Happy 4th of July to Everyone

     This is America's Holiday, but what am I doing working?   Providing the rest of you that have the day off with a place to come and enjoy your rum concoctions.   I do enjoy the holidays behind the bar, they always bring in the most interesting people to the bar.  



    



 I'm really excited to see who comes through the door today to make this year as exciting as the ones in the past.  Come by and have a cocktail with me between 11am and 6pm today if you are our and about here in Key West.  ;o)


Aging Everything in Barrels Hot Right Now

     I've been trying to get a small oak barrel for nearly 2 years now, but no one seems to be able to que, but when put into a former gallon wine bottle, it still has the effect of putting it into the barrel, but seems to be a bit more effective because of the extra surface that the rum has to contact the wood.
come up with one.  I'm looking to develop some aged cocktails for the bar and the boat.  There really seems to be a shortage of barrels just about everywhere these days.   I was able to get cut up pieces of barrels in Grand Cayman at the Cayman Spirits Distillery, they were selling them for your bar-b-

     I ran across this story of the worldwide shortage of barrels, and an expanded group of uses by nearly all facets of the alcohol industry.

Barrel Aging Is So Hot Right 

Modern Farmer

By John Adamian

June 30, 2014 

People want to do weird things in old barrels. 

     And Gable Erenzo, distiller for Tuthilltown Spirits in Gardner, New York, has heard it all. Among the uses for the distillery's booze-infused barrels: A local ice cream shop uses Tuthilltown barrels in some of its ice-cream-making processes. Fruition, a small-batch craft chocolatier in the Catskills, ages cacao beans in Tuthilltown's old barrels. Regional maple-syrup makers also use barrels from the distillery to age their syrup. And then there was the person with a project involving a whole hog. "I had a guy contact me about aging a whole pig in one of our barrels," says Erenzo. No telling how that turned out. 

     Food fetishists, craft beer people and mixologists have all embraced barrel-aging. The process can impart caramelized flavors of charred wood sugars, the heat and vaporous high-notes of spirits and hints of smoke to whatever spends time sloshing up against the staves of a wooden barrel. Because of the phenolic units in wood, a charred barrel can impart flavors nearly identical to vanilla and clove. (It can be too much: Wine makers often limit the barrel-aging time to avoid creating overpowering flavors. Like vintners, many brewers and craft-cocktail makers are simply content to impart those sweet and smoky flavors by using wood chips from old casks.) 

     But it sounds a lot cooler to say something is "barrel-aged" than flavored with "wood chips." 

 

    And, as a result, barrel-aging is high up on the food-trend meter, somewhere below bacon, pickles and IPAs, somewhere above eating insects. There are already barrel-aged coffees, barrel-aged honeys, barrel-aged hot-sauces, ciders, mustards, vinegars, pickles, beers, cocktails and more. We can expect to only hear about more barrel-aged products in the coming years. 

     Barrel-aging is high up on the food-trend meter, somewhere below bacon, pickles and IPAs, somewhere above eating insects. 

     But if there's a craze for all things barrel-aged, where do all those barrels come from? With America in the midst of a craft-distilling boom, most of the barrels being used for aging food products are first used to age spirits. Ten years ago there were 70 craft distilleries in the U.S. Today there are more than 600, cooking up gins, whiskeys, vodkas, moonshines, rum and more. The rules regarding American whiskey (excepting corn whiskey) dictate that the spirit must be aged in a new charred oak cask. That means every batch requires a new barrel to meet the specifications. Tuthilltown, for instance, uses an estimated 1,750 standard-size (53-gallon) barrels a year. These barrels are fueling a secondary market. 

     Those barrels, and many of the barrels used by distillers and brewers around the country, come from Minnesota - from a small company called Black Swan Cooperage, in Park Rapids. You might imagine that with bartenders, chefs, confectioners and brewers scrambling to get their hands on barrels, young craftspeople would be popping up to supply the demand for local barrels, using wood from nearby stands of forest. But it's not quite that simple.

Read more at http://modernfarmer.com/2014/06/sound-barrel-barrel-making-america/





     It never fails that when you have a plan for a fun way to make something really good, the
resources you need to make it happen dry up.  I'm still looking if anyone has a good sealed up small barrel to do some aging experiments with.  ;o)
 

Think Safe, Don't Text and Drive

Texts worse than drunk-driving 

The Times

George Arbuthnott and Audrey Ward

8 June 2014

 

     TOUGHER penalties for using mobile phones while driving are being considered by the government after research showed that it slowed a driver's reactions more than drink or drugs. 

     Robert Goodwill, the road safety minister, said he would take up the issue with the Ministry of Justice after The Sunday Times showed him the results of a study by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). 

     It found that a driver's reaction times slowed by 46% when he or she was making a call on a hand-held mobile, by 37% when texting while driving and by 27% during hands-free calls. 

     For those on the drink-drive limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, reaction times were reduced by 13%. For those who had used cannabis it was 21%. Goodwill said: "I will see if we need to change the penalties." 

     More than 500 people are killed or seriously injured each year as a result of driver distraction. Penalties for driving while making a call or sending a text message range from three points and a £100 fine to a one-year ban.

 

Read more at http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Politics/article1420279.ece

 

     I have to agree with this article, I drive a scooter here in Key West all of the time and nothing scares me more that a person driving and texting.  First of all they are probably driving with their knee and not really watching the road.  They tend to change lanes or take two lanes, and are very unpredictable and erratic in their operation of the vehicle.

 

     It is my humble opinion that this issue deserves as much attention by the NTSB as much as drunk driving.  Usually drunk driving is a bad habit of adults, but text driving covers the entire spectrum of drivers from the young to the elderly.  America as well needs to really wake up to this problem and clamp down on the offenders.  ;o)

Holiday Weekend: Time for a New Patio Cocktail

    With the weather hot and sultry, it is time to hit the patio or the boat for a great
chilled out Fourth of July holiday.   I've been playing around in the Rum Lab again and I've come up with a couple of ideas that I think you might enjoy over the holidays.  I'm thinking about a creamy cocktail and a one with some coffee notes.  Anyway, here is what I have come up with for you to give a try this week and anytime you find the urge to.

     First is a morning cocktail as a wake up and chill idea.




Keys Morning Coffee

• 1 oz. Matusalem 15 Year Old Gran Reserva
• 2 oz. Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
• 1 1/2 oz. Brinley Gold Coffee Rum

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled and pour into a chilled cocktail glass and serve.

Selvarey Alexander

• 2 oz. Matusalem 15 year Old Gran Reserva
• 2oz. Selvarey Cacao Rum or Marie Brizard's Chocolat Royal
• 2 oz. Half and Half

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled and pour into a chilled cocktail glass and serve with a strawberry garnish.

     Enjoy the cocktails and have a great Fourth of July Holiday.  ;o)

Celebrities on Drinking.

     I have always found that celebrities have a different way of looking at drinking, and their expressions of their feelings about the subject can be very amusing.   I find that many of the quips that come from the mouths of celebs can make a lot of sense as well.  For instance Ernest Hemingway, one of the foremost drinkers in the world, said "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk.  That will teach you to keep your mouth shut".  This is very sound advise, if followed you can save yourself a lot of embarrassing moments.

     Others are just humorous, Frank Sinatra once said, "I feel sorry
for people that don't drink.  When the wake up in the morning, that is as good as they're going to feel all day."  True, but kind of funny anyway.  Dean Martin is credited with saying " If you drink, don't drive, don't even putt".   George Burns, always witty said, "It takes only one drink to get me drunk, the trouble is I can't remember if it is the thirteenth or the fourteenth."   If you don't like taking "responsibility for your own actions, George Gobel's quote, "I've never been drunk, but often overserved" is very fitting.

    Drinking and politics are a good source for good drinking quotes as
well.  Barry Goldwater was credited with saying, " If everyone in this town connected with politics had to leave town because of chasing women and drinking, you would have no government."  

  Dorothy Parker, an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles also had a few interesting quotes about drinking.  "I love to drink martinis, two at the very most, three I'm under the table, and four I'm under the hose,"

    Then there were the "philosophers on drinking, Louis Pasteur, A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the world's books."  James Thurber is quoted as saying, "One martini is alright, two is too many, and three in never enough"

     W.C. Field had a philosophy on everything drinking, but I think his line "Twas a woman that drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her", that really summed up his position.  His opinions on the economy were apparent also with "The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart".

     One of my personal favorite lines about drinking comes from an old Willie Nelson Song, "I Gotta Get Drunk".  The line is "There's more old drunks  than there are old doctors, so I guess we better have another round".  ;o)

    

Are We There Yet?

     Summer time in the tropics means pop up thunder storms, almost any time on any day.  The can be very ominous looking as they approach and very wet when they arrive,  fortunately I got home before this one hit me while I was on the highway.   A few drops on the windshield and we were through it as it passed to the north of us.

World Cup Soccer, Olympics and Cachaca

A Brazilian Spirit Aims for Global Market

 

Can Cachaça, a Sugar-Cane Drink, Survive Tourist Mispronunciations? 

Jeffrey T. Lewis

June 25, 2014  

     The makers of Brazil's most famous liquor are reveling in their greatest chance for introducing their sugar-cane-based booze to new audience.  

     Now comes the tricky part: pronunciation.   Hundreds of thousands of World Cup and soon, Olympics, tourists are expected to sample cachaça (kah-SHAH-sah), the high-octane ingredient in the country's national cocktail, the caipirinha (kigh-puh-REEN-ya). The mixed drink is traditionally made with mulled lime, sugar, ice and cachaça, which is distilled from sugar juice pressed directly from cane. 

     Brazil's cachaça makers are aiming promotions at thirsty World Cup fans, betting they'll take some home and start asking for it in their local liquor stores. 

   Cia. Müller de Bebidas, the world's biggest producer of cachaça, upped its marketing budget and redesigned packaging to appeal to foreigners. The industry's trade group, the Brazilian Cachaça Institute (IBRAC) is organizing tastings for business groups attending the tournament. 

     "It's the beginning of the process" of boosting awareness, said Ricardo Gonçalves, chief executive of Müller de Bibidas. 

     But sugar and citrus can't mask one of the industry's biggest challenges: a lot of cachaça produced in Brazil is lousy. 

     Cachaça distillers are making a push for U.S. sales. Pictured, a selection of the liquors at a bar in São Paulo. Jeffrey Lewis/The Wall Street Journal 

     Most of the country's estimated 12,000 producers are small fry producing rotgut that can sell for less than $2 a bottle. Also known as pinga, the liquor has spawned the pejorative pinguçu, which means a down-and-dirty drunkard. 

     To improve cachaça's profile, some of Brazil's producers are moving upscale with premium versions worth sipping, much like fine single-malt whiskies or top-of-the-line tequilas. Müller de Bebidas's premium Reserva 51 brand, for example, sells for about $80 a bottle. Sales of the label have jumped, rising 52% in 2014 through May from a year earlier, though from a low starting point, said Mr. Gonçalves, who declined to be more specific. 

     The industry is taking inspiration from Mexico, where distillers managed to transform tequila from a salt-shot-lemon buzz into a respected liquor that sells for upward of hundreds of dollars a bottle.

Read more at http://online.wsj.com/articles/you-say-cachaca-i-say-bottoms-up-1403752353?mod=WSJ_GoogleNews

     I'm really glad to see Cachaca moving ahead and establishing it's own identity.   It suffered under Caipirinha and they are only right when made with Cachaca, Keep up the good work Brazil, and keep the quality coming up as well.  ;o)
the mislabeling as "Brazilian Rum" for to many years and it is finally getting to stand on it's own these days.   I enjoy a good caipirinha every now and then, you might want to try one.  ;o)

Heading Down to Key West

Florida City

     As many times as I have driven to Key West from Miami, I've never really photographed the journey.  I'm returning from a trip to Boca Raton and I took the time to shoot some pictures through the windshield as I traveled west.  It is amazing how beautiful the journey is and how many things that you can see as you roll through the keys for about three hours on the highway.

Flamboyant Tree in Bloom

     The journey begins in Florida City as you pass through the old gate and on to the "18 mile stretch that leads you to Key Largo.  Jimmy Buffet has a song about traveling down the keys and stopping at many of the "watering holes" along the way as you egress toward Key West and the end of the road.  Believe me there are more places of interest than you will ever have time to visit along the way.  I had the chance in April to spend a day east bound on Highway 1 headed for the Miami Rum Festival with a designated driver and a couple of rum enthusiasts.  It is a wonderful experience, but you can loose your memory of the trip very soon if you are not really careful of what and how many you consume.

Hog Heaven in Tavernier

     Anyway, here is the trip in photos from yesterday, enjoy the "Conchy Tonkin" adventure.  If you get an opportunity to drive the "Overseas Highway", it is something that you should try at least once.  The breathtaking scenery and colors of the waters and the plant life make this a very spectacular trip.

Home of the Rum Runner in Islamorada



Flagler's Old Railroad Trestle



Pigeon Key, Railroad Base Camp

 


Seven Mile Bridge



Big Pine Key Dear Sanctuary

Osprey Aerie

Approaching Thunder Storm

Key West and the End of the Road.

Getting That Booze into an Event

     I can still remember all of the ways that I have tried over the years to sneak booze into an event, some very successful and some not so much.  I ran across this article the other day and thought that you would enjoy reading some of the many ways they have devised to pull off getting your booze into an event.

"10 crafty ways to sneak alcohol into festivals"

It's not big, and it's not clever (except, it kind of is).

There are still plenty of festivals on the agenda for this summer, which means plenty more chances to perfect the art of sneaking in booze.

Festivals are expensive things – us poor lowly folks have to watch the pennies and see if we can claw back the cash somewhere.

Naughty?   Yes.

 Necessary?   You  betcha.

1. Crotch Wine
Buy a box of wine. Take out the wine bladder (as it is affectionately known) – stuff it down your jeans. Also allows for hilarity later on when you stick the nozzle out your fly to pour people drinks.

2. Drunk Wellies
People don't wear those silly patterned wellies at festivals to look cool – they do it to distract from the hip flasks and miniatures they have stuffed down there.

3. Backpack
We don't mean in your actual backpack – that would be too obvious. We mean duct tape your hip flask or some stubbies to your back. Oversized clothing or a big coat is essential.

4. Bye Bye Pockets
Wear an old jacket to keep you warm. Cut holes in the pockets and drop miniatures into the lining of your coat, Genius.

5. Bra Booze
Finally the  wearing of bras pays off.   Hello hip flask smuggling device.

6. Pringles Tube of Glory
Step one, eat Pringles.  Step two, fill empty Pringles can with bottles of booze.   Then pop it in your bag and go in all calm like 'these are just my snacks, man.'

7. Sun Cream Bottle
First, thoroughly wash out (and we mean thoroughly) an empty bottle of sun cream. Refill with your booze of choice.

8. Pregnant Belly
Strap a camelback to your stomach and pretend you are with child. Overacting and waddling optional.

9. Stealth Hip Flask
These days you can get hip flasks that look like just about anything (except a hipflask), Binoculars, canes, lipsticks, or this mobile phone.

Hello, is that Jack? Jack Daniels?

10. Not-So-Healthy Fruit
Then the old stand-by, drunk fruit.  Inject oranges with rum. Desperate times call for hammered oranges.

Read more at http://www.handbag.com/day-bag/advice/a506914/10-crafty-ways-to-sneak-alcohol-into-festivals.html

     Don't get caught it could get you thrown out and an expensive ticket to get in would be lost, but to each their own decision.  ;o)

The Elusive Rum Runner: The Cocktail

     The rum runner like it's namesake is an elusive entity and like it's namesake the origin is a bit fuzzy.  The Holiday Isle Tiki Bar in Islamorada, Florida takes the credit for the creation of the rum runner, but like it's namesake and coming from the Florida Keys has a bit of a shady past.  The original recipe was said to come from the 1950's when the barmen had an excess of rum and other liqueurs that had to be moved before the new inventory could be put into storage.  

    The only problem with that story is that the Holiday Isle Tiki Bar started serving cocktails from a bar know as the Hapi Hula Hut in 1969 and the original hotel owner had challenged "Tiki John", the bar manager to  invented the "Rum Runner" from the excess inventory in 1972  I have to  believe that the second version is the real story.

     The original recipe hasn't changed much over the years, but there are a few different variants out there.  The original was a frozen cocktail, but the more popular one at least in Key West is the "on the rocks" version.

Holiday Isle Tiki Bar Rum Runner

• 1 oz. Light Rum
• 1 oz. Dark Rum
• 1 oz. Banana Liqueur
• 1 oz. Blackberry Brandy
• 1 oz. Pineapple Juice
• 1 oz. Orange Juice
• Splash of Grenadine

Place all of the ingredients into a blender with 2 cups of ice and blend until smooth.  Pout into a "Hurricane Glass" and garnish with an orange slice and if so inclined float with Bacardi 151 rum.

    I have my own ideas on the subject, but they are not really that different.  I think that the frozen version makes the cocktail taste very watered down, then add the fact that I avoid grenadine at all possible means.   Here is my version of the cocktail that I serve at the Rum Bar in Key West.


Bahama Bob's Run Runner

• 1 1/2 oz. Dark Rum
• 1 1/2 oz. Light Rum
• 1/2 oz. Banana Liqueur
• 1/2 oz. Blackberry Brandy
• Equal amounts of Orange, Pineapple and Cranberry Juices

Place all ingredients is a 12 oz. tumbler filled with ice and shake until mixed. You can float a good aged overproof  rum like Lemon Hart 151 or Plantation Overproof if you desire.  Garnish with a lime slice.

     Either version is really good, so give one a try and enjoy the "Cocktail of the Keys".

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)