Post #752114 by AceExplorer on Tue, Oct 6, 2015 1:34 PM

I won't be able to help you with a comparison because once I started making home-made Falernum I never wanted to go back to ANY bottled product.

Making Falernum takes a couple of hours, but it's fun and I mostly do it with a friend. We make our own batches side-by-side. It lasts a long time (freeze your excess!) and is truly "fresh." I'm so happy with it that I really never need to go back to bottled stuff.

Taylor's, from my recollection, was weak and sugar-syrupy. I really disliked it because it had a very small flavor compared to home-made Falernum, and came across as wasted money in light of how wimpy it tasted. It was "pretend Falernum." A Falernum wannabe.

So that this post is not a complete waste of electrons, I would suggest making a batch yourself and then sharing your thoughts on how it compares to your bottled Falernums. I expect Fee Brothers to rank quite high, since so many speak very highly of it. But I'd enjoy reading your impressions.

The last time I was at Frankie's Tiki Room in Las Vegas the bartender told me that he makes his own by hand. (Can't remember if he was talking about just himself, or about ALL falernum at Frankie's.) So my thinking is that if a professional bar makes their own falernum, then there may be a strong reason that homemade is preferred.