Falernum taste test

Thanks to Kava King, and his generous investment of a bottle of Sazeracs, we had a taste off of ALL (as far as we know) the falernums.

The first 4 judges did a full visual taste off. We knew what we were drinking. Then we started covering them for a blind test.

Basement Kahuna
Martiki
tikibars (J. Teitelbaum)
Rusty Key
me
Al K.
Wersmo Derinc
Humuhumu
Mano

The Falernums:

Fee Bros.
Sazeracs
John Taylor Velvet
Davinci

Here are the results:
7 out of 9 people preferred the John Taylors

I personally preferred the Sazeracs because it had much more citrus elements.

Mano. I think, like the Fee Bros. best.

The Davinci is so sweet, you'd have to use it in a punch or something.

John Taylors is well balanced enough to drink on the rocks.

Fee Bros is well balanced, too. A good little mixer.

After the taste test, which tikibars documented on his tricorder, I mixed up some test pilots using the Sazeracs and WOW, were they good. Usually the test pilots are a bit bitter. Not tonight, those hard citrus flavors really came on to round that drink out.

Mmmmm. I'm going to make a couple tonight before heading out to see the V-nauts and I Belli.

SO there you have it.

Mano made up a nice little drink with pineapple and falernum - wonder if he'll remember it?

Thanks again for putting that together, pablus. They really are all different, and (imho) more than one of them are crap.

Let it be said, much like the Dentists Of Trident:

"7 out of 9 drunks prefer the taste of John Taylor's Falernum over the other leading brands!"

Pablus...
What kind was it that you put in the "Lost Pilot" you mixed for me?
I can't remember, all I know is that I was sweating cloves the next day.
Good stuff!

That was the Sazeracs.

Good thing I didn't pour the 'test pilot' into your tikimug with the cigarette butt in it that some moronic, inbred troll dropped into it.

So the Sazeracs was a big hit in the Test Pilots. Did you not try mixing with the Velvet Falernum? You guys didn't stop short of a full fledged taste test did you? So which one taste best in a mixed drink???

The ingredients were limited by the 60 or so people plowing through the supplies.

We chose a winner with a sip of each and then I mixed a few from the Sazeracs, since it's so rare.

Every "judge" has had all of these falernums in drinks before... multiple times.

My mouth is watering for a taste right now... but it's only 3:11pm and I'm about to handle power tools.

On 2004-09-29 13:12, pablus wrote:

Every "judge" has had all of these falernums in drinks before... multiple times.

Hence the question on probably more than just my mind; Which one tastes the best in mixed drinks?

Was the Test Pilot with Sazeracs better than a Test Pilot with Velvet Falernum?

Please share.

Well, speaking for myself, I love the flavor of the Sazeracs in the test pilot as described above. I've had test pilots with all of the syrups and the Taylors and my own falernum, but the Sazeracs is best.

martiki - why don't you weigh in on this?
In fact all of the 'judges' should answer on their own.

My studied guess is that the Taylors is going to win, for whatever it's worth.

On 2004-09-29 15:11, pablus wrote:

My studied guess is that the Taylors is going to win, for whatever it's worth.

If I HAD to bet the farm on the outcome, I'd put all my ducats on the falernum that actually has some alcohol in it! Especially with these rascally judges. :lol:

I've only ever had Fee's Bros. I wish we could get Velvet Falernum here in hurricane ravaged Florida. :(

Thank All of You for Doing This!!!

I've seen the John Taylor diss'ed and pooh-pooh'd so many times on TC (by so many TCers whose opinions I respect) that I'd pretty much written it off. You guys deserve, like, a medal or something.

Thanks Pablus! I value your opinion.

Out of the other Falernums, which one would you say tastes most like the Sazeracs?

I've had test pilots with all of the syrups and the Taylors and my own falernum

Could you point me in the direction of a good Falernum recipe? It sounds yummy.

Good falernum recipes are in the Grog Log and Intoxica and also that book of Donn Beach recipes by his daughter or someone close. I'm reticent to post one of Berry's little gems. Grog Logs are like, 10 bucks.

You know - about which ones taste the most like Sazeracs - I never even thought of that. I'll try here in a few minutes... but I'll bet any of the falernums could be cloved and citrused up.

I'm saving some of the Sazeracs to guide me for the next batch of homemade falernum... trying toasted cloves cooked into water to approach that same flavor.

The lime zest of the recipe I posted already comes pretty close to the "Big S."

I'll edit this post to add which one tastes more like Sazeracs. Then we'll know to which to add absinthe and stir with a rooster's feather pretending we're in New Orleans drinking the very first cocktail ever.
----------------EDIT-----------
The fees is more citrus-y.
The taylors is more clove-y.
BUT when I mixed a teaspoon of each into a shot glass, it was the closest to the Sazeracs.

[ Edited by: pablus on 2004-09-30 15:44 ]

Just got back from Hukilau (yes, I know it ended 5 days ago!), and I haven't gone over my tape-recorded notes yet, but if I remember correctly:

7 of 9 people picked Taylor's as their first choice, and one person picked it as second choice. Interestingly, almost all of us of us placed Fee Brothers as the second choice, and 8 of 9 put Di Vinci LAST.

The much-hyped Sazerac came in third on almost everyone's list, except one fella who put it first, and therefore kept the Taylor's from sweeping the first place slot.

All of this said, these tests were done drinking the stuff straight, and we definitely agreed that in a drink, results may vary.

The almost-unanimously third place Sazerac certainly didn't hurt the 'Pilots we were drinking...

Also, as mentioned, we got the idea to do the tests blind after a few of us already took our respective turns. But even with about half of us knowing what we were drinking and when, and the other half doing the blind test, the results were fairly consistent.

On 2004-10-01 01:00, tikibars wrote:
.

All of this said, these tests were done drinking the stuff straight, and we definitely agreed that in a drink, results may vary.

I'm glad you pointed this out.

It's not surprising that in a solo/straight taste test the Taylor's Velvet Falernum would come in first. Being that it is a liqueur, it is of course supposed to be palatable straight. All of the other Falernums are syrups and are by no means expected to by consumed straight.

Thanks Pablus for coming up with an easily available approximation of the Sazeracs (half Fees, half Taylors). I will give this a try.

Well, I try not to post much anymore to Falernum threads, but here's some thoughts:

-Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with trying the Falernums straight, because when it's isolated it's far easier to identify flavors that are harsh or artificial tasting. That's where the DaVinci really loses in my opinion. Not harsh, just really fake.

-Remember the timeline: When you couldn't get John Taylors anymore in the US, Sazerac started making it. When Sazerac stopped making it, Fee Brothers started. (well, a little later- they started in 2001). Drink from the roots people.

-Sazerac's tasted good to me, and very natural like the Taylors, so it's a strong second for me. But the issue really is somewhat moot, isn't it? It's gone!

-Kono, I'm sorry that you can't get the Velvet in FL. Especially since it's produced so close to you! Fee's is a better substitute than Da Vinci as far as I'm concerned. But...A) The reason more judges prefer the JTs is because REAL FALERNUM IS A LIQUEUR! There is supposed to be booze in it! and B) My strong advice to Kono and others on this list who can't get JTs is to follow pablus' recipe and make your own. I think you'll be happier and free of artifical flavors and colors.

-If you can buy JTs...I've said it before, and I'll say it again: please do. Let's make sure it keeps coming to the states.

On 2004-10-02 13:40, martiki wrote:
-Kono, I'm sorry that you can't get the Velvet in FL. Especially since it's produced so close to you!

Until I found Tiki Central I didn't realize how shitty the liquor situation is here in Florida. I used to be a big hophead and home brewer so I knew that many import beers were illegal to sell in Florida due to some arcane law that required all beers to be sold in bottles that conformed to select volumes (8oz, 12oz, 16oz, 32oz etc). Beers that are packaged in bottles of other volumes (ie metric) are illegal here.

I have no idea why so many liquors and liqueurs that I read about here cannot be bought in Florida. I go to all the liquor stores and ask if they can order Trader Vics products or Agwa (sp?) or Velvet Falernum and they tell me that they can't because there's no distributor in the state. Is this some kind of Cosa Nostra thang? Pisses me off.

I was recently visiting my folks in Kentucky and went into a liquor store and bought some Trader Vic's products and some Redrum Voodoo (none of which is found here in Florida). Weird thing I noticed was that in Kentucky all the booze was 70 proof and here in Florida all the booze is 80 proof. Why is that? To make matters even more confusing, back when I lived in Kentucky 15 years ago, you could get 199 proof pure grain alcohol. In Florida, 151 proof is the max allowed by law! There's a sort of faux absinthe called Absente and a guy at ABC Liquors told me that it's only legal to sell in Louisiana and Florida. I don't know if that's true (probably not) but it wouldn't surprise me given all the stupid inconsistencies in state liquor laws.

We need some sort of Anti-Carrie Nation to lead us in a movement to make booze laws standardized throughout these United States and get rid of any measures that prevents a good citizen like myself from enjoying the same libations that Tiki Central brethren (and sisthren) in California and Louisiana enjoy. It's a damned outrage! Why can't I, as a citizen of Florida, get some goddamned Lemon Hart Demerera 151?! Damn the injustice!

Anyway, tomorrow I'm (finally) going to go check out a reportedly good liquor store out Kissimmee way that The Muggler told me about. Hopefully they can order me some Velvet Falernum. I doubt it but still have hope. Rant over. Sorry. Carry on. :)

Kono,
Check the other falernum thread for the places to get the stuff online. If you order one or two bottles - no one notices and no one cares.

BTW, Southern Distributors have at least all of central and south Florida wrapped up... and yes it is some sort of Cosa Nostra thing. Their reps are incredibly ignorant of everything but their catalog, which is pretty sparse.

On 2004-10-03 08:33, pablus wrote:
... and yes it is some sort of Cosa Nostra thing.

Well I guess I better shut up then before I get whacked.

I went to the aforementioned liquor store today and when I asked about special orders she pulls out a book that says Southern Distributors on the front. Damn.

So have you ordered from Hi-Times online? They got it all! They've got the Lemon Hart, the Agwa, the Trader Vics and the Velvet Falernum. No problems getting them to ship to Florida? They seem pretty inexpensive which is nice to offset the shipping costs.

Newbie here, but wanted to let you guys know you definitely missed one (foreign) source of Falernum- Most of the Rum Swizzle recipes from Bermuda like the one here http://www.bermuda4u.com/Essential/bermuda_rum_swizzle.html call for "Bermuda Falernum" which after a little research you I found is now only made by Goslings with the by-product of their rum production, but its not available in the states.

I can't help with the flavor unfortunately- I've never tried it neat, but will have a bottle brought up by a friend in September.

Just "grated" the peelings off of the limes as zest (instead of peeling it off with a potato(e) peeler) and skipped the last clove infusion I originally posted. Instead I cloved it up by heating up the cloves with some sugar syrup.

Hope this helps because it tastes superior to the John Taylors and just beneath the Sazeracs.

I got it right.