The Twenties or Today?

Sitting at my desk today trying to come up with something fun for today, when I looked up to se the picture on the wall.  It suddenly took me back to the Twenties and all of the prohibition days of flappers and speakeasy's and travel by plane was purely for the rich and famous.  Boarding a Sakorski sea plane and flying to Havana for a weekend of gambling, booze and great shows.  What a really exciting time, but I still wouldn't trade it for today ever.

The Spirits Business Forecast of Rums to Keep an Eye on in 2019

     As rum takes slow steps up the ladder of premiumization, The Spirits Business forecasts the brands to watch in the category next year.   At the start of this year, the Caribbean rum industry continued its recovery from the battering it endured from hurricanes Irma and Maria, which both landed in the final quarter of 2017. Distilleries such as Cruzan, Captain Morgan, Destileria Serrallés and Bacardi temporarily halted production, but, luckily, none have reported a significant impact on their businesses.

     Speaking to The Spirits Business following the disasters, Roberto Serrallés, sixth-generation distiller of Puerto Rico’s Don Q Rum, said: “We’ve been distilling for 152 years and have seen lots of strong storms. This was different. It took us four days just to get a message through because all communications were down, and it took eight days to make sure all our employees were fine. Once everyone was accounted for, there was then the process of getting back to business.”

      As the year progressed, the pace of rum innovation accelerated, with more cask-finished expressions, new flavors and intriguing styles hitting the market. The distilling footprint of rum also grew as new production sites opened up around the world – Scotland, surprisingly, entered something of a rum-­distilling boom.

“Innovation in the world of spirits in general is very important,” says Edouard Beaslay, global marketing director at Diplomático Rum. “Consumers want to explore and try different things, but at the same time we are proud of our tradition and we are true to our history.”  Diplomático has highlighted its artisanal production through a range of new products. Last year, the Venezuelan rum brand launched the Distillery Collection to showcase the diverse distillation processes it uses. In April 2018, the distillery released a 2004 vintage, which has been finished in ex­-oloroso Sherry casks.

     Another brand keen on barrel experimentation is Trinidad and Tobago-based Angostura, which in September unveiled the third expression in its Cask Collection, created using a combination of techniques from the Old World and New World of rum.        “The House of Angostura has been experimenting with ageing rum in different types of casks and techniques for many years, but this is the first time we have used oloroso Sherry casks to mature one of our rums,” Natasha Mustapha­-Scott, Angostura’s marketing executive, said at the time.

     For Richard Davies, founder of Barbados-made Neptune Rum, additional education efforts are boosting the sector. “Consumer knowledge has expanded beyond – dare I say it – the spiced rum category. The education element will help the on­- and off­-trade, business to consumer, and the home consumer. Interest in rum has been tipped to take off for a few years, but now the messaging is finally filtering through.”

Bacardi

The world’s largest international rum brand has had a tough time in recent years as it struggled to claw back sales.   However, speaking to The Spirits Business this year, Bacardi Limited CEO Mahesh Madhavan said the next 10 years will be the brand’s best as it focuses on a more consistent marketing strategy and enhances its ladder of price points.

Neptune Rum

After completing its funding round through private investment, Neptune Rum launched in the UK this year and is lining up its expansion to the US and France.   After recruiting a raft of key personnel, the brand has big things planned for the coming year.

Appleton Estate

Jamaican rum’s GI was agreed this year, and it will be interesting to see how its key proponent, Appleton Estate, benefits.

The brand is also continuing its premiumization mission, having launched a “rare” and “complex” 30-year-­old blend last month.

Read More at  https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/12/the-rum-brands-to-watch-in-2019/

Lil’ Wayne Featured in Bumbu Rum Video Series

     Rapper Lil Wayne is in the hot seat in the first episode of a new online video series by Bumbu Rum, called The Bumbu Room, in which celebrities answer questions from the their fans.  In the first video of the series, hip hop star Lil Wayne is grilled on plastic surgery, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, and Michael Jordan versus Kobe Bryant. 

    The video, which is available to watch on YouTube, is the first in a new online series that will see music producer DJ Khaled, American rapper Rick Ross, musician Dave East, and other celebrities quizzed by their fans.  Prior to filming, each artist will announce their Bumbu Room participation on social media to give fans the opportunity to submit their best questions.

     Earlier this year, Barbados-based Bumbu Rum launched a TV advertisement that saw music producer DJ Khaled channel his “inner goat”.

See the video at https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/12/lil-wayne-features-in-bumbu-rum-video-series/

Local Economic Conditions Have Not Slowed The Taste for Rum in Barbados.

R. L. Seale

     Here is an interesting and encouraging article I found in Barbados TODAY.   It is a great sign that the rum industry may be on its way to regaining its strength in the market place. 

   Local rum producer R.L. Seale & Company is reporting a boom in business. Manager for Spirits and On-Premise Steve Singh is even predicting an equally strong performance next year.  “We have been doing very well although the economy for the past eight years has not been the best. As a company, R.L Seale and Four Square Rum Distillery, have been performing well throughout last year and this year given the circumstances of the economy,” Singh told Barbados TODAY in a recent interview.

     While not revealing figures for the year, Singh highlighted the company’s historic Supreme Champion Award at the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) in London earlier this year, saying this helped to boost the sales for the latter part of this year and he could only look forward to more great achievements next year.   “The outlook is that we can only grow more,” he said.   “The winning rum for us this year has been the Four Square 2005. It was entered in a category where for the first time in 23 years a rum actually beat gin, whiskies and others. Since we have achieved that award this year the sales on it have been doing very well. It is a limited edition but it is outselling the other two limited editions we have,” he reported.   The company also won the rum producer of the year award three times in a row and recently captured the rum distillery of the year award.

     Singh said R.L Seale would be partnering with the Hospitality Institute in an effort to give students an opportunity to learn more about rum and how to better incorporate it into their mixtures.  He explained that this was another way to encourage more visitors to the island to consume the product.  “It helps with our exports in the future and that is foreign exchange for Barbados. That is why we want to educate people on really, what rum is all about and let them know also it is something that is growing worldwide,” he added.  Singh wants Barbadians to have a greater appreciation of rum, pointing out that while many residents still considered rum to be a “poor man’s drink”, the appreciation for, and consumption of the alcoholic beverage continues to grow on the international scene.

     Just last Friday Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for the story of rum to be told to the rest of the world and be used as a way of earning the country more foreign exchange.  “There are people in Europe whose appreciation for rum has grown so much in the last three to five years. We want to let, not just people living overseas but Barbadians, know that you can drink good rum here, properly aged rum that will cause you not to pay for some high-end drink,” Singh said.  “We should really cherish it because it is part of Barbados. This is coming from a distillery, which is one of two Barbadian-owned distilleries in the island,” he added.

Read More at https://barbadostoday.bb/2018/12/18/rum-sales-booming/

Bahama Bob"s Tom and Jerry for the Holidays

     The Tom and Jerry is one of those hot holiday drinks that has been around for many many years.  It is a true classic that I remember even as a kid in the 50's, less the alcohol, but none the less a wonderful hot drink that meant it was getting close to Christmas.

    There are a lot of recipes to make your own batter, but for me I like to head to the store and pick up one that fits my taste.  One of my favorites is Trader Vic's, it is spicy and really flavorful.

Bahama Bob's Tom and Jerry

• 3 Tbsp of Bahama Bob's Tom and Jerry Batter
• Blend of Heated Milk and Water
• 2 oz. Doorly's XO Rum
• Fresh Nutmeg

Put 3 Tablespoons of Bahama Bob's Tom and Jerry Batter in a 8 oz. Mug,  Mix 3/4 cup of boiling water and 1/4 cup warm milk and add the rum and stir it into the batter..  Top with fresh ground nutmeg and enjoy.

Bahama Bob’s Tom and Jerry Batter

• 1 Egg (Separate Whites from Yoke)
•  ¼ tsp. Cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. Allspice
• ¼ tsp.  Nutmeg
• ½ oz. Simple Syrup 

Beat egg white until foamy in a large glass or metal mixing bowl until stiff peaks form.  Add Yoke  and beat with the whites.   Add the spices and Simple syrup and fold into the egg whip.

Seventh Annual Caribbean Journal Rum Awards

     It’s hard to believe that this year is the seventh annual edition of the Rum Awards, a celebration of rum that was one of the earliest innovations of Caribbean Journal. And it’s just as remarkable how much rum has changed in these seven years.

     Today, an increasingly knowledgeable consumer base is appreciating the unparalleled diversity and romance of rum — but also asking more of rum companies, pushing them to launch more sophisticated, more authentic — and more premium — expressions.

     Consumers are also beginning to discover the joy of the world of Rhum Agricole, a small fraction of global production that manages to produce a wide-ranging, artisanal, terroir-focused offering that includes some of the greatest cane spirits you will find anywhere.

     It all means that rum is in a very good place, whether one is starting his or her rum journey or taking trips to collect rare bottlings in the far corners of the West Indies.

     It also means that every year the judging for the Rum Awards gets more difficult, as the Rum Journal team travels across the Caribbean region, visiting distilleries and sampling rums (and sampling them again). This year, we began the judging with a dossier of more than 200 rums tasted, one that eventually whittled down to a field of 12 rums for the Rum of the Year category.  

     This year’s final judging was conducted again at the terrific  Casa de Montecristo by Prime Cigar in Miami, where the Rum Journal panel conducted six rounds of spirited tasting and eventually settled on the winners.

     This year’s slate of winners is as impressive as ever, hailing from across the Caribbean and the United States and demonstrating, again, the wonder of the world of rum.  But remember, as we like to say at Rum Journal, the best rum in the world is the rum that’s in your glass right now.

     Rum of the Year: Havana Club Seleccion de Maestros, Cuba Each year, choosing the Rum of the 
Year gets more difficult. More and more producers are making exceptional aged rums, using new blending and aging techniques, experimenting with special finishes and helping to raise the perception of premium rum in the marketplace. But this year’s winner was a veritable institution of the rum world, from one of the great rum producing countries of the world. Havana Club, Cuba’s flagship rum, produces a broad portfolio of expressions, from traditional white rum to rums specifically blended to be smoked with Cohibas. But this year, its signature ultra-premium rum took home the crown. Havana Club’s Seleccion de Maestros, bottled at a robust 45 degrees, is a blend of reserve-stock rums, brought together by the company’s master rum makers. After multiple rounds of judging, the Havana Club held up against all competitors, thanks to its hallmark: a truly remarkable balance. This is a delicate, luxurious rum that just kept holding up after repeated tasting, one that is consistent from start to finish and that simply begs you to pour another glass. Plainly, it’s an exquisite rum.

Double Gold: El Pasador de Oro Rum XO, Guatemala

Gold: El Dorado 21 Year Old Rum, Guyana

Silver: Angostura 1824, Trinidad

Bronze: Chairman’s Reserve 1931, Saint Lucia

     Best New Rum: One Drop, Harbour Island, Bahamas Harbour Island isn’t like other places in the Caribbean — or even in The Bahamas for that matter. It’s a bit like an English-speaking St Barth, chic but carefree, charming but unpretentious. And it’s also an island that loves its rum. That was how the island’s Afrohead rum was born a few years back — and now Toby Tyler, the master blender behind Afrohead, is at it again, this time with a blend of 10-year-old and 12-year-old Jamaican juice. The result is a rum (hand-bottled on Harbour Island) that is delightfully drinkable, with a fruit-forward flavor profile and a funky but velvety finish. It’s not like other Jamaican rums, and that’s cool — it’s kind of a new interpretation of that island’s spirit, and a rum that’s made for, well, people who like rum. And it’s the best new rum of 2018.

     Get the rest of the lists of the award winners at https://www.caribjournal.com/2018/12/14/rum-journal-the-rum-awards-2018/

Where Did Rum Really Come From?

Sugarcane Fields

     There is some disagreement as to the exact origin of rum, but Barbados and Brazil are some of the most repeated ones.  There is a lot of talk about early rums coming from the areas of the South Pacific as well.  Sugarcane has its origins in that area, along with a large sugar production.  Anytime that you have fermentable materials, you will generally find an alcoholic beverage made from it.

Early Sugar Processing Pots

     Plantation slaves first discovered that molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process, fermented into alcohol. Later, distillation of these alcoholic by-products concentrated the alcohol and removed impurities, producing the first true rums. Tradition suggests that rum first originated on the island of Barbados.

     The first distillation of rum in the Caribbean took place on the sugarcane plantations there in the 17th century. Plantation slaves discovered that molasses, a byproduct of the sugar refining process, could be fermented into alcohol. ... However, in the decade of the 1620s, “rum” production was also recorded in Brazil.   Cachaca is a rum like spirit that is made in Brazil from fresh sugarcane juice, it has many of the same characteristics as rum.

     Christopher Columbus was the first to introduce sugarcane to the Caribbean in the 1400’s, but the plantation slaves of the late 1600’s finally started distilling rum.  Columbus brought the sugarcane from the East Indies that he introduced to the Caribbean.  I guess that it really doesn’t matter the exact origin of rum, but it seemed to pop up anywhere there was sugarcane.  Some places it was made from sugarcane juices and other places used the industrial waste of the sugar processors.  The bottom line is we do have it today.

Old Town Panama City, Panama

     I've been thinking about all of the places that this blog has taken me over the past seven years.  One of the early trips was courtesy of Abuelo Rum to Panama.  Besides visiting the distillery in Pese, I spent a great afternoon in Old Town Panama City.  In addition to the beauty of the sidestreets of this historic town, there was remnants of some of the damage from the battles to extract Manuel Noriega in 1989.   This picture s one of the really colorful sidestreets I ran across in Old Town Panama City.

Francisco "Don Pancho" Fernandez and Yolo Rum

Francisco "Don Pancho" Fernandez and Carlos Esquival 

     Yolo’s flagship 10 Year Old Rum is blended with rum that’s distilled and aged at Consorcio Licorero Nacional in Panama City. It’s a deep amber-brown, with notes of vanilla. The taste is rich with flavors like cake batter and toffee. On the side of every bottle is the sentence “Blended by Francisco Don Pancho Fernandez.”

     Don Pancho became the head of research and development for rum at the Ministerio de la Industria Alimentaria, which was the government owned agency responsible for the Cuban beverage industry. That’s where he picked up the nickname Minister of Rum. He worked for brands like Matusalem and Havana Club, which led to the nickname Great Grandfather of Havana Club.    Don Pancho’s career in Cuba lasted 35 years. Pernod Ricard acquired the rights to distribute Havana Club in 1993, but Don Pancho didn’t come with the brand. He moved to Pesé, Panama, a region known for its sugar cane, where he worked for Ron Abuelo and helped rebuild Las Cabras distillery with a friend named Carlos Esquivel.

     There are people that question whether Don Pancho, , the legend, exists. “If you had Googled Don Pancho when we started Yolo rum, you’d have thought he was a fictional character”. “There are conspiracy theories about him even existing, like, ‘Oh, he never existed before 1998.’ That’s because he was in Cuba.”  Guerin says that he had to educate people on who Don Pancho was. He’s modest and doesn’t seek accolades or publicity.  “The people who question him—none of that bothers him,” says Guerin. “I say, ‘We have to do this to counter,’ because I want to help fight his battles for him, but he doesn’t care.”

     Don Pancho gave Guerin the blend that’s now Yolo on the first try. “He basically told my wife that he had it ready for us when we showed up,” says Guerin. “And he told her, ‘This is the standard that all rums should be held to.’ Once we tried it, it just blew my socks off.”  .

     Guerin started a rum brand because he wanted to share the Central American rum that made him fall in love with the spirit category. Through a series of fortunate events, he ended up working with the man who helped popularize Havana Club, one of the most storied names in rum. There were probably easier paths to getting a rum brand that didn’t involve Guerin trying to convince people of his master blender’s authenticity. But hey, you only live once

Goslings Releases Papa Seal, the “Father of all Rums”

      A new, but rare rum is being released by Goslings, the rum has been hand-selected and slowly aged in single-use bourbon barrels.  The company described the rum as: “Startlingly mellow with an elegant finish carrying notes of spice, leather, banana, caramel and molasses. The expression is so refined, Goslings urges owners to savor it neat or over a single cube of ice”.

          Malcolm Gosling, president and chief executive officer of Gosling’s International Limited, said: “Our obsession has always been on crafting the finest rums possible, not the most rums. With that mantra in mind, we proudly created Papa Seal ‘the father of all rums’. My only regret is that we are forced to limit the number of people who can experience it.”  Because of the limited offering, Goslings is restricting each customer to a maximum purchase of six bottles, which cost $179 each.

     The entire output of Papa Seal rum will be restricted to 12 barrels, and of those only one has been reserved for Bermuda customers.  However, the barrel for Bermuda is extra special, because it is the first of the Papa Seal rum barrels. Bottles from the barrel will be numbered and hand-packaged in display boxes.  

Read More at http://www.royalgazette.com/local-business/article/20181211/goslings-releases-father-of-all-rums

A Few Things You Should Know About Rum

It Must Be From a Derivative of the Sugar Cane.

     Sugar cane which is a type of grass that grows best in warm tropical climates, like South and Central America, the Caribbean and the Central Pacific. Once the juice is extracted from the sugarcane, it can be turned into molasses or kept in its raw juice form. On its own, it has a sweet, grassy taste that gives you a major sugar rush. Mixed with yeast and water, it begins the fermentation process.

It Has a Lot In Common Other Brown Liquors.

     The barrels! After the fermentation process, rum is distilled to extract the ethanol from the rest of the stuff in the fermented wash . After that, the alcohol is often aged in American bourbon barrels. Why? When making bourbon, the rules of Bourbon say that you can only use new oak barrels to age it. These oak barrels are then sold to rum and other spirits companies, where they are used aging rum and other spirits.

There’s A Lot Of Fire Involved.

     A good rum has a broad spectrum of flavors, from caramel and vanilla to smoke. How do rum makers achieve this complexity?   Fire, that chars the insides of the oak barrels, imparting a toasty flavor on the rum aged inside. So those notes of wood ,vanilla, and caramel you're tasting.

White Rum And Dark Rum Are More Similar Than You Think.

     After the rum has been aged to the distillery’s liking, some of the aged rum is filtered through charcoal filters to remove some of the color and a bit of the oaky flavor. This is what we refer to as white rum, the preferred rum for mixed drinks. Dark rum, its counterpart, maintains more of the charred woody flavor and is usually consumed neat or with ice.

You Can Do Your Own Quality Check.

     Good spirits depend on your senses to determine if it is a rum that you will enjoy.   Pour it into a clear glass and examine its color and clarity, dark rums will have an amber to mahogany hue, White rums should be clear and free of debris or cloudiness.  Some of the age white rums may still have a hint of color that was not complexly filtered out leaving some of the flavor of the barrel.   Take a small sip, then swoosh it around in your mouth, if alcohol the first thing you taste, that sharp burn is often indicative of a cheaper bottle.  The quality rum will give you complexity immediately of sweet, smoky, and smooth mouth feel. This is the type of rum you want to sip slowly.   The whites are best saved for quality cocktails like a Mojito or other fine mixture.

Rum: The Manual by Dave Broom

     Here is an idea for a Christmas present for your rum lover.  It will be a welcomed addition to any rum enthusiast’s library.  It is available through Amazon and is priced at only$13.59 and is a prime eligible product.

     This is a book by Dave Broom about how to drink rum of all kinds. It's about classic rums and new-generation rums, about rhum agricole and about premium aged rums, about rums from all over the world. It's about rum enjoyed with cola and ginger beer. About the best rum for a classic daiquiri. About rum cocktails that ooze style and personality. Above all, it's about enjoying your rum in all kinds of ways.

     The days of rum being seen as a minor spirit are over. The category has been reborn in recent years with developments such as the rise of premium aged rums and spiced rums. The range of rums available has widened dramatically, with tiki bars in every major city globally. Add in cachaça - Brazil's native cane spirit - and you have a hugely popular distillate. So there's no surprise that the premium rum market is growing at an astonishing rate - from 23 percent per annum in the US to 74 percent per annum in France, for example. 

     The mission of this book is to help drinkers appreciate this complex spirit, find the style they like and discover how this versatile spirit can best be enjoyed. It will help you to understand your rum - how it's produced (whether from molasses, cane syrup or cane juice) and whether it's dry, sweet, fresh or oaky. More than 100 different rums are featured and analyzed, from rich, sweet mellow Guyana rums to the vegetal peppery rums of Martinique or Guadeloupe and contemporary spiced rums. Dave Broom provides a description and graded tasting notes for each brand, allowing you to create the perfect mix every time. Finally, a selection of classic and contemporary cocktails shows just how wonderfully versatile this spirit is.

License To Swill: A Report on James Bond’s Drinking Over Six Decades

     This is a great and in depth report that covers James Bond’s vices and the use of alcohol and cigarettes.   The report is very well documented and I find it very interesting as to the things that James Bond can do after drinking several cocktails.

   Two of the authors, NK, AT watched all 24 James Bond movies in the Eon Productions series (1962–2015; online.   Alcohol-related content was identified, discussed, and recorded on a pre-printed form, and the details then transferred to an Excel file. A third investigator, PS also watched selected segments when there was uncertainty about coding decisions, with final decisions reached by consensus.

     When Bond was seen drinking (the glass or bottle reaching his lips), this was deemed an “observed alcohol use event”. If the alcohol brand or bottle label was not visible, we assessed the beverage as being alcohol on the balance of probabilities. We classified other events as “alcohol use assumed” if actual drinking was not observed but alcohol was on the table in front of Bond and it was likely he had consumed some in that setting. In contrast, we did not assume that alcohol was consumed by Bond if alcohol was present but he was in a dangerous situation, eg, when his drink could be spiked. Examples of inclusions and exclusions are included to minimize the chance of missing drinking episodes, we cross-checked our data with details in a publication on Bond’s drinking.

     The Women in James Bond’s world were similarly classified the alcohol use by the lead woman character in each movie — based on the order of the cast list.   For the two greatest binge events observed, we estimated units of alcohol consumed and Bond’s blood alcohol levels, based on one standard measure of spirits being 25 mL. Blood alcohol concentrations were computed with the routinely used Widmark formula, with Bond’s weight assumed to be that of an average British man approx.. 84 kg.

     Bond’s activities after drinking were recorded for the period until he was presumed to have gone to sleep for the night. Bond’s post-drinking activities included fights, driving vehicles, gambling, sex, athletic extremes, and operating complex machinery or devices. “Alcohol used as a weapon” described instances in which alcoholic drinks were used as vehicles for drugs, or bottles were used in fights or to start fires (eg, Molotov cocktails).   Data on specific visible alcohol brands, eg, on beverage containers, on advertisements in the background, were collected. Evidence for product placement was cross-checked with a website devoted to product placement in movies and with the names of alcohol companies listed in the movie credits.

     Bond had a mean 4.5 drinking events per movie (median, 4; range, 2–9), with no statistically significant trends over the six decades.   Bond has consumed a diverse range of drink types, indicating that he is happy to drink whatever is readily available. He does, however, show a preference for cocktails and other spirits (55% of all drinks). This class includes a cocktail he designed himself (the “vesper”), for which he provided instructions to a barman in Casino Royale (2006). Also included in this category is his fairly stable level of martini consumption. He was seen to drink beer on only four occasions.        One statistically significant change over time has been the declining use of alcohol as a weapon by any character, including Bond.   Alcohol as a weapon mainly involved using bottles in fights, but alcohol was also exploited as a vehicle for drug delivery, eg, chloral hydrate in spiked drinks in From Russia with Love and The Living Daylights and, on two occasions, for starting fires, Thunderball and A View to a Kill.

     Both the lead female characters and the random sample of Bond’s sexual partners had a stable pattern of drinking across the six decades. In contrast to Bond, who has not smoked while drinking since 2002, some of his sexual partners have continued to do so, eg, Séverine in Skyfall, 2012.

     After drinking, Bond frequently engaged in a wide range of potentially high risk activities. These included fights, driving vehicles, including chases, operating complex machinery, eg, flying a helicopter, contact with dangerous animals, and sex. The latter is noteworthy, as it sometimes involved enemies, eg, Fiona Volpe in Thunderball, Helga Brandt, No. 11 in You Only Live Twice, or was undertaken with guns or knives in the bed, eg, Jinx activated a flick knife in bed during a post-coital moment in Die Another Day, 2002. In other movies, Bond was under the influence when escaping a komodo dragon, evading a tarantula, and playing a drinking game with a scorpion on his hand. An example of the extreme complexity of the mix of his post-drinking tasks include a series of contiguous events in Dr. No in 1962: Bond operated nuclear power plant machinery, destroyed almost single-handedly Dr No’s nuclear/space complex, killed Dr No, rescued Honey Ryder, and escaped the island. Similarly, on another post-drinking occasion he successfully killed the “Man with the Golden Gun”, accomplished the mission goal retrieving a solex unit, and escaped the island before it was destroyed. On yet another occasion, after drinking at lunch he chased May Day up the Eiffel Tower, jumped on top of a high speed lift, drove a stolen taxi recklessly on footpaths and through the streets of Paris “violating most of the Napoleonic code” in the process, then jumped about 10 meters from a bridge and through the roof of a barge. Performing these types of activities after drinking has not declined over time, and high stakes gambling by Bond after drinking has indeed significantly increased.

     In conclusion, there is strong and consistent evidence that James Bond has a chronic alcohol consumption problem at the “severe” end of the spectrum. He should seek professional help and try to find other strategies for managing occupational stress. His workplace (MI6) needs to become a responsible employer and to refer him to support services, and to change its own workplace drinking culture.

Read More at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/209/11/licence-swill-james-bonds-drinking-over-six-decades?utm_source=carousel&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=homepage

A Makeover for the Season’s Most Spirited Cookie

Christmas Rum Balls

     I ran across this article in the New York Times and the idea really sounded good.  You might want to give this idea a shot this year instead of the traditional recipe.

     There are plenty of ways to tweak a rum ball recipe. You could change up the nuts, swap out the sugar, add spices or cocoa, or use honey in place of corn syrup. You could drizzle in bourbon or brandy rather than rum. You could even nix the alcohol altogether, using orange juice instead (just reduce the sugar by a smidge).    One element must remain fairly constant, though: the cookie crumbs.  Pulverized wafers cookies — usually vanilla and occasionally chocolate — are the standard, because their dry, crunchy texture allows them to absorb the maximum amount of rum.

     I got the idea during a deep foray into gingerbread house making last winter. After the house was baked and assembled, and all the royal icing scrubbed off the counters and floor, I was left with a large heap of scraps that I nibbled on for a couple of weeks. I pulverized what remained into crumbs and stuck them in the freezer. I had more than two quarts, enough for several batches of rum balls and a few cheesecake crusts, in which gingerbread took the place of the usual graham crackers.  Gingerbread or gingersnap crumbs give these rum balls a spicier edge.

     The rum balls, in particular, were a hit, heady with booze and gently spiced. I liked them so much that this year, even without plans to build a gingerbread house, I decided to make the rum balls anyway. I crushed up a package of gingersnaps in the food processor, and added the chopped pecans and the rum. Then I mixed in some grated fresh ginger to amp up the spice, and substituted maple syrup for the corn syrup to give everything a warmer, deeper taste. 

Read More at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/dining/rum-balls-recipe.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FRum&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

Playful Dolphins in Grand Cayman

     Hangin out in Grand Cayman is a great experience, and at the north end of seven mile beach is the dolphin experience.  I is a great chance to watch the dolphins show off for you they seem t be so happy and are glad to show you their talents.

Special Papa's Pilar Banana Daiquiri

     As we slip into the holiday time of year lets look at something a little bit different for these holiday evenings.  Bananas make great cocktails and this is one that will make the evening or get together very special.

Bahama Bob’s Banana Daiquiri

• 2 oz. Papa’s Pilar Dark Rum
• 1/2 oz. Creme de Banana
• 1/2 oz. Banana Syrup
• Cinnamon Stick (for Garnish)

Place all ingredients into a mixing glass and shale until cooled, pour into a  Rocks glass or  Coupe glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Bahama Bob’s Banana Syrup

• 2 Bananas
• ½ Cup of Sugar in the Raw
• ¼ Cup of Water
• ¼ Cup of Melted Butter
• ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract

Cut 2 bananas into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Combine 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup water in Sauce pan, bring t a boil over a medium heat.  Allow l mixture thicken slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract and remove from heat after the syrup has thickened.