Spiced rum is a relatively new craze taking over our tastebuds, and many bars around the traps have taken to making and sometimes ageing their own. You may have heard of popular brands such as Sailor Jerry and Captain Morgan's Spiced Gold.
I personally love an espresso martini with Sailor Jerry. Spiced rum can do great things for many of your favourite rum drinks. It adds a flavour complexity and sweetness that can often take away some of the "burn" you may experience when drinking rum.
In the spirit (get it, spirit) of making your drinks at home Christmassy and festive, I've decided to show you how I went about making my own spiced rum and how easy it is to make yours too.
Don't get me wrong, the guys from Captain Morgan and Sailor Jerry have their shit together. Their rums are fantastic. But if you have some rum sitting around at home, why not give it a go?!
The first thing you need is (quite obviously) rum. I would suggest using a Jamaican rum because they have a more fruity taste, but any entry level rum will do, but please do not use Bundaberg Rum. This rum has its place (in a pub on tap), but no place here. It has characteristics that are not becoming of spiced rum.. I will touch on them soon in an upcoming post. I have decided to use Appleton Estate VX, a lovely Jamaican rum with big, bold, fruity flavours and a whole lot of balls (strength and taste!).
I encourage anyone travelling overseas to pick up a bottle of rum Duty-Free on their way home because there are just SO many good reasons to have a (1L) bottle of rum lying around. In this case, mine is coming very much in handy!
So let's get into it.. Check out just how easy it is to have a tasty alternative at home!
Ingredients
200ml Rum (you can make as much as you like, just increase your spices as you increase your rum)
1 Birds eye chilli
1 Clove
2 Pods green cardamom
1 Pod black cardamom
1 Star anise
Caraway (about enough to cover your pinky nail)
1/4 Vanilla pod (sliced open vertically)
1 Cinnamon quill
Method
1. Slice chilli in half and crack your cardamom pods
2. Add all ingredients and rum to a jar (or any airtight vessel), and close the lid
3. Put your jar somewhere warm (on top of your TV, coffee machine etc.). In Queensland
it's very possible to leave it in your house and have the same effect. I just left mine on
the kitchen bench where it got some sun, definitely enough warmth to have an effect in
summer.
4. Take out the chilli after one day, and leave the rest of the spices for 4 days. Fine strain
the rest and you're good to go!
You can try your own set of spices. Mine are not the steadfast rule for spiced rum.. Some other suggestions would be:
- Citrus peel (orange, lemon, grapefruit)
- Coffee beans
- Cocoa beans
- Anise
- Fennel
- Dark sugar
- Nutmeg
I would only suggest that you remove coffee or cocoa beans after 1 day of soaking, as the flavour can be overwhelming if they are left too long. Any dry ingredient you can think of just might work. This is a little like a choose your own adventure rum!
It makes me happy to think that you can take this guide and go your own rummy way, so good luck!!
x
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