Post #623615 by CincyTikiCraig on Sat, Feb 4, 2012 2:48 PM

On 2012-02-04 13:27, Chuck Tatum is Tiki wrote:
You are not just reducing the alcohol content, but reducing the flavor (Watering down)
you will not get the same results as just buying a bottle of El Dorado 12
to use instead of the LH80, so your math is flawed, sorry.

I'm not trying to recreate El Dorado 12; I use El Dorado 5yr or 80 proof LH (which is 4-5 years of age) as my standard Dem pour. The 80 proof LH version is just the 151 with water added to dilute it to bottling proof, so this should work. The 151 is essentially 'rum concentrate'; like most spirits distilled in column stills, rum comes off the still at a very high proof (190ish for most brands) and distilled water is added to bring the spirits down to their bottling proof. Spirits distilled in pot stills are typically distilled to below 160 proof, and water is added to bring them to bottling proof as well ( unless they are to be sold at full proof, as you see in "Barrel Proof" Bourbons for example). My only issue was the math involved in figuring out how much water to add to approximate 80 proof.

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2012-02-04 14:51 ]