151 Demerara Substitutes

Well, I'm out of 151 Demerara, and it's not sold anywhere near Cincinnati. Most of the traditional internet retailers that I used to rely upon either no loner ship outside of California, or will not ship 151 proof spirits. I need a sub for Demerara 151 that I can obtain on a regular basis, and I'm hoping for a few recommendations.

I can purchase Gosling's Black Seal, Cruzan & Bacardi 151 plus Stroh 160 locally. I made a round of Jet Pilots tonight with the Stroh 160, which I had an unopened bottle of on hand, and it was vile. It absolutely ruined our cocktails. I wouldn't use Stroh for anything besides flaming a drink. I suspect that the Gosling Black Seal 151 is going to be the closest of the four to the Demerara 151-has anyone tried it? Any better suggestions??

BTW, the only Demerara rum that I can buy locally at all is El Dorado 15, which is sold here at the ridiculous price of $47. I have to order demerara online, period. Such is the misery of life in the Midwest......

Cheers,

Craig

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2009-08-01 01:50 ]

I have a bottle of Gosling's Black Seal 151 and can confirm that it is better than the other choices you listed as a substitute for Demerara 151. Butt in the end, we all know there is no real good substitute for Demerara rum. It is irreplaceable.

Is it true that Stroh isn't even a true rum? I recall reading somewhere that it might actually be a rum flavored grain alcohol. I've never tried it or even looked at a bottle up close.

Thanks Hakalugi,

I don't know what the Stroh "rum" is. It's made in Austria (not Australia)-which is weird enough to begin with. I don't know what it is, but it doesn't tastes anything like rum to me. I had a bottle of it which I had not opened for at least 5 years until tonight. Ye Gods was it bad. What a waste it made of several dollars worth of ingredients in that round of Jet Pilots. I was going to make Zombies tonight, but with only having that Stroh and a very old bottle of Bacardi 151 on hand I decided to make a round of Rongo Bowls instead.

Stroh is not a substitute to ANY rum...I used it in my drink Hydrazine, though.
I have a few 151 rums - Demerara, Cruzan, Gosling's, Bacardi. Gosling's might be the closest, but it still is very very far...
Maybe you'll have to mix a Demerara with some other high proof. This gets tricky because it alters the proportions. Best would be to do it with a "correct" drink to compare.

I feel your pain.
Ran

On 2009-08-01 01:12, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
Well, I'm out of 151 Demerara, and it's not sold anywhere near Cincinnati. Most of the traditional internet retailers that I used to rely upon either no loner ship outside of California, or will not ship 151 proof spirits.

I'm sure you probably know about Hi Time Wine in Costa Mesa. Even they won't ship 151 proof spirits out of California? Here is their Lemon Hart 151. They have a good selection of El Dorado as well. They have a good mail order type system, but then again, I live in Calif.

I need a sub for Demerara 151 that I can obtain on a regular basis, and I'm hoping for a few recommendations.

I have no answer to that. Perhaps Ed Hamilton has an answer?

Thanks for the replies. Hi Times will no longer ship any spirits outside of California, according to their website. I used the Goslings 151 in a round of Zombies and it was very good. It lacked the smokey character the demerara, but it had a good depth and a rich flavour. It makes a good drink.

In a kind of short cut Zombie recipe that appeared in the NY Times a few years ago, Beachbum Berry suggested mixing a dark Jamaican rum like Meyers with Bacardi 151 as a Demerera substitute.

Have you tried looking for El Dorado 151 Demerera someplace closer by? I live in NY and had the same problem getting Lemon Hart shipped to me, but I found a place in NJ that would ship me El Dorado 151.

On 2009-08-03 05:33, Suburban Beachbum wrote:
In a kind of short cut Zombie recipe that appeared in the NY Times a few years ago, Beachbum Berry suggested mixing a dark Jamaican rum like Meyers with Bacardi 151 as a Demerera substitute.

Here's the recipe for that, however it always looked kind of weak to me since Zombies generally have a lot more rum:

Beachbum Berry’s Zombie
3/4 ounce lime juice
1 ounce white grapefruit juice
1/2 ounce cinnamon-infused sugar syrup
1/2 ounce Bacardi 151 rum
1 ounce dark Jamaican rum
Sliced fruit and mint for garnish.

Shake all ingredients well with ice cubes. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with fruit and a mint sprig.

Here's a link to where I order El Dorado 151 from:

http://www.shoppersvineyard.com/1/43737/EL-DORADO-HIGH-STRENGTH-151-RUM

Again, I don't know how far they ship, but it's worth a try.

For floating it's a lot harder, because it needs that distinctive aroma. If it's a 151 Demerara mixed with some other rum in the body of the drink, you can try using the overproof version of the other rum and the standard proof version of the Demerara.

[ Edited by: mbanu 2009-08-06 19:19 ]

Thought I remembered posting on a very similar thread, not too long back. Found it: "Lemon Hart 151 Question".
I came to the conclusion that it's better to focus on taste, first, then alcoholic strength. I can't get Lemon Hart 151º, here. But I vastly prefer the flavor and "nose" of Lemon Hart to El Dorado. So I use the LH 80º in place of the 151º. Then, I add 1/2 oz. of Cruzan 151º, if I think I need to get the total alcohol content back on track.

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2009-08-07 11:03 ]