Spiced Rum: It's Not All About the Captain
Editor's note: On Wednesday afternoons, Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles) stops by with his weekly cocktail column. Today, rum.
"While it's hard for many rum drinkers to get too excited about mass-market spiced rums, the beauty of the situation is that spiced rum is so easy to make at home."
Captain Henry Morgan. Wikimedia Commons
Despite the fact that Henry Morgan was a notorious brigand—with all the vicious unpleasantness that comes along with the job—many rum drinkers find it hard to consider the spirit named after him as much more than a joke. As Eric Felten noted in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal, the popular Captain Morgan’s Original Spiced Rum has typically been associated with imbibing more for quantity than for quality, and long before its release in the United States, “It was so associated with serious drinking in Canada that Maritime Provinces slang for a bender is to be ‘out with the Captain.'"
Spiced rums are dodgy creatures. True, the sweet, vanilla-tinged Captain Morgan has an agreeable enough flavor, but for rum fans the Captain’s appeal is not unlike that of fast food—satisfying on a certain level but ultimately disappointing and altogether forgettable (though like fast food, it’s also immensely popular: Felten notes that in the rum category, sales of Captain Morgan are second only to those of Bacardi). The only other spiced rum in wide distribution, Sailor Jerry, is somewhat more appealing, though the flavor profile doesn’t differ significantly from that of Captain Morgan or its higher-priced colleague, Captain Morgan’s Private Stock.
On a smaller scale, Old New Orleans Cajun Spice Rum takes the concept in a different direction, lacing a blend of aged rums with spices such as ginger, clove, nutmeg, and cayenne, creating a unique and pretty interesting result.
While it’s hard for many rum drinkers to get too excited about the mass-market spiced rums, the beauty of the situation is that spiced rum is so easy to make at home. Felten notes a recipe from Forbidden Island owner Martin Cate that includes vanilla, orange peel, allspice, and other ingredients soaked in aged rum for several days; Saveur also lists a recipe for the “44 Cordial," a sweetened rum flavored with orange peel and coffee beans.
These recipes are good starting points, but there’s a lot of room for individual tastes when making spiced or flavored rum.
Have you taken a crack at making your own flavored rum (or other spirits, for that matter)? If you’ve had good luck with a recipe, share it in the comments.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
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8 Comments:
I make huge batches of my own salsa each year and i often make pepper extracts with any of the peppers that were too nasty to want to use in the salsa. I cut off the nasty bits and dry the peppers in my convection oven, grind them, and then soak 7 or 8 varieties of pepper in rum or vodka (or both) i usually add a touch of honey and some ground black pepper too. amazing stuff. Not exactly a recipie but an easy way to use up unpleasant peppers from your garden.
The trick is to make sure the pepper material is all bound in cheesecloth before you soak it in the alcohol and make sure it it very well sealed before placing it in the fridge to avoid evaporation. I let mine soak for 2 weeks usually before pulling it out and filtering it, first through more cheesecloth, then through coffee filters.
Horatio_Tyllis at 5:53PM on 02/11/09
I'm thinking these spiced rums might be excellent used in Tom & Jerrys, the classic holiday drink that my dad made every year.
- KAB, GoodStuffNW
GoodStuffNW at 7:02PM on 02/11/09
I've made flavored vodka. a couple flavors failed, most were okay - none were great.
emisara at 8:06PM on 02/11/09
You missed mentioning the best spiced rum around. Kilo Kai.
Kilo Kai is a spiced rum blended with the unique flavors and scents of the Caribbean. The complexity arises in the flavors of anise, vanilla, banana, cherry, nutmeg and orange peels. Perfect for your favorite cocktail or enjoyed straight.
ChicagoSpice at 9:47AM on 02/12/09
I make a garden pepper vodka with leftover peppers from the summer's bounty...scotch bonnets, jalapenos, anahiems, bells, paprika...etc. Let it soak for about two weeks, tasting it each day after day 7...drink it with fresh squeezed tomato juice, celery, horseradish...etc. A pepper tequila isn't bad either.
StBernard at 11:04AM on 02/12/09
I frequently make infused and flavored spirits - my most successful being strawberry tequila. One experiment that absolutely failed was mojito-flavored rum, that is, rum infused with mint and lime. It turned an ugly olive color and didn't taste all that great either.
RBF0412 at 1:58PM on 02/12/09
This past Christmas, I did all sorts of experimenting with liqueurs: Key Lime Vodka, Limoncello, Grand Marnier, Coffee Tequila, Irish Cream... so many variations, I forget half of them. They all turned out really well... except the Key Lime Vodka (I totally messed up the process - it was my first liqueur batch that year). But the best... the most successful by far were the batches of Tequila, Vodka and Whiskey that were infused with Celestial Seasonings' Bengal Spice tea bags. I tried a couple of different sweeteners: simple syrup, Agave nectar and locally produced liquid honey. The best was the Vodka and honey.
I guess I have to go back into evil genius mode and experiment with Rum now. I hope hubby doesn't mind waiting for dinner :)
Witchiecoo at 2:23PM on 02/12/09
I made limoncello for Thanksgiving last year. It was insanely easy and the end result completely kicked Danny Devito's ass.
maryofdoom at 2:50PM on 02/12/09