Make Your Own Falernum

Please, I beg you, don't waste LH151 making Falernum. You'll get a great result with Wray & Nephew. The Kaiser Penguin recipe is a fine one, except I find it to be a little clove forward and would recommend cutting back on that a bit (especially if you toast the cloves)

I'm at the point where I make all my own syrups now, and my fridge currently has homemade:

Rock Syrup
Demerara Syrup
Orgeat
Passion Fruit Syrup
Grenadine
Falernum
Vanilla Syrup
Cinammon Syrup
Fassionola (yes indeed, I'm making my own Fassionola, although this is the trickiest to get right)

Without question, almost all are better than store bought. My Orgeat is a toss up vs Latitude 29 Orgeat, which is quite a bit sweeter and more almond forward (because i suspect they use a ton of almond extract). And as I say, the Fassionola is a bit of a work in progress, because I refuse to bow to using Smuckers so mine is all fresh fruit).

Once you've made all your own, you never go back, as you come to appreciate the bright, fresh taste in your cocktails.

But keep your LH151 for floating and swizzles, that stuff's too good for syrup.

[ Edited by: Scaramouch 2016-02-24 06:43 ]

[ Edited by: Scaramouch 2016-02-24 06:45 ]

Warboys, did I mention YES to making half-batches? I see no problem there as long as you measure carefully. To me, larger batches are easier to measure and meet the prescribed ratios. Careful measuring is what I watch for if I do half-batches of things.

I agree with you, Scaramouch, good thoughts. I'll reach out to you sometime in the future about Fassionola, but will look for some posts you may have already made on the subject. Home-made really is tough to beat, and I also have mostly home-made syrups at my bar.

By the way, Kaiser Penguin's article mentions several problems he has with his Falernum, especially with using lime juice. I do not understand this at all, as I have never had his problems with my own Falernums using Paul Clarke's recipes.

I suspect that tasting KP's side-by-side with Paul Clarke's there would be some noticeable flavor differences. In cocktails, these differences may be noticeable, but not necessarily earth-shattering. I do not have plans to make Kaiser Penguin's Falernum because the Paul Clarke's is already so well-refined. If I make KP's, it would only be for comparison, and as adventurous as I am, now I'm thinking of giving it a shot someday, maybe soon...

Hey, isn't this a hoot? I love it! :drink:

On 2016-02-24 06:37, Scaramouch wrote:
Please, I beg you, don't waste LH151 making Falernum.

Amen to that! LH151 is much too important a flavor on its own to sully it with all the other stuff that goes into Falernum. Also, the delicate balance of flavors in a good falernum would be completely overwhelmed by LH151. Use Wray & Nephew or another overproof rum with a more neutral flavor so the almond, ginger, lime, and spices of the falernum can shine.

Hah, thanks for the tips guys. I'll pick up a bottle of Wray & Nephew at the local store today (if they have it). Almond Extract seems to be hell to find here in Germany, though. Went to 3-4 supermarkets last night and couldn't find anything.

I also bought Allspice because of the KP recipe... so maybe I'll go crazy and add that to Clarke's recipe.

Couple of related questions... I suppose there's nothing wrong with using the lime juice from a zested lime, right? Should I juice it first and THEN zest, or would you recommend zesting first?

Also, I hear lime juice might go bad. Should I follow KP's advice and add it when I actually make the cocktails using Falernum? Skip it completely? Or just stick it in and hope it survives?

Good questions, I really want your final product to turn out stellar! My thoughts:

The German word for Almond is "Mandel." I'm sure you've seen Mandelbrot (Almond bread) at certain times of the year.

Allspice - this is a fork in the road you have to decide on, as the two recipes are different. I decided in favor of Paul Clarke's recipes, which others more experienced than me have also encouraged me to do. Allspice and vanilla seem to be considered "variant" additives, and there is quite a bit of room for friendly discussion on what "real" Falernum is, and what color it is.

To use lime juice or not? Again, a fork in the road for you. To me, it's not real Falernum without the lime juice, and I don't understand KP's problems with his lime juice. I do use the lime juice, and it's an essential and fundamental element to me. I obtain two bottles of syrup when using Paul's recipe, and I refrigerate a reasonable amount that I'm expecting to use over SIX months. I freeze the second bottle for future. Big hint here ---> I add 1.5-2 ounces of pure grain alcohol (Everclear) to each bottle to help ensure it stays preserved. This last part was told to me by Jeff Berry when I was a wee little tiki cocktail newbie, maybe 10 or so years ago.

Zest your limes first, then squeeze them for juice afterwards. They would be very hard to zest if you squeezed them first. Remember -- the zest is the green outer layer, and you definitely want to avoid the bitter white pith. Many have resorted to using a Microplane grater for this reason - it makes it harder to dig deep into the lime.

Falernum is good. Let us know how yours turns out. Don't forget that in the early 20th century it was served on-the-rocks all by itself. I test mine this way to see if I over-gingered it. I think how you slice your ginger is one of the determining factors. I once grated my ginger, made my Falernum, and it was WAY too ginger-tasting. Made a good "ginger" syrup of sorts though.

Ignore my capitalization of Falernum. It is quite likely not supposed to be capitalized, and I flip back and forth... I blame sobriety for that...

Cheers!

I'm just about ready to make a new batch of falernum. Gonna try the #9 recipe this time and probably not add the additional lime juice at the end. My batch of #8 was more citrusy than I would have liked and I feel the zest on it's own probably did a good enough job of bringing out that flavor so adding the juice isn't entirely necessary. It's been 6 weeks now and I haven't found that the added lime juice has led to premature spoilage as some have mentioned, but the flavor of the falernum does seem in a perpetual state of changing. Whether that has to do with the lime juice I'm not sure but the first night I just thought it was OK. After a week it started getting better and hit the sweet spot after 2-3 weeks. After that the flavors started dying off and it became pretty subtle. I'm only doing half batches since there's no way I could get through a giant batch before the intensity dies off.

I'm curious if anyone has tried this recipe:

Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Falernum
Makes approximately 650-700ml falernum;

200ml Wray & Nephew Overproof (or alternative white overproof rum - 63%ABV)
50ml Havana Club Especial (or alternative aged rum - 40%ABV)
Zest of 10 medium-sized limes (no pith)
40 Whole cloves (fresh)
90 grams fresh ginger (peeled and sliced thinly - julienne style)
25g Sliced almonds (lightly toast by dry-frying)
8 Whole black peppercorns (crushed)
2 Whole star anise (crushed)
1 Teaspoon spice mix (equal parts ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon and ground allspice)
1/4 Vanilla pod (scored)
Combine all ingredients in a jar, seal, then macerate for 24 hours. Strain through moistened muslin cloth, ensuring you squeeze the solids to extract all liquid. Strain again through coffee filter paper to extract all sediment.
Once clarity has been obtained, add;
50ml Dr Adam Elmegirab's Roasted Almond Orgeat
350ml Sugar syrup (two parts unrefined sugar dissolved in one part water without heating)
Shake everything together and bottle in clean glass bottles (700ml maximum).

Tips;

• Do not macerate in anything under 50%ABV (100 proof) or over 75%ABV (150proof).
• Remove lime zest with a grater. I recommend using a wasabi/ginger grater.
• Use fresh products in every possible instance.
• Use a potato peeler to quickly peel ginger.
• Crush/grind all spices using a pestle & mortar prior to maceration.
• Before straining ensure you moisten both the muslin cloth and filter paper. I recommend moistening with the liquid you are about to filter.
• Do not use heated sugar syrup.
• Do not add fresh lime juice.
• If using used bottles allow to soak in soapy water and then boiling water to avoid contamination

Originally posted here: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/54502-falernum-the-topic/?page=3#comment-1733748

For those curious, here's the orgeat recipe referenced in the falernum recipe:

Dr Adam Elmegirab's Roasted Almond Orgeat
250g Sliced almonds (no skin)
400ml Water / 350g Caster sugar (unrefined preferably)
25ml Brandy/Cognac / 25ml Grand Marnier /25ml Orange or rose flower water (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. Add almonds to roasting tin, place in middle of oven for 15-20 minutes or
until golden brown. Do not grease the tin or add any oil.

Remove almonds, and allow too cool. Once cooled, place the almonds in a bowl and cover with cold water. Allow to
soak for 30 minutes. Drain and discard the water then use a blender or food processor to chop the almonds to a fine grind.
If you need to assist the chopping process, add a little water to the food processor.

Transfer the crushed almonds to a large bowl and mix them with 400ml fresh mineral water and let stand for two
hours. Place a damp cloth, cheesecloth or muslin cloth over another bowl, and strain the almond and water mixture. Squeeze the cloth to extract all the liquid. Put the chopped almonds back into the almond water, let stand for another
hour and then strain again. Repeat a third time if you wish. This will get all the oils/milk/flavour out of the almonds.

Discard the almond pulp, then pour the strained liquid into a saucepan, add the sugar and simmer over a gentle heat,
stirring constantly. Remove from the heat when the sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to cool for fifteen minutes
and then add the brandy and the orange flower or rose water. Once cooled, shake well then transfer the orgeat into a
clean glass bottle and refrigerate.

link here http://bokersbitters.co.uk/orgeat_ver2.html

Very cool! Two thoughts:

1. That's a complicated recipe, likely to scare off a lot of folks, but guaranteed to provide a night of fun in the kitchen.

2. Definitely sounds like the flavor is worth the effort. The black pepper is intriguing, and this sounds quite clove-heavy too.

I stated earlier that the falernum recipes, and the falernum discussions, have become quite fragmented over the last few years. We used to generally rally around Paul Clarke's recipes, and in my case I did so for authenticity's sake under the direct advice of Jeff Berry. But now we're seeing quite a bit of additional creativity with falernums. It really only matters if you're trying to approximate the tastes of classic drinks from the past. If you're not a flavor purist, then I don't think it's an issue.

I'd like to try this recipe, I'm intrigued, and it would make for a fun night in the kitchen. I'd definitely use a Microplane grater instead of the grater mentioned in the recipe. I'm certain this would be quite a bit different from Paul Clarke's, and Kaiser Penguin's, and that's not meant to be a criticism. Thanks for sharing this.

I'm thinking more and more, by reading posts here, that "lots of different falernums" are like "lots of different rums." It's all good.

I'll let you know if I make this, but it won't be anytime soon.

Great to read your thoughts Ace. I recently discovered that my Paul Clarke #9 had gone bad from using lime juice so I was searching his #10 and I found this list of falernums:
https://tartinestotikis.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/falernum-recipe-review/
And that's where I found the above recipe.

I think I'll give Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Falernum a shot soon but maybe halve the recipe. I was thinking of using Bacardi 8 in place of the Havana Club Especial

I totally agree with you on the microplane grater, it made quick work when I made my first falernum.

I do wonder how well it would work in vintage cocktails because of the orgeat and vanilla. Also, with the anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice, it almost seems like an all-in-one Don's mix. Might be really useful in high volume bar setting

I completely agree with you on the many falernums, all good

Thanks, VinylGeek, good notes. I can't emphasize enough that I personally do not find lime to be the cause of any problems in my home syrups. So for purposes of clarification, here are two points - sorry if I'm rehashing this too often...

1. 10-12 years ago, I made my first home-made simple syrup, and it went bad in my fridge. Soon thereafter I spoke with Jeff Berry about syrups at a Hukilau and also came away with his recommendations on falernum and made my first batch of Paul Clarke's. Both syrups went bad after a few months.

2. At a subsequent Hukilau I spoke with Jeff about my problems. I was a newbie, and thrilled that he was so friendly and available at tiki events, so willing to answer questions. I shared my problems and learned from him that I needed to ensure my glassware was sterile (just like home beer brewers do) and learned from Jeff about adding 1 or 2 ounces of Everclear to each syrup. He said "about one ounce," but I've leaned towards 2 ounces per 14oz bottle of syrup because the home-made stuff is always a bit stronger than the store-bought stuff, and figured dilution wasn't a big issue on the flavor. (Note: I used to use short round salad dressing bottles, but have now switched to the medium-sized olive oil bottles because of their integrated and easily-removable pour spouts -- GREAT for syrups.) Then I also began freezing my leftover second bottles of falernum. I have not had any problems with this methodology since then, figuring sterile bottles and the Everclear solved my issues. So based on this I believe personally that lime juice isn't an issue at all. I also believe that lime juice and zest are essential flavor ingredient which tie into the historical roots of the various recipes for falernums which were made by families in the Carribbean.

Hope that helps someone else as they research this topic.

Whether it is "falernum" or "Falernum" - I'll drink to that!

Okie dokie, my virgin Falernum batch is cookin'

Definitely a lot less liquid than I was imagining at this point, although I've still got to make the syrup and decide on if I'm putting lime in or not.

Anything I need to know about the 'wait period'? Is my Pyrex bowl ok? Does it look normal?

[ Edited by: Warboys 2016-02-27 08:48 ]

Looks great, right on target! Nice job zesting the limes too... The pyrex bowl is fine, no worries there, but give it a stirring every now and again if you can. (If you can't don't worry about it.)

Hope it turns out awesome! Let us know what recipe you settled on, did you use lime juice in the mix, and how you like it.

On 2016-02-27 08:48, Warboys wrote:
Is my Pyrex bowl ok? Does it look normal?

Yes the bowl is perfect, it looks like mine always does, except I don't see the julliened ginger. I'm not sure if the recipe you used called for it.

Okie dokie, this is how it turned out...

I used Paul Clarke's Falernum 8: http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2006/07/28/falernum-8/

But I did modify it.

I added 15 Allspice and upped the Wray & Nephew to 8oz, which is something Kaiser Penguin's recipe mentioned.

Everything else is the same, Julienned ginger is in there (although my technique is abysmal so it's more like 'crappy chopped' Ginger). I did add the 4.5oz of Lime Juice in there. Felt it was a 50/50 yes or no decision and went with Clarke's recommendation because everyone is talking about #8 as a good recipe.

Also have some Cinnamon Syrup I made which smells divine, so I'm about to make some Jet Pilots and Zombies. Will be back with a sitrep in a few drunken hours :wink:

Used it in a couple of recipes (Jet Pilot and Zombie) and I think it was great? I don't know what Falernum is supposed to taste like so my only judgement is that the drinks were tasty!

I think I might dip my finger in it and have a taste of the pure Falernum to give a better review!

The consistency was very gloopy... I don't know if that's good or not. There is a ton of 2:1 syrup in the #8 recipe which explains it, although perhaps my sieve wasn't as good as it should have been and some lime pulp got inside. As always, I don't know how the consistency is supposed to be, so maybe it's good or maybe it's bad.

Was really fun though. Definitely need to pick up some big mason jars although my fridge is way too small for me to get anything reasonably tall or reasonably fat :(

Warboys, glad to hear you're finding your falernum tasty! Definitely try sipping it neat, or with a single ice cube.

It is a syrup, so expect a bit of slow pouring, but not gloopyness or blobs of material. Even if your strainer was not super fine, enjoy your first batch and you can make refinements in the future. In my evolution of making falernum, I eventually switched to using a microplane grater. Also, I use 4 layers of cheese cloth to strain mine, then I envelope the solids in the cheese cloth and give it a hearty twist/squeeze at the end.

Also, and I can't remember right now, but I think one of the differences between falernum #8 and #9 is use of simple syrup (1:1) versus rich simple syrup (2:1). But I'd have to look, am not certain about that right now... I do remember the #9 added the use of slivered almonds in addition to almond extract.

Falernum is very important in a number of drinks, and I think you'll always enjoy using your home-made. And it's fun to make.

Hey AceExplorer! Thanks for the clarification. It's been awhile since I've reread this thread so I think in my mind I got confused on the lime juice issue but what you say makes sense.

One question, how do you use the Everclear? To wash the bottle or do you add it to the syrup? That would be in additional to the overproof right?

I think part of my problem was that the bottle I used was one of those swing top with a wire bail. It's a bit old so maybe the rubber gasket went bad.

In other news, I got all the ingredients to make the recipe I posted earlier. I'll report back when I make it.

New batch a brewin'

Falernum #9

Honestly, I prefer the #8. I don't feel the addition of toasted almonds added anything positive to the mix. I first tasted it without adding the fresh lime juice cuz when I added it to my batch of #8 I felt it made it too citrusy. But this time without the lime juice it tasted really unbalanced. So I added it and it tastes fine, but again, not mind blowing. Every drink I made with #8 and the first one I've made with #9 (Cobra's Kiss) have tasted great so I'll continue making my own in place of Fee's or Velvet but I still want to tinker with it some more.

Curious, has anyone noticed their falernum hitting a "sweet spot" after time? Like when I tasted my #8 the first night I wasn't impressed. But after like a week it started getting better and maybe hit the sweet spot around 2 weeks after being made before it started losing flavor and getting dull.

Side note - this time I was able to successfully make a cold process 2:1 sugar syrup (it took over 12 hours of periodic shaking). Can anyone attest to why this method is preferred over hot process in Paul Clarke's recipes?

Nice job, Mike. I've also settled on Falernum #8 for the same reason - using the real almonds in #9 has a minimal impact on the falernum in a cocktail.

Don't shake your cold-process rich simple syrup when you can blend it and be done in 3-5 minutes. I use only cold-process simple syrups here.

Cold process simple syrups don't undergo a transition to "invert" sugar. Someone else posted here (within the past year, I think) that the invert sugar versions last longer --- if I remember correctly. I don't have a problem with my cold-process syrups going bad, possibly because I spike with 1-2 ounces of Everclear pure grain alcohol per bottle as suggested by Jeff Berry.

Go make some more awesome drinks!!!!

On 2016-03-03 20:47, AceExplorer wrote:

I don't have a problem with my cold-process syrups going bad, possibly because I spike with 1-2 ounces of Everclear pure grain alcohol per bottle as suggested by Jeff Berry.

I've always done 1:1 sugar syrup with a cold shake and made 2:1 rich syrup with a boil. Have never added grain alcohol to them and never had a sugar syrup spoil on me. Is the suggestion of doing cold process sugar in the falernum for the sake of preservation or flavor?

Also, I tried your blender method one time and all it did was make my sugar solution cloudy and it never fully dissolved or settled. Maybe I didn't do it long enough. What sort of blender do you use? I tried in a small Ninja.

I think I started adding pure grain alcohol to my sugar syrups early on when I was not using sterile bottles, and when I wasn't making enough drinks. I make sugar syrup in smaller quantities now, and don't add PGA unless I know storage for a longer time is going to happen.

Blender method works fine for me, I use an Oster. I blend for 3-4 minutes, basically blend the hell out of it, and it gets real cloudy. Then all the air bubbles float up and disappear leaving behind a nice clear syrup after 15 minutes or so. I also make small quantities in a pinch using the tiny smoothie blender jars, kind of like the Bullet blender. You might try it again and see if blending longer works for you. If not, then there could be something different about the blade design in the Bullet.

I use Oster because they have a good blade for crushing ice and making drinks with ice. I also use Oster because they haven't messed with the blender base connector in many decades, and ALL their old and new stuff is interchangeable.

Just an update on that Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Falernum recipe I posted earlier in the thread

I made a half batch along with a half batch each of #9 and #10

The clear winner for me was #9 and I believe you right AceExplorer, the lime juice makes a big difference. #10 was nice but it lacked that punch of #9. #10 reminded me more of Taylor's, but I will say I like the toasted clove.

Reading what mikehooker posted makes me believe that #8 maybe where it's at.

Now onto Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Falernum. On first sip, my suspicions were confirmed, way too much anise and orgeat flavors impeding on the ginger-lime-clove balance. Maybe in the right cocktail it can be good but honestly, you're better off with #8/#9 and then adding a few drops of Pernod and orgeat.

Who's gonna try this recipe?

https://talesofthecocktail.com/recipes/how-make-falernum-tiki-staple-thre

Interesting, thanks for sharing. I wonder if the infusions in his recipe are kind of what the "other" recipes also do, but in a different sequence. For his tests, he benefitted from making big batches of infused ingredients, and then he was able to meter out exactly what consistently-flavored material he needed for each of his variations.

My multiple passes at making the syrup have shown that my end result is surprisingly consistent. The variations come mostly from how fine you chop your ginger from one batch to the next, and how well you produce zest by hand. I know that the Zip Zester is not as "thorough" as hand zesting limes, and you can see why in his photo. But it's dang fast at what it does, when it works right... It is, however, a shortcut compared to hand-zesting limes. To correct for this, I would think you'd need to hand-zest limes, weigh the zest, and then use the stuff from the Zip Zester by weight. That would level the playing field from the standpoint of zest. [Zip Zester is out of production. It was for a while sold under a new name -- Zeeler -- but for some reason people thought it sucked and the manufacturing was halted. There are a few for sale "used" on eBay, and there are reviews here-and-there on the web, generally poor. Parts (cutters, blades, etc.) are not super easy to find.]

Since I've posted a fair amount on falernum, it's clear that I take this flavoring seriously in my cocktails for purposes of authenticity. Its very cool to see someone else's approach and experiments. Very interesting stuff.

If someone makes this, I'd like to hear a comparison between other falernums which we've discussed here.

All I want for Christmas is a Zip Zester...... Oh crap, out of business? Dang...