martini Glass and add a splash of 7 up or Sprite and garnish with a wedge of watermelon.

 

     I'm up here in North Carolina and nothing would suit me better than a really good daiquiri.  We are in watermelon country up so here we go, hopefully there are a lot of you that like watermelon and daiquiri.