Recipe: Rums needed for recipes?

I bartend at a friend's party once a year, in the spring. Next year, I suggested a tiki theme-- proper tiki. I grabbed some recipes that I like drinking at bars occasionally, but I realized that I often forget to take note of which rums are used. Would other TC denizens please have a look at this list? I found these recipes online, and copied them with the descriptions given.

What I want to know is, how many and which rums do I need? My specialty is liqueurs, I know only the basics about rum types. I hope to buy as few bottles as possible, while still making the drinks properly. Recipes list white and dark Jamaican, light and gold Puerto Rican, Demerara 80 and 151, amber Martinique, Cruzan white, and unspecified dark and light. So is that eight-plus bottles, or are there compromises which don't kill the uniqueness of each mix? If I DO need one of each of these, I still don't know what brands and editions are best.

In a few spots, I mention 'orange liqueur.' I usually buy Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, but will it work well in all of these, or do I need some Grand Marnier, Cointreau, something sweeter for one of them?

I also don't know what 151 to buy. Most of these calling for it ask for Demerara, but zero Demerara 151 is available in Washington (that I can find). I'll be in San Jose/San Francisco next month, so if there's one sold there, I can buy a couple of bottles. If there's anything else anyone suggests for this list, which they're sure is available in California, let me know.

Recipes:

Jamaica Daiquiri--
2oz white Jamaican rum
1/2oz Luxardo Maraschino
3/4oz grapefruit
3/4oz lime
1 tsp simple syrup

Royal Bermuda Yacht Club--
1 1/2oz dark rum (type?)
1/2oz orange liqueur
1/2oz falernum
1/2oz lime

Mai Tai--
1oz dark Jamaican rum
1oz amber Martinique rum
1/2oz orange liqueur
1/2oz orgeat
1oz lime

Scorpion--
2oz Cruzan white rum
1/2oz Demerara 151 rum
1/2oz brandy
1/2oz orgeat
2oz orange
3/4oz lemon

Demerara Dry Float--
1oz Demerara rum (80 proof)
1/4oz Demerara 151 rum
1/4oz Luxardo Maraschino
1/2oz passion fruit syrup
1/4oz simple syrup
1 1/2oz lime
1/4oz lemon

Gun Club Punch--
1 1/2oz light rum (type?)
1/2oz Demerara 151 rum
1 1/2oz grapefruit
1oz lime
1/4oz orange liqueur
1/4oz simple syrup

Test Pilot--
1 1/2oz dark rum (type?)
3/4oz light Puerto Rican rum
1/2oz falernum
3 dashes orange liqueur
1/2oz lime
6 drops absinthe
1 dash Angostura bitters

Zombie--
1 1/4oz gold Puerto Rican rum
1oz Demerara 151 rum
3/4oz Luxardo Maraschino
1/4oz falernum
1 1/2oz pineapple juice
3/4oz lime
1/2oz grapefruit
1/4oz grenadine
6 drops absinthe
2 dash Angostura bitters

151 Swizzle--
1 1/2oz. Demerara 151 rum
1oz falernum
1/2oz lime
6 drops absinthe
1 dash Angostura bitters

War God--
1oz each amber Martinique, dark Jamaican, Demerara 151 rums
1/2oz falernum
1/4oz simple syrup (gomme? I do have a bottle in the fridge, and a local source for it)
1/2oz lime
1/2oz grapefruit
6 drops absinthe
1 dash Angostura bitters

Spindrift--
1oz dark Jamaican rum
3/4oz Demerara 151 rum
1/2oz light rum
1/2oz passion fruit syrup
1/4oz simple syrup
1 1/2oz orange
1oz lemon
2 dashes vanilla extract

Your first move should be to buy the Smuggler's Cove book, which has a very concise rum categorization system that lists readily available rums in each category so it's easy to substitute ones on your shelf for something you don't have. It also has over 100 recipes from the Best American Cocktail Bar for 2016.

Honestly, the book will answer all your questions, and at less than $20, it's cheaper than a good bottle of rum.

I'll take a crack at this:

In most of the cases where it asks for a dark rum, or a dark jamaican Rum, I would suggest you use Appleton VX or - if your budget can swing for it, the 12 year. That should sub well in most of those recipes.

For the 151, you need to get either the Hamilton 151 or the newly re-released Lemon Hart 151. As you're making a Swizzle, one of thise good quality 151s is essential.

For amber Martinique, the Clement VSOP would give you the best option on the Mai Tai, and work in the War God.

To be honest, you could use the Cruzan white anywhere it asks for light or white rum as even your daiquiri has enough ingredients that you don't need anything too premium. strictly speaking it wouldn't make the Jamaican Daiquiri very Jamaican :) But you could always try subbing the Appleton.

Which just leaves the gold rum. If you must have it, Bacardi 8. But as it's for a Zombie, I'd suggest substituting 3/4 or the dark and 3/4 of the light, along with the specified 151.

So that's four rums total. And yes, the Dry Curacao is good for all the orange liqueurs. I'd say a bigger impact on the tastes would be which Orgeat, Falernum and passion fruit syrup you use. But that's a whole 'nother thing :)

[ Edited by: Scaramouch 2016-08-23 08:34 ]

[ Edited by: Scaramouch 2016-08-23 08:36 ]

On 2016-08-23 06:25, JenTiki wrote:
Your first move should be to buy the Smuggler's Cove book, which has a very concise rum categorization system that lists readily available rums in each category so it's easy to substitute ones on your shelf for something you don't have.

JenTiki, I love the book, but I'm not sure I'm completely on board with the rum classification system. Feels like it makes things more complicated, not less, I have to keep referring to the chart.

On 2016-08-23 02:25, TorchGuy wrote:
I bartend at a friend's party once a year, in the spring. Next year, I suggested a tiki theme-- proper tiki. I grabbed some recipes that I like drinking at bars occasionally, but I realized that I often forget to take note of which rums are used. Would other TC denizens please have a look at this list? I found these recipes online, and copied them with the descriptions given.

Wow, nice job, that's 11 drinks, and they're generally not super easy. First, I want to go to your friend's party too - I think you've done a nice job ensuring the drinks will be tasty and memorable. Second, with the complexity of all those, make sure you're not bringing too much to the party if the attendance will be high. You want to avoid getting overwhelmed while also maintaining good quality of the drinks. But if many of the folks will be drinking beer, then that will take some of the pressure off you. I hope it all works out so that you can present both good cocktails and good showmanship. I think you know this, so I hope I'm not stating the obvious. (Like having enough glassware on hand, plenty of ice to get you through the night, and speeding up mixing by using a top-down spindle blender, etc.)

I think the earlier post which suggests well-planned rum substitutions has made a very good point.

Have fun, good luck, and let us know here later how it all turned out. Your lessons learned will help us readers if and when we also decide to do something this grand.

On 2016-08-23 10:33, Scaramouch wrote:

JenTiki, I love the book, but I'm not sure I'm completely on board with the rum classification system. Feels like it makes things more complicated, not less, I have to keep referring to the chart.

Well, rum is complicated. Simplifying it into the outdated categories, of white, gold, dark, and 151 really don't do justice to the diversity of the spirit.

I had a much longer response typed out discussing the misleading simple categories and why more refined categories are necessary, but decided to leave that for another thread another time. I've condensed it to my response above.

I'll also add that I'm glad the chart is there, because the labels on a lot of the rums on the list don't actually tell you what their distillation methods are, or a real number of long they've been aged. Martin has done that research for us.

On 2016-08-23 10:33, Scaramouch wrote:

On 2016-08-23 06:25, JenTiki wrote:
Your first move should be to buy the Smuggler's Cove book, which has a very concise rum categorization system that lists readily available rums in each category so it's easy to substitute ones on your shelf for something you don't have.

JenTiki, I love the book, but I'm not sure I'm completely on board with the rum classification system. Feels like it makes things more complicated, not less, I have to keep referring to the chart.

Hi Scaramouch;

JenTiki is spot on, she's giving you good advice. As for the classification system Martin devised, I actually think it's pretty brilliant. It's not more complicated, it's just that nobody has seen it before. In the book, he suggests putting the numbers as labels on the bottles, doing this will speed up your mixing to be as fast as anything else. I have not gone through that effort, personally I'd rather learn for myself which rums apply to a particular number, but maybe I just like to do things the hard way :wink:

For the veterans, how is this list of subs?
http://5minutesofrum.com/substitutions/

And on this point:

On 2016-08-23 08:33, Scaramouch wrote:
In most of the cases where it asks for a dark rum, or a dark jamaican Rum, I would suggest you use Appleton VX or - if your budget can swing for it, the 12 year. That should sub well in most of those recipes.

Appleton VX = Appleton Signature now, yes?
http://thefloatingrumshack.com/content/index.php/280-appleton-estate-rum-new-packaging

Under the new naming structure Appleton Estate Signature Blend is the new name for Appleton Estate V/X, Appleton Estate Reserve Blend is the new name for Appleton Estate Reserve and Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old is the new name for Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old.

JenTiki is spot on, she's giving you good advice. As for the classification system Martin devised, I actually think it's pretty brilliant. It's not more complicated, it's just that nobody has seen it before. In the book, he suggests putting the numbers as labels on the bottles, doing this will speed up your mixing to be as fast as anything else. I have not gone through that effort, personally I'd rather learn for myself which rums apply to a particular number, but maybe I just like to do things the hard way :wink:

I went through and numbered the rest of the categories without numbers, and then numbered all of my bottles, and my list of recipes. It's been brilliant for me so far. Loving this system.

I'll see about the book, I have lots of time before the party. Thing is, a LOT isn't available in Washington, and it also seems like rums change often, so I'd be afraid half the brands in Smugglers Cove would be gone, gone, not sold in WA, gone, changed, changed, not sold in WA, etc. BevMos here are less than half the size of those I've been to in California, and the few liquor stores selling specialty stuff usually focus on local liquor. Local (made as close as possible and out of local ingredients) is the explosively-popular, trendiest hot ticket in Washington. Gin. vodka, even single-malt, as long as it's from two miles up the road.

Scaramouch, where is the VX better than the 12, or vice-versa? Is it a good idea to have both, or is just one enough? Assuming I have just one, looking at prices, I'm sure I can buy the 12yr.

What about the light Puerto Rican? If I wanted one more bottle, to use in the Test Pilot and maybe 3/4oz. in the Zombie to go with the Appleton, what's a good option?

I can get BG Reynolds orgeat here, I think it's like liquid marzipan, delicious stuff. I get my falernum from a bar which makes their own, better than anything I've gotten in a store-bought bottle so far. Some distributor in the area sells fresh juices to bars, and the bar which makes falernum has bought passion fruit syrup there. I'm open to suggestions on that, if there's a commercial one without HFCS (I won't need a lot of it).

I plan to use orchids as garnishes on a few drinks. The only area supplier for just flowers charges a lot for a box of 30, but a shop which brings in fresh flower leis sells orchid leis, using the same purple-and-white ones, for around $20, with many more than 30 on each.

I found The Gnomon's post on making rock candy on swizzle sticks, so I may make those. I have a bunch of old cast iron pupu hibachis, so I'm going to keep one on the bar with a Sterno can in it and toast pineapple spears on it for the Zombie.

Is there any way to get crushed ice on hand-- like a cooler full of it?

Every drink will have its own glass. At previous parties, I'll be doing all sorts of stuff, so when someone says, "Make me what you made for Jay," I have to reply, "I last made Jay a drink 15 drinks ago, I'm not sure what it was." This time, it's just, "Okay, what glass was it in?" The Zombie and War God will come in new mugs I'm buying; the Test Pilot is in Harvey's buckets (a lucky find, in all my two decades hunting thrift stores I've found real tiki mugs/glasses only three times), and the rest are in vintage glassware. Found some great gray-green Japanese-made short glasses for the Gun Club Punch.

I do get kept busy at these parties, but I'm not slammed, so a menu this big will be okay, I think. I won't be doing one-off drinks like I've done in past years, so I won't need a zillion bottles.

Sonic, if you have them, sell bags of ice nuggets for $3 a bag.

I would check what you can get shipped to you. Hi Times may ship to your state, or look into other online shipping options. That may be your best bet to get a good selection if they are not available in your area.

Good luck, sounds like a lot of work! It also sound like it will be quite the epic party!

Canada still sells both variations of Lemonhart. Maybe a road trip is in order?

Maybe a road trip IS in order!

Nope, no Sonic. Our very first Sonic will be built sometime...the timeline seems uncertain, but it'll be in my city. If I'm lucky, it'll be here by then.

I have a really old (probably 1920s) Gilbert milkshake mixer, which I assume I can use for high-speed swizzling.

Oh, and I need an 80-proof Demerara for the Dry Float.

If I were you, I would look for these...

Puerto Rican Light - Cruzan Aged Light, Flor De Cana 4
Puerto Rican Gold - Bacardi 8, Cruzan Aged Amber
Aged Martinique - Clement VSOP
Jamaican Gold - Appleton VX/Signature Blend or Appleton Special
Jamaican Dark - Coruba, Myer's, Blackwell, or Appleton 12 year/Rare Blend
Demerara 80 proof - El Dorado Superior Dark, El Dorado 5 or 8 year, Hamilton 86
Demerara 151 - Hamilton 151, or the new Lemon Hart, if you can find it.

Zaxby's has crushed ice for sale. Don't know if you have any of those up there. I would just look for a restaurant with pebble ice and ask if you can buy a bag or two. Maybe bring your own bags just in case.

[ Edited by: LeftarmofBuddha 2016-08-23 23:03 ]

Also, if you can find Clement Creole Shrubb, I highly recommend it. Sweeter than the PF Dry Curacao but of the same high quality. Also, it is 80 proof so it adds even more "punch" to your drinks. Works perfectly in a classic Mai Tai.

I've tried Creole Shrubb, very tasty. I'll look for it.

Thanks, LeftarmofBuddha!

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2016-08-24 00:28 ]

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2016-08-24 00:55 ]

On 2016-08-23 19:32, TorchGuy wrote:
I have a really old (probably 1920s) Gilbert milkshake mixer, which I assume I can use for high-speed swizzling.

I'd love to see a photo of that mixer!

Also, good to hear you don't anticipate being slammed with that drink menu. There are some very good suggestions here. Make sure you let us know how it went, and again, see if you can share some photos with us too, maybe even of your bar setup once you get it settled at the party.

Hello Torch-Guy,

Have you been to Total Wine? It's on Strander just east of SouthCenter Mall. They have a great selection of Rum, including Martinique Rums (JM, Clement and Saint James)plus Rhum Barbancourt 8 year which is essential for some tiki drinks. The mix selection is great as well, including small batch Grenadine, BG Reyonlds Flaernum and Passion Fruit Syrup. Best of luck!

On 2016-08-24 11:16, tiki-riviera wrote:

Hello Torch-Guy,

Have you been to Total Wine? It's on Strander just east of SouthCenter Mall. They have a great selection of Rum, including Martinique Rums (JM, Clement and Saint James)plus Rhum Barbancourt 8 year which is essential for some tiki drinks. The mix selection is great as well, including small batch Grenadine, BG Reyonlds Flaernum and Passion Fruit Syrup. Best of luck!

Good call! Based on a quick search of their website, that store (in Tukwila) has a couple dozen of the rum's suggested in the Smuggler's Cove book in stock.

I've gone to Wine World quite a bit, but never looking for rum until last week. My first priority was Demerara 151, and they have no Lemon Hart or Hamilton. I'll definitely go there for some of these others.

The Gilbert mixer is this one: https://img1.etsystatic.com/031/0/6183646/il_570xN.625358733_aqu9.jpg Someone repainted the column pastel pink, and I just don't have the expertise to strip or sand and repaint in the proper "jadite" green.

Here was my bar from about six years ago, when I worked a friend's house party. This is why having a menu, with a finite number of ingredients needed, is good for me: I brought absolutely everything pictured. This house had a long, steep concrete staircase, too.

This was the main party (at a hotel convention) two years ago (we skipped a year). Again, custom drinks. This is just liquor; glasses are all over a table to the right, and shelves behind are full of soda and mixers. The flip-top bottles behind the sink are homemade syrups; the blue bottles at far left are bitters. The weird-looking black thing on the white towel is the case for my pipe, I'm not sure why I set it there.

This party is in a hotel room, and this was the first year the party head splurged on a big suite, with an actual bar. It was a welcome change, having immediate access to a fridge. I'll probably pick up some sort of cheap, portable shelving for my glassware; that year, I used the only small table already in the room, a round thing with a granite top which weighed a ton and didn't hold much.

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2016-08-24 18:13 ]

Front side if the 20215 bar, with all the top-shelf liqueurs up front on the ledge. Crown bottle at far left is homemade nocino. Oh, and no, I don't tend bar dressed like that.

Incidentally, ours is an invite-only party. I took a photo of an average public room party at this convention:

Plastic bottles with convenient molded handles! Monarch and Barton rums, all plastic bottle liquor. Yuck.

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2016-08-24 23:08 ]