Post #160982 by Kukoae on Mon, May 23, 2005 2:16 PM

On 2003-07-31 19:00, twowheelin'tiki wrote:
Some of john taylors stuff may in fact be the "real deal", but "velvet" falernum is a liqueur off-shoot that should not be confused with the "mixer" falernum.

I think there's some confusion about exactly what falernum is supposed to be. From the sources I've read (admittedly far from conclusive), it is ALCOHOLIC, or at least, it originally was.

Now the key thing here of interest is whether it was that alcoholic falernum that was used to concoct the recipes in question, or the Sazerac branded flavour profile.

It's tempting to ignore the historical context of a drink's ingredients, and I'm eternally grateful to The Royal Beachbum's recognition and accomodation of this very important detail. It's like this, people:

Let's pretend there was a strange trend in vodkas back in the 1930s-1970s that was sweet and bitter. Lots of drinks were created which specified this "unauthentic" vodka. We fast-forward to the 1990s, and now have ready access to the "Real Deal" of vodkas straight from Mother Russia and other countries.

If we cling to "primacy" (seeking the most authentic/original source), we'd be ALTERING OUR DRINKS, wouldn't we? The mixologists' recipes are assuming a given combination of tastes.

The trick is to realise which falernum was most likely used in the recipes, and to find the best match.

Was JD Taylor's Falernum commonly used/available in the 20th century, or did Sazerac's rule the bar?

=Kukoae=