A comparison of different falernums. - Tiki Drinks and Food

A AceExplorer Grand Member (8 years) Deep in the Jacksonville Flori-duh jungle. Joined: Apr 03, 2008 Posts: 2564	A AceExplorer Posted posted on Tue, Oct 13, 2015 8:37 AM I asked Jeff Berry for his thoughts on today's falernum options. I also asked what he uses at Latitude 29. I'm pleased that he replied and allowed me to share: Aloha Frank! There is no controversy, as I see it: either you have the time, patience, and inclination to make your own falernum, or you prefer to buy off the shelf. Either way is cool, as today we have good options for either way. We make our own falernum at Latitude 29. We would have used Fees, but the HFCS in it kept us from doing so (it doesn't bother me personally, but I would never force that on our guests). So I crafted a specific L29 falernum that is artisanal and organic. But for home use, if HFCS doesn't offend you, I recommend Fees, because Fees specifically created it, at the request of Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, to re-create the flavor profile of the most-used mid 20th-Century brand, A.V. Stansfield's Genuine Falernum (which hasn't been available since the early 1990s, but which we both used back then). It works EXACTLY the way falernum is supposed to in mid 20th-Century tiki drinks. If you don't want to put HFCS in your body, and you don't mind rolling your own, then Paul Clarke's Falernum #8 recipe (in the BBB books and app) is also right on the money flavor-profile wise. Cheers, Jeff *

I asked Jeff Berry for his thoughts on today's falernum options. I also asked what he uses at Latitude 29. I'm pleased that he replied and allowed me to share:

Aloha Frank!

There is no controversy, as I see it: either you have the time, patience, and inclination to make your own falernum, or you prefer to buy off the shelf. Either way is cool, as today we have good options for either way.

We make our own falernum at Latitude 29.

We would have used Fees, but the HFCS in it kept us from doing so (it doesn't bother me personally, but I would never force that on our guests). So I crafted a specific L29 falernum that is artisanal and organic.

But for home use, if HFCS doesn't offend you, I recommend Fees, because Fees specifically created it, at the request of Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, to re-create the flavor profile of the most-used mid 20th-Century brand, A.V. Stansfield's Genuine Falernum (which hasn't been available since the early 1990s, but which we both used back then). It works EXACTLY the way falernum is supposed to in mid 20th-Century tiki drinks. If you don't want to put HFCS in your body, and you don't mind rolling your own, then Paul Clarke's Falernum #8 recipe (in the BBB books and app) is also right on the money flavor-profile wise.

Cheers,

Jeff
*

Post #752497 by AceExplorer on Tue, Oct 13, 2015 8:37 AM