Turning a Classic to a Rum Ricky

    

     The Rickey is a highball drink made from gin or bourbon, half of a lime squeezed and dropped in the glass, and carbonated water. Little or no sugar is added to the Rickey. Originally created with bourbon in Washington, D.C.  at Shoomaker's bar by bartender George A. Williamson in the 1880s, purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey, it became a worldwide sensation when mixed with gin a decade later.

     Working from the original bourbon version of the Rickey, here is a very nice version that I was able to create that is very tasty.

The Rum Rickey

• 2 oz. Zafra Rum
• 1 oz. Fresh Lime juice
• 1/2 oz. Agave Nectar
• Top up with Club Soda

Place all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled.  Strain into a 12 oz. tumbler filled with fresh ice.

 

2014 Fantasy Fest Gets Underway

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I wonder what exotic island this could be.  Oh yes, it is Stock Island in the Florida Keys.   This is the entrance to the Key West Harbour Yacht Club.   I find this place a great location to relax and enjoy my days off by the pool.   It is also the home for our new boat "Lil Sanity", so we see the opening regularly, from both the pool and the boat.  This is a really nice place, one I'm glad to be a part of these days.  ;o)

Festival Rum Bahamas

    There has been and announcement that the 2015 edition of "Rum Festival Bahamas" well happen from February 27th through March 1, 2015.   This is the second annual festival after a very successful event last February.  I am looking forward to the event this year and all of the cultural, food and rum events that surround this event.

   Held in Nassau, the Bahamas, means a fun trip to paradise and a chance to rub shoulders with so many of the rum producers that will be in attendance.  

    Don't miss this one, it will be a fun festival..   Further information through the people in the picture at the left.  Get your reservations in early and further information from their website.    Get further information at   http://www.rumbahamas.com/     ;o)

Papa Pilar, Caribbean Journal and Bimini Big Game Club Announce A Really Cool Promotion

    There has been a announcement of a really fun contest to create a caption for a picture of Hemmingway and win a trip to the Bimini Big Game Club Resort.

"Ernest Hemingway was one of the greatest adventurers in history, and many of his travels focused on the Caribbean, including the islands of Bimini and Cuba. Now you can invoke the spirit of Hemingway's adventures with this new contest from Caribbean Journal and Papa's Pilar Rum, the rum named for 

Hemingway's famous fishing boat."

 

  

Enter to Win a Free 3 night 4 day stay at the Bimini Big Game Club Resort and Marina. All you have to do is write a great caption in the Facebook comments from the website   http://www.caribjournal.com/contest/papas-pilar-rum-bimini-adventure-vacation-contest/

 

     This should be a really fun promotion with a really enjoyable prize, so put on your most creative cap and see what you can come up with.  Who knows you might be off to Bimini and a fun 4 days following in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway in Bimini at the Big Game Club.  ;o)

 

Dress Codes in the Bars: Do We Reallly Need Them?

    I remember not being allowed to enter an unsophisticated bar down here in Key West, because I was wearing a "Tank Top" one summer evening.   It cost that bar eight customers coming in to have cocktails.   With the stiff competition for customers here on an island where most people live in shorts, flip flops and tank tops this seems like a foolish mistake.

     There is a place for dress codes, but you have

to make a decision as to what you really want in your establishment before you start to initiate these rules.   If you run a bar that is part of a high end restaurant, then there is a real reason for you to have a dress code, but if you run a beach side tiki bar that requires shoes, long pants and a dinner jacket, you will be out of business in very short order.

     For me I prefer the "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem" type of bar, but there are those that need the more sophisticated establishments to feel really comfortable.  The real important thing is to first establish who your clientele are then decide what your "dress code" needs to be to conform with the local laws and the atmosphere of the establishment.  The key is not to be arbitrary, but to us the dress code to enhance the attendance at your establishment.

Havana Club Announces Flavored Rums

Havana Club Essence of Cuba Line of Flavored Rums

Havana Club rum is looking to strengthen its position in the on-trade with the launch of a range of cocktail flavorings inspired by its Añejo 7 Años expression.

 

Havana Club has launched a range of cocktail flavorings, called Essence of Cuba

The Pernod Ricard-owned brand has launched four flavors in the Essence of Cuba range: Island Fruit, Aromatic Leaf, Coffee and Honey, which have been designed to “highlight the natural flavors and aromas of Havana Club Añejo 7 Años”.

The range has been developed in collaboration with The Bitter Truth, a cocktail supplying company set up bar bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck in 2006.

“With The Essence of Cuba range, we want to go one step further and give bartenders a whole new opportunity to experiment with the flavors of Havana Club Añejo 7 Años, without losing the intrinsic Cuban character of this now legendary expression,” said Nick Blacknell, global marketing director for Havana Club International.

“The initial response to the range from the bartenders who competed at the Havana Club Grand Prix earlier this year was really encouraging, so we’re looking forward to seeing how it is received by Havana Club fans around the world as it appears in markets this autumn.”

Pernod Ricard said each flavor is crafted using natural ingredients through a slow maceration process with Havana Club Añejo 7 Años as the base using a combination of traditional and modern production techniques.

Stephan Berg, co-founder of the Bitter Truth, said: “Havana Club Añejo 7 Años is blessed with a wide variety of characteristic flavors ranging from honey to cocoa, sweet tobacco to lush tropical fruits, so we have crafted a range of natural intensifiers that would harmoniously bring out the dominant single aromas found in this legendary rum in simple signature serves.”

The range will be available in 24 markets, including Cuba, Germany, France, UK, Greece and Spain from October 2014 in 20 ml and 200ml formats.

 

Re-educating Rum Consumers About What Importance Age Carries in the Final Product

“Consumers need to be re-educated about the significance of age statements associated with rum and understand the importance of maturation better, a distiller has stated.”

Bacardi UK brand ambassador Metinee Kongsrivilai

     Bacardi UK brand ambassador Metinee Kongsrivilai explaining the distillation process of Bacardi rums, A London Cocktail Week seminar called ‘Does age matter, an exploration with the expert’, hosted by Bacardi UK brand ambassador, Metinee Kongsrivilai, in association with Abhishek Banik, former teaching assistant of the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling and distiller of Ogilvy Spirits, Banik stated that “maturation is what’s important, not ageing”.

     The hour-long presentation delved into the importance of age statements for rum, its involvement in the character of the product and other factors that contribute to the flavor, taste and appearance of the spirit.

     “If you age it for too long you get too much of the wood,” Banik said. “People focus on the number of years something has been aged, but maturation is what’s important, not ageing.

     “The whisky industry has already realized it and there are definitely parallels to be drawn across the both categories, but I think the rum industry has got a job making people aware that age does not equal quality.”

Defining quality

     Both Kongsrivilai and Banik stressed that Bacardi’s focus was not on age as each product is blended to a specific flavor profile, not time frame.

     Bacardi 8 is the only Bacardi rum to carry a number, which represents the youngest rum in the blend rather than the oldest because the “oldest rum varies as we blend to a specific flavor profile,” explained Kongsrivilai.

     “Consumers are more curious and more picky to understand about quality,” Kongsrivilai added. “They are definitely interested but they have not reached that stage where they really understand that age doesn’t define a product’s quality.”

Read More at   http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2014/10/rum-age-statements-do-not-matter/?article-source=newsletter&source=276&date=2014-10-10

     I have always found that believing in age statements doesn’t buy you  quality in most rums that I have been associated with.  I have found some very young rums to have better flavor profiles that many of the ones with older age statements.  In fact, I have found very few rums that boast age statements over 2o years that have impressed my palate.

     I tend to agree that the blending of several aged rums with different barrel histories has overall been more impressive to my palate that those with all of the wines being of the same age.  Different woods and what the barrel was used to age prior to the rum seems to have more influence on the flavor of the finished product that does how long it has been in the barrel.  ;o)