Classic Cocktails Using Vitae's Modern Rums

 

Rum Martini--Yes it has been done before, but rarely is it this good. That is because mass marketed white rums are blended to be as flavorless as possible. Generally a Bacardi Superior Martini is what you'll find in this niche mixology of replicating a classic cocktail with rum. In the past I've broken from this mold to make a Rum Martini with Cotton and Reed's dry spiced rum. The result was a dry tasting and complex Martini that was similar to one made with gin with a dash of orange bitters. I didn't opt for any garnish, but if I had, I would have used a lemon or lime twist. 

My most recent rendition with Vitae's Platinum rum is closer to a Vodka Martini, however. I knew that the clean flavor of Vitae's rums, and the not too sugary body, would work well with a savory garnish like an olive. Going light on the vermouth was a good call. Just like drinking a Vodka Martini, the main spirit is the thing. 

• 3 oz. Vitae Platinum rum 
• 1/4 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin used)
• 1 olive garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the olive. 

Rum Old Fashioned--It's been done frequently and with much success, but this one is a beauty. Try making an Old Fashioned the traditional way with rich sugar syrup, Angostura bitters, and an orange peel. But make sure that you choose a richly aged rum, not just something that is dark or spiced. Dark rums, especially black strap, are sweetened with molasses, which gives them that dark color. Their flavor will be simply muddy sweetness and ethanol. You should look for a barrel-aged rum with some years on it. These rums are dark from contact with wood and are superior in quality. 

When I first tried Vitae's Barrel Aged Distiller's Reserve rum, I wanted to make Old Fashioneds with it. 

• 2-3 oz. aged dark or gold rum (Vitae's Barrel Aged Distiller's Reserve used)
• 1 tsp. brown sugar syrup
• several dashes Angostura bitters
• lemon, lime or orange peel

Build cocktail in an Old Fashioned glass by disolving sugar syrup and bitter in the rum by stirring. Then add large ice chunks and continue to stir to allow the cocktail to chill. Twist a fruit zest over the drink and drop it in. 

Aged Rum Manhattan--I've never seen this done before, at least not with only rum as the principal ingredient. But I knew that Vitae's Barrel Aged rum would work fine. It is aged in ex bourbon and wine casks, so it picks up plenty of oak and vanilla notes that make it a good substitute for whiskey. Plus the Manhattan is a wine and spirits cocktail, so everything about Vitae's Barrel Aged rum would work well. And does it ever!

• 3 oz. aged dark or gold rum
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth 
• one dash Angostura bitters
• maraschino cherry

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add cherry for garnish. 

Savane

 

If you live in Virginia, you don't have to look far for distilleries. In fact, you can make a cocktail that is a perfect escape from the ordinary, an exotic vacation, with spirits made only in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Savane is a rum-forward cocktail with acidity and spice. You can think of it as a version of a classic Daiquiri with tropical spices. Swap out lemon for lime juice and throw in banana and a coricopia of equatorial spices from the world tropic zones and you get what I mean.

Here we have Vitae's platinum rum as the base spirit. Vitae is a rum distillery in Charlottesville and Platinum is their flagship rum. MurLarkey's banana whiskey adds ripe fruit taste from an infusion of dried bananas in white whiskey. MurLarkey is known as a whiskey distillery, but they also make vodka and gin. Finally, I made falernum from Blue Sky distillery's Black Beard's Point rum. Blue Sky makes light and spiced rums as well as vodka and gin. 

It all comes together in this colonial cocktail in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum 
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. banana liqueur (MurLarkey Banana whiskey used) 
• 1 tsp. falernum (homemade used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Loma Loma Lullaby

 

A little dry, maybe, for a nightcap, the name just screams tropical beach drink. It's named after a beach on Fiji, after all.

There's a pair of pro tips included in this recipe. The first is that some recipes require just a half of an egg white to make. You can't get a half egg white, however. It's impossible. But if you are going to go through the trouble of measuring and getting the blender dirty, you might as well make two and use the whole egg white. 

The next tip is that blended drinks often taste less alcoholic--that's probably why they are a hit with new drinkers. Floating a potent rum like Cruzan 151 on top keeps your experienced drinkers from feeling like you gave them juice and slush. 

Why is there an egg white in this drink? Unlike strained cocktails or foamy ones, the egg white in blender drinks is really there in place of milk or cream. Think of it as non-dairy substitute.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1 oz. La Grande Passion
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 egg white
• 1 tsp. 151-proof rum

Combine all ingredients except 151 in a blender with ice. Blend until frothy and pour into a chilled Whiskey Sour glass. Float 151 on top.

Kuai Cup

Not so much a tiki cocktail as a Hawaiian drink, the Kuai Cup really scratches that fresh pineapple itch. I squeezed a real pineapple for this drink and the only sweetness it needs beyond that is La Grande Passion, which I made just for these occasions (i.e. when I can't get passion fruit juice).

La Grande Passion is a passion fruit liqueur. Passion fruit itself is hard to get on the east coast. The fruits don't make it here and not many people know what they are or what to do with them. Put them in your Vitae Platinum rum from Charlottesville!

• 3 oz. light rum (Viate platinum used)
•  4 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. passion fruit juice (La Grande Passion used)
• pineapple slice

Combine all ingredients except pineapple slice in a shaker and shake. Strain over fresh ice in a double Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with pineapple (I like the fronds too!)

 

 

Windward Passage

On first look, this cocktail seems a little like a variation on the Tradewinds that includes Slivovitz. It really is its own thing, however; especially when you consider it being served up with pineapple juice, kirsch, and creme de cassis.  The Windward Passage, nevertheless, is a well balanced tropical drink that deserves more attention.

First, it's balance: there's not a lot of sugar here, and grapefruit juice takes it in a tart direction. Yet you can count on the small proportion of creme de cassis and the outsized gob of pineapple juice to soften the acidity and alcohol presence. That again is helped by the kirsch, which really makes it easier to taste the alcohol through the large juice components.

Then, there's the look--foamy pink without using an egg white or grenadine. You can get away with using that pale canned grapefruit juice here if you like and it will still look nice. (I almost always use fresh squeezed so I can garnish with a slice of grapefruit.)

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 3 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 tsp. kirsch (Kammer Kirsch used)
• 1 tsp. creme de cassis (G.E, Massenez used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Martinique Cooler

I feel that if a cocktail is called a Cooler, it needs to be a long drink. That's just me. This short one is still terrific. It is pretty much a blended Margarita made with rum and Mandarine Napoleon. Because I can't get Mandarine Napoleon, a spiced cognac and mandarin spirit, I made it by a process of estimation (below). I'm still keeping my recipe a secret until I've perfected it, because there was a lot of trial and error.

Martinique is a French speaking island in the Caribbean known for its fresh pressed sugarcane rum. I don't have any of that, but the cocktail doesn't specify this. Vitae Platinum is a good substitute anyway, with a fresh taste not unlike Martinique rum.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae Platinum used)
• 1/2 oz. Mandarine Napoleon
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. orgeat syrup
• lime slice

Combine liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled highball glass (maybe if you double the recipe. As printed, it's not enough for a highball and I used and Old Fashioned glass). Garnish with a lime slice. 

Pepper Tree Punch

Spicy, sweet, bitter, fruity--this drink's description covers it all. I feel that while the flavor execution is on point, the garnish game needs work. Why go through the trouble of blending a cocktail just to put it in an Old Fashioned glass. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Then again, these old recipes often don't.

One thing that Pepper Tree Punch has going for it is the blend of rums. Real tiki style recognizes that you have to have a balance between richness and fresh cane flavors. That and fresh juice, spices and Angostura bitters really set this one apart.

• 2 oz. dark rum (Vitae Barrel Aged used)
• 1 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1 tsp. orgeat syrup
• 1 oz. lime juice
• several dashes Angostura bitters
• one pinch of cinnamon
• one pinch cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. 

Barranquilla Buck

A Buck is a fizzy short drink, often made with rum. This cocktail is exactly that and a typical serving you might find in Barranquilla, Columbia. The exception however is that this particular cocktail was made with Vitae Platinum Rum, not a Colombian offering.

It is light, a little dry, but the falernum helps with balance. You really taste the rum, which is a good thing. It should be a little rustic tasting, like most South American rum cocktails. Not fussy, and easy to make and drink.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae Platinum Rum used)
• 1/2 oz. falernum 
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• club soda
• orange slice

Combine all ingredients except soda and orange slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Top with soda and stir. Garnish with the orange slice.

Polynesian Sour

Though there's no traditional spirit from Hawaii or the Polynesian islands, La Grande Passion is probably the the closest a liqueur has come to being Hawaiian. It is, however, French and it is also out of production. I made my own version with armagnac and passion fruit. Now we have the most tropical of Sours ready for consumption on Waikiki Beach or just in your own backyard (or mine.) 

There's a lot going on here: sour lemon and orange juice backed by passionfruit's acidic bitterness, and soft, round armagnac and sweet sugar cane from rum. I'm using the Vitae Platinum rum again with it's light flavor and smooth body. Altogether, you get the impression of something very familiar--because it is just a sweet Sour--and something wholly exotic you've never experienced before.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae Platinum used)
• 1/2 oz. La Grande Passion (homemade recipe used)
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar syrup (or rock candy syrup made thicker with a rich sugar)
• pineapple slice

Combine all ingredients except pineapple slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Sour glass and garnish with the pineapple slice. 

Pino Frio

This long frozen drink really screams Caribbean vacation. It is easy to make with a blender and only a little more of a hassle if you are just using crushed ice and crushed pineapple.

I'm using Vitae's Platinum rum again because it is so flavorful, you can drink it by itself. This cocktail really depends on an interesting rum because it doesn't have much else except pineapple going on. And that is to its credit. It is easy to overdo a tropical drink to the point that it ceases to be refreshing in hot weather--which is kinda the point of tropical drinks. Here falernum serves as the sweetener, so you don't get a sugar rush in the summer sun.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae Platinum used)
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 2 pineapple slices cubed
• dash falernum (homemade falernum used) 
• mint sprig garnish

Combine pineapple and liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Garnish with the mint sprig. 

Ladbroke Road Cocktail

This bright fizzy drink is going for everything English from strawberries to gin. The British love their gin! What better way to enjoy it than with fresh fruit and a long refreshing soda drink. Ladbroke probably refers to Ladbroke Grove tube station in London, a posh area near Notting Hill. Or else it might be the village of Ladbroke in Warwickshire, but I tend to think the former as it is better known.

A note on the bottle pictured left: the label doesn't correspond with a product that I know of. This was an image I printed, perhaps of a now defunct producer of flavored moonshines. What you see here is a Vitae rum distillery bottle with the printed label on top. I have the recipe for this here.

I'm finding that I enjoy these liqueurs I'm making at home more than store-bought ingredients. Often you pay too much for them or the quality is poor compared to what you can make in your kitchen if you have the fresh fruit and good booze.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 oz. homemade strawberry liqueur made with Vitae Platinum rum 
• dash triple sec
• club soda 
• lemon peel
• whole strawberry

Combine liquid ingredients except soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Garnish with the strawberry and lemon twist.

Summer Fizz (and DIY Strawberry Liqueur)

This is a fun drink that I imagine would be great for outdoor sipping in the summer. If only it was warm enough this spring...and we weren't social distancing. Sadly, no pool drinks in the foreseeable future. 

You can use any whiskey you choose, and I recommend Irish or Canadian for their lightness and the fact that they are blended for swift drinking. The heavy portion of grapefruit juice needs a sweet cordial for balance. That's where strawberry liqueur comes in.

There are a number of strawberry flavored cordials on the market. I quickly made this rum-based one using Vitae's platinum rum infused with strawberries while I folded in some strawberry syrup I made on the stove.

DIY Strawberry Liqueur
To make this take a cup of any white rum and soak six cored strawberries in it for three days. Take an

additional six berries and add them to 1/2 cup of white sugar and water. Heat these to boil and stir until the sugar dissolves. Mash the berries while they are hot to make a jam and allow it to cool. Strain the fruit from the syrup and fold it into the strawberry rum. Bottle it in something that seals. It should keep for six months refrigerated.

Now for the cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. blended whiskey (Proper Twelve used)
• 3 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1 tsp. strawberry liqueur (Homemade Vitae based used)
• club soda

Combine all ingredients except club soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. 

Hinky Dink's Fizzy (Smuggler's Cove)

I really enjoyed this drink for its rum flavor and dry spiced gin--wholly different from the flavors associated with spiced rum. For this cocktail I chose Monkey 47 to keep the drink dry like a champagne cocktail.

This cocktail comes from Smuggler's Cove. The Hinky Dink's reference points to the 30's vintage Tiki bar in Oakland, California. The drink itself was invented in the 1980s. Better modern rums and gins are now available, so a drink like this gets a facelift with Monkey 47 dry gin and Vitae modern rum.

• 1 oz. blended lightly aged (white) rum (Vitae Platinum used)
• 1 oz. dry gin (Monkey 47 used)
• 1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. passionfruit syrup
• 1/2 oz. apricot liqueur
• 2 oz. sparkling wine
• mint sprig/ flower garnish

Combine all ingredients except sparkling wine and mint sprig in a blender with crushed ice. Flash blend and open pour into a large snifter or wine glass with the two ounces of sparkling wine in it. Garnish with mint or flowers.

Biscayne Cocktail

It's been a long road to this cocktail. The New York Bartender's Guide of 1997 includes a drink of this name made with one ounce of Forbidden Fruit, a spirit that has been defunct since the middle of last century. That meant I had work to do. I'm not opposed to faithfully recreating a spirit for the sake of this blog, and I've been known to travel to Paris or Iceland to get something I'm looking for, but this spirit is probably my greatest success--and not undeserved.

A lot of things went right about the Biscayne Cocktail, as it turned out. Firstly, that I chose a full-bodied gin like ImaGination by MurLarkey. It is tempting whenever rum and gin are listed in the same recipe to use Vitae gin to match their rum, but I wanted that rosemary and grains of paradise (not to mention barley) to stick out and ground things. Vitae rum, however was a good call because it has a noticeable tropical taste.

But what went off splendidly was the Forbidden Fruit liqueur I made from this recipe I found on Three Points Kitchen. This recipe perfectly balanced the ounce of lime juice and was actively present in the taste throughout. It was a three week process (and months before that of scanning Asian markets for pomelos, which are in season in the winter here in the U.S.), but well worth it to make this spirit.

Once I had these fruits in hand (or by the armload) it was about juicing and peeling. I assembled and crushed the spices according to the recipe and was sure to include blood oranges and orange blossom honey. These items aren't available just anywhere at any time of the year.

Vanilla beans, cardamom pods, coriander, vanilla, cinnamon--this was a challenge. I picked out Meukow VS cognac for the infusion. This turned out to be a good choice because this young cognac had a heavy honeyed nose, but being aged in French oak, was smoother than American brandy, which hews closer to whiskey. 
After two weeks of infusing the juice, fruit peels, cognac, and spices, I removed the solids and added the orange blossom honey. And I'm glad I took the recipie's advice and looked for this specific organic honey. The scent and particular sweetness is exactly what this exotic liqueur needed. After another week, I used a coffee drip filter to remove fine particles and bottled the Forbidden Fruit in a cognac bottle.

Now, at long last, I could make the Biscayne Cocktail!

• 2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 oz. light rum (Vitae Platinum used)
• 1 oz. Forbidden Fruit (see recipe link above)
• 1 oz. lime juice
•  lime slice

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lime slice. 

Bee's Kiss

If you're turned off by the sound of the sweetness or milkiness of this cocktail, don't be. It's quite harmless. The name Bee's Kiss is apt, because it is only a kiss of honey and cream that makes this drink work. A rum with a bit of character helps as well. That is why Vitae Platinum rum is used here. You get that soft sugar notes of molasses from Vitae that you won't find in heavily blended white rum.

I went for organic honey because you don't know what you're getting these days in the plastic bottles that look like bears. The rest is surprisingly easy.

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Tom and Jerry

It's not the overtly violent kids cartoon of analogue television days. The Tom and Jerry is a hot Eggnog drink that dates back to the 1820s. The idea is intriguing. Eggnog is quintessentially Christmas, when it comes to drinking. But in the winter, at least in most places, a hot drink is desired. Tom and Jerry meets both needs.

The trick, which this recipe addresses, is making a hot milk/ egg cocktail without turning it into a hard boiled mess. Some of that involves separating the egg and heating the milk with sugar. I can't explain why beating a yolk separate from the white helps, but someone came up with it and who am I to second guess them. The drink came out pretty good, too.

• 1.5 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1 oz. brandy
• hot milk
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 egg separated
• grated nutmeg

Warm milk with sugar in a saucepan on low heat, stirring occasionally. Separate the egg yolk from the white and beat them. Pour brandy and rum into a warmed mug. Recombine eggs with the spirits and whisk. Pour in hot milk and sugar mixture and whisk. Top with grated nutmeg.

White Lilly

This is a floral cocktail that is designed to be strong and herbal. The herbal notes are very subdued and are replaced by an extremely potent combination of liquors.

I took the White Lilly as another invitation to combine a number of Vitae Spirits, as I've done before. The recipe calls for gin, rum and triple sec, all of which Vitae makes at their distillery in Charlottesville, VA. The gin and orange liqueur are dry and use the Virginia hardy orange as one of the flavors. It is bitter and a little funky, a unique taste in the gin world. Their rum is rich for a white rum, with a little toasted or warmed sugar scent. Together these spirits and a dash of Pernod make an unusually deep drink that will take a moment to appreciate but about an hour to finish.

• 2 oz. gin (Vitae modern gin used)
• 1 1/2 oz. triple sec (Vitae orange liqueur used)
• 1 1/2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum rum used)
• 1/4 tsp. Pernod 

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

New Orleans Buck

I've not been a big fan of the Buck series of cocktails (like the Peach Buck, Gin Buck, Brandy Buck and Rum Buck, that usually include a spirit, lime juice and ginger ale.) But I think my lack of enthusiasm for these drinks comes from using Bacardi rum and cheap ginger ale.

Q Ginger Ale really resurrects these drinks. I'm a huge fan of this cocktail when made with Vitae Platinum Rum, which has a lovely sugary, marshmallow flavor of its own to add. In addition to these, there's lime juice and orange juice--which I think is what makes this cocktail "New Orleans." I'm not surprised at this. Often a bit of orange juice sneaks into a location-specific drink to make it more special (read less tart). This is one long drink that you can enjoy at any time or any place, however. It is rich enough for winter weather, but cooling enough for Mardi Gras celebrations.

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae Platinum Rum used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 oz. orange juice
• ginger ale (Q ginger ale used)
• lime slice

Combine all ingredients except ginger ale and lime slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with ginger ale and stir gently. Garnish with the lime slice. 

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Limey

Limey is the ultimate lime cocktail. It's like a Daiquiri that uses a lime liqueur, lime zest and juice to really get an intense lime flavor. I used Vitae platinum rum for the rum and Vitae orange liquor for triple sec. This triple sec is made of Virginia bitter hearty oranges and other sweet orange flavors in a rum base that tastes the same as the platinum label. 

Since there are few lime liqueurs available, I made my own. My experience making falernum came in handy here, since falernum is a lime and spice liqueur. I just made it without the spices. Instead of rum, this time I used MurLarkey Justice white whiskey. This is unaged barley and corn spirit that tastes a little like a cane juice rum. I made the liqueur by soaking the zest of two limes in six ounces of Justice for a week. When you are ready to use the liqueur, add the juice of one lime and simple syrup to taste and shake it. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. 

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum rum used)
• 1 oz. lime liqueur (homemade MurLarkey Justice lime liqueur used)
• 1/2 oz. triple sec (Vitae orange liquor used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• lime twist. 

Combine liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until slushy and pour into a chilled wine glass. Garnish with the lime twist.

Limbo Cocktail

Calypso music, dancers trying to bend beneath the limbo stick and tropical drinks on the beach all scream Caribbean vacation. This light rum cocktail has banana flavors to make it tropical. It has banana rum from Cruzan instead of banana liqueur, which can sometimes taste like banana candy. I like that this is an all rum cocktail, with Vitae platinum rum to give the drink a heady scent of rum with real flavor.

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1/2 oz. banana liqueur (Cruzan banana used)
• 1 oz. orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.