Bought the wrong Lemon Hart... how is the 'Original'?

Hey guys,

I'm super new to the Tiki cocktail scene and I've been starting my collection of rums. I was browsing a random liquor store the other day and saw Lemon Hart. I was instantly reminded that I need it in a ton of cocktails (including my favourite, the Jet Pilot), heard it was hard to find and bought it.

I went home and realized that it's Lemon Hart 151 that I needed, not Lemon Hart Original.

Am I doomed to never use this bottle or is it required/usable in a few drinks? I did a forum search and all I've discovered is that it came with a horrible Zombie recipe! As I'm so new to Tiki, I'm not well versed in the craft and my knowledge of what tastes like what is extremely limited in terms of replacing ingredients from pre-established recipes (the Beachbum Remixed)

Hang on to that bottle, I think it's 80-something proof, right? I think it's hard (and good) to find, so it's only a matter of time before you will need it. You can also taste it to begin learning about various rum flavor profiles. As a new person to tiki drinks, you've got a great find there. And it's good that you're asking about it here. I'm sure others will chime in here and post more info. Right now, off the top of my head, I can't think of what cocktails I'd recommend. I recall that Swanky and Hurricane Hayward have posted things about diluting the 151 down to the 80+ proof rum, and in their posts they may have also mentioned specific cocktails for which they did this. Go do a search on The Atomic Grog and see what you find there.

Have fun with it, and keep checking those obscure out-of-the-way liquor stores! That's how I've run into some surprising finds.

Oh, one more thing, build out your bar NOW -- you're gonna need double the space you presently have to store bottles, hahaha...

That is not the wrong anything. It's a fantastic rum & has been impossible to get in the U.S. for a long time.

However, if you find you don't need it, pm me & I will happily purchase it from you :)

In either case, you're correct that it is not a 151. It's 80 proof

Nice! That's good to hear. Apparently there's an entire Rum based liquor store here (in Berlin) and I searched their online store and they have 151.. so I'm sorted for that too.

I'm really glad I got into this after 151 started production again, I hear things were pretty hard for a while!

Warboys -- Berlin? Very cool - you can get some great stuff that we can't get in the United States.

Let us know how it goes by posting in "What Are You Drinking Now" as you make more cocktails. You get extra points for posting photos of tiki bars in Germany.

And welcome to Tiki Central - those are nice first posts!

The Lemon Hart 80 is a good rum no doubt, you can use it in any recipe calling for a Demerara rum.

I use El Dorado 8 as my Demerara rum but have a bottle of LH80 I use sparingly - I can also order it from Germany being in the UK but y'know... so little so many drinks.

One drink where I think LH80 has the edge over El Dorado 8 is The Atomic Grogs tribute to the Mai Kai's Yeomans Grog. If you can try a version made with both rums I think you'll see a slight preferable difference for the LH80.

You did the right thing to grab it - I saw Lemon Hart Jamaican on the shelf in a store I used to go to regularly, didn't buy it, went home, researched it, when I returned it was gone & never returned!

On 2016-01-07 11:43, AdOrAdam wrote:

I saw Lemon Hart Jamaican on the shelf in a store I used to go to regularly, didn't buy it, went home, researched it, when I returned it was gone & never returned!

How long ago was that? I have a Lemon Hart cocktail book from the 70s where the majority of drinks call for LH Jamaican. I just assumed it has been unavailable for quite some time, like a decade or more, since I've never seen discussion about it. Wonder what variations of Lemon Hart are available in Europe that we can't get in the US. When I was in Canada last year they had the 80, 151 and spiced at pretty much every liquor store. Can't find any of those in the US anymore.

When i had first got interested in tiki and tiki drinks i asked a specific liquor store, that does their own importing, to see if they could get Lemon Hart in for me and they did, but it was the Jamaican one and i was after the demerara.

Just before Christmas i was looking at some online stores here in Australia and saw some Lemon Hart 151 pictured (the new label/stuff) and immediately ordered a couple of bottles for myself and one for my buddy. (The online store is actually the same place as above, just trading online under a different name). When they arrived and i opened the box, as soon as i saw the yellow caps i knew they had sent me the Jamaican one. Now it was still overproof at 73%, but as it was not the demerara i sent it back and got a refund. I don't recall what the proof was when i originally got a bottle years ago but i'm pretty sure it wasn't OP.

I kinda wish i had kept a bottle now just to see what it was like because it was so long ago when i tried it, and i was new to rums, that i have no idea what it was like, but i needed the money at the time and can 'nearly' get two bottles of some other rum for about the same price (about $75AUS).

I use it to make a Zombie light. Mix a Zombie Punch and use the 80 instead and it has the same flavor but a little less punch. Use it in any recipe calling for the 151 Demerara and it's just fine.

And it's a great sipper...

On 2016-01-08 06:15, Swanky wrote:
I use it to make a Zombie light. Mix a Zombie Punch and use the 80 instead

Oh, how I wish you had done that three weeks ago! :wink:

On 2016-01-07 13:49, mikehooker wrote:

On 2016-01-07 11:43, AdOrAdam wrote:

I saw Lemon Hart Jamaican on the shelf in a store I used to go to regularly, didn't buy it, went home, researched it, when I returned it was gone & never returned!

How long ago was that?

That was... summer 2013 - I think it had this label:

It was priced on a par with Myers etc, if I see it again no doubt I'll pick up a few bottles this time :wink: