Lemon Hart Crisis (Crisis Averted!--at least for me)

File this under "For What It's Worth"

Got to catch up with Jeff Berry at the Hukilau 2014 and he suggested that, IN SOME RECIPES -- obviously not all -- we can get away with what he called "the switcheroo."

Basically, if a given recipe calls for equal amounts of both a gold rum AND LH151, you can sub out ED5 and Bacardí 151. Not flawless but (to my palate) perfectly delightful and a way to stretch our dwindling supplies of LH151. For example, in the "Spievak" Zombie.

YMMV.

[ Edited by: jokeiii 2014-07-12 06:55 ]

I spoke with one of the bartenders at Tonga Hut, and they stopped using LH151 after the last crisis. Their belief is that this latest iteration of Lemon Hart isn't the original flavor anyway, so why bother. They've reformulated their drinks with Goslings 151.

I beg to differ.

That makes no sense. Because the new label may be slightly different from the old label -- and nobody is going to claim, I don't think, that it's any more than slightly different -- they'll just use an entirely different rum instead?

Silly.

On 2014-07-15 19:42, KrakenHunterSteve wrote:
I spoke with one of the bartenders at Tonga Hut...They've reformulated their drinks with Goslings 151.

I was recently at Trader Sam's and we have another switch to Gosling's 151 as well. Not official yet but that's the current push for once the LH151 supply runs out. I think I might have to buy a bottle to try it myself. I think that Gosling's might be the popular replacement.

I have also been reading here about Goslings 151 and found it online at Total Wine for $25.99.

I do not think it would be a total sub for LH151, but at least it is an alternative. It will be a while before I pick up a bottle (I just re-stocked 6 or 7 of what I ran low on, a number of which were 1.75 liter bottles) and I will post some of my thoughts and impressions here.

The whole "Goslings vs Lemon Hart" thing will provide me with some good reasons to invite friends over for a rum tasting.

What if Goslings bought out Lemon Hart and the current "shortage" was contrived to migrate market share over to the Goslings perch? Hmmmmm...

On 2014-07-17 11:36, AceExplorer wrote:
I do not think it would be a total sub for LH151, but at least it is an alternative.

Right, well that's the thing - never to be considered a replacement, but a workable alternative. The winning quality is that its a dark 151. You just can't (for the most part) replace Lemon Hart with the clear or amber overproof's, particularly Bacardi or Wray & Nephew.

Just when the world is running out of LH151, it comes back in to stock in the UK!

Email I received:

Link:
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-16254.aspx

That's the price it has been since it was reintroduced (£45 / $76 ~ which is overly expensive for an overproof) but I paid the cost as I had to try some following the hiatus.

When I recently stocked up I got mine from ma-wine.com for £28 / $49 (which is a good price for any overproof).

I believe I found the last bottle of LH 151 in Kalamazoo. Paid $35

OK, I think I'm set for as long as I realistically can be:

On 2014-07-17 11:27, kkocka wrote:

On 2014-07-15 19:42, KrakenHunterSteve wrote:
I spoke with one of the bartenders at Tonga Hut...They've reformulated their drinks with Goslings 151.

I was recently at Trader Sam's and we have another switch to Gosling's 151 as well. Not official yet but that's the current push for once the LH151 supply runs out. I think I might have to buy a bottle to try it myself. I think that Gosling's might be the popular replacement.

Shoot! The Murky Mojito was my new favorite there. I guess I'll have to try it with the Gosling's anyways.

[Copy of my post this morning from the "Lemon Hart question" thread.]

Here are my Lemon Hart 151 and Gosling's 151 tasting results from last night's informal "Liver Games" at my home bar:

"Better living through chemistry. Brought to you by the folks at Ace Explorer labs."

Well done, thank you!

It took over a dozen phone calls to locate them, plus $250 (case discount plus cash discount) and a favor from a friend over 200 miles away to secure them, but doggone it, it was worth the trouble. I now have nine more bottles added to my once dwindling stash (I have 11.25 total now) which oughta get me through the drought.

The pickins are getting slimmer, Hi-Time in CA has been out of stock for a week now.
Although still available at other on-line providers, the options are beginning to dwindle.