 |
Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of Rum
By Russ Cobbe
Rum is a very sweet tasting alcohol which makes perfect sense since it's made by distilling fermented sugar and water. Fermented sugar can be either cane juice, molasses or concentrated cane juice that in simplest terms can be made by adding some yeast and putting it out in the sun. Molasses comes from boiling sugar cane juice and is what remains after the crystallized sugar is removed. Most Rum is made from molasses and depending on the growing conditions can have distinct flavours. Fermentation takes anywhere from 24 hours for light varieties to several weeks for heavier flavours. All Rum is clear and colourless after coming out of the "still" but is coloured using caramel.
The Caribbean is the center of the rum world and each island group has its own distinct flavour and style. The oldest known operating rum distillery is Mount Gay Distilleries, which began production in 1663. Sugar plantations in the area sold rum at a discount to the Naval ships which helped keep the marauding pirates at bay. Eventually the British navy introduced a daily half pint ration of 160 proof Rum (80% alcohol by volume) that stayed in place until 1969. Pirate movies often talk about Grog which is actually a drink made from 160 proof Rum and Water in equal parts.
So what kind of cocktails can you make from Rum? There are thousands but here are a couple of the more popular ones:
Yellow Bird Recipe
0.5 oz Banana Liqueur
0.5 oz Galliano
2.0 oz Grapefruit Juice
2.0 oz Orange juice
1.5 oz Rum
Shake together ingredients with ice and serve.
Mai Tai Recipe
0.5 oz Amaretto
1.0 Pineapple Juice
1.0 oz Light Rum
0.5 oz Dark Rum
1.0 Sweet and Sour mix
0.5 oz Triple sec
Pour light rum, amaretto and triple sec, in order, into a Collins glass. Almost fill with equal parts of sweet and sour mix and pineapple juice. Add dark rum, a large straw, and serve unstirred.
Don't forget to visit http://www.idrink.com for over 13000 cocktail recipes and lots of drink information.
|
|
|
|
 |
