Today, August 16th, we celebrate Rum, the wonderful spirit that is the base of many classic cocktails including the Daiquiri, Mai Tai and Pina Colada. Rum was instrumental in the growth of the American colonies, Australia and was a staple for British sailors until 1970.

So what is rum?

It is a spirit distilled from molasses, which is a by product of the sugar manufacture. There are a few instances where Rum is made from straight cane juice. Rum is produced just about any where people grow sugar cane, but it’s true home lies in the West Indies. The style of Rum differs from island to island, with lighter rums coming from Spanish speaking islands, darker from English speaking islands and cane juice based from the french speaking islands.

Rum is produced in 3 main styles. White, Gold and Dark.

White Rum, the best coming from Cuba or Puerto Rico, are unaged and are create base for many cocktails.

Gold Rum, is basically white rum that has been been barrel aged giving it a but more flavor and character.

Dark Rum, is aged the longest in heavily charred barrels. This type of rum is synonymous with Jamaica and Bermuda, but some very fine Dark Rums are now being produced in Nicaragua and Honduras. Dark Rum is also used in cooking quite often.

There are also seveal other types of rum that are really variants of the main 3, including Spiced Rum, flavored and the oh so scary 151, which is an over proof rum. Many distilleries are also making super premium Rums that compete with fine Cognac and Whiskeys.

Interestingly, Rum is the base of many “Polynesian” drinks found in Tiki bars around the world. Still, most of these drinks originated in the Caribbean or in the case of the Mai Tai, Oakland, CA.

Rum is a now experiencing a Renaissance, much like Bourbon and Tequila before it. There is som much more to it that Coke.

Rum cocktails

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Sunday is National Rum Day which is perfect for a hot August Sunday. To celebrate, we are featuring the Macuá, a long drink made with Flor de Caña 4 year old Rum, guava,orange and lime juices and a touch of simple syrup. What are the origins of the day? Not sure yet, but we have a few days to find out.

Macuá

1 ½ oz. Flor de Caña 4 year old
1 oz. guava juice
1 oz. orange juice
½ oz. lemon juice
1/3 oz. simple sugar

Fill ¾ of a cocktail shaker with ice and add Flor de Caña rum, guava juice, orange juice, lemon juice and simple sugar.
Shake well for 20-30 seconds, serve in a Tom Collins glass with ice and decorate with orange slice and cherry.

recipe & photo courtesy Flor de Caña Rum
past drink of the week cocktails

Finally! Season 3 of “Mad Men” premieres August 16. And it’s just not “Mad Men” without booze.

Who can forget when Sally Draper mixed a Tom Collins for the grown-ups? Or when Don Draper wooed Rachel Menken with one of the prettiest Mai Tais I’ve ever seen? And of course there was Freddy Rumson’s … incident in the office after one Screwdriver too many.

So what better way to celebrate the start of this new season than with a 1960s Mad Men cocktail party!

Here are a few cocktails we’ve seen characters order, plus some additional suggestions appropriate for the era.

Old Fashioned (Don Draper)

1 sugar cube
1 dash bitters
1 tsp. water
2 oz. rye whiskey

Muddle the sugar cube, bitters and water in an old-fashioned glass. Add rye and stir. Add ice plus a twist of lemon peel. (Don’t leave the peel in the glass) Garnish with an orange slice.

Vodka Gimlet (Betty Draper)

1 oz. lime juice
1 tsp. simple syrup
1.5 oz. vodka

Shake with ice then strain into a cocktail glass.

Gibson (Roger Sterling)

2.5 oz. gin
1/2 oz. dry vermouth

Stir with ice, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail onion.

Brandy Alexander (Peggy Olson)

1/2 oz. Creme de Cacao
1/2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. heavy cream

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Other 1960s cocktails:

Greyhound
Moscow Mule
Bloody Mary
Negroni

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This Week’s Drink is brought to us by Guest Blogger Caitlin D. (@catincal)

I’m the kind of girl who giggles for no reason, loves twirly dresses and is the first to grab a karaoke microphone. Oh, and I love cocktails.

Watermelon Granita

I’m a huge fan of outdoor dinner parties in the summer and love matching a festive, seasonal drink to a traditional BBQ menu. One of my favorite bartenders, Esteban Ordonez, created the following recipe with DonQ rum that makes me want to sit in an Adirondack chair with grilled corn on the cob in one hand and this concoction in the other. While the drink is surely tasty with regular ice, the crushed ice really makes this drink perfect for the warm weather months. If you don’t have your 80’s style Snoopy Sno Cone machine handy (dotw actually had one of these as a child), a simple ice crusher, like thi Stainless Steel Retro Ice Crusher works great.

Watermelon Granita

1 oz. DonQ Cristal
1 oz. Fresh watermelon juice
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. Fresh lemon juice
1 dash of Yuzu esscence

Served over crushed ice, on a highball glass rimed with a citrus salt and a watermelon stick.

We don’t have a picture of this one, but we do have a video we took at Tales of the Cocktail of Esteban making a passion fruit rum slush (which is kinda like a granita) with liquid nitrogen. OK, so it may not be the same, but it is pretty cool anyway.

more Drink of the Week cocktails

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This is the first in a series of reports from Tales of the Cocktail 2009.

I arrived in New Orleans on Tuesday, the day before Tales of the Cocktail would be in full swing. Still, there were a few events scheduled for the evening. First off, the bloggers reception held at M.S. Rau Antiques on Royal Street. There I was fortunate enough to meet many of my fellow cocktail bloggers and see some really amazing antiques, including this very rare airplane cocktail shaker from the 1930s.

Next it was off to the Benedictine Party at historic Latrobe’s on Royal. It was kinda creepy, with dudes dresses as monks and steamy cocktails. Actually it was kinda fun. Complete with guys dresses like monks, live statuary and secrets. To keep up with the frenzy, a group of us took off uptown to the Maple Leaf Bar uptown where we enjoyed cold Abita beer and the Rebirth Brass Band.

The next day Tales of the Cocktail kicked off in earnest, with sessions & tastings starting at 10:30 am. I slipped into 2009 Big Trends in Cocktail Service, a panel of best of class industry professionals discussed the 4 P’s of Cocktail Service. Yes, there were drinks. Next, I hit a few tastings and the checked out the Cocktail Fresh Market, which was a room full of bartenders making wonderful cocktails using organic and sustainable spirits and ingredients. After that it was on to Royal Street for the official kickoff in front of the Hotel Monteleone, complete with Creole Juleps for all.

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Born in Key West, although some say it was Los Angeles, she was both great as a shot and on the rocks. She had a great run, delighting sorority girls and frat boys on spring break for decades. However, her time has come and the Red Headed Slut has passed on. She was given a proper New Orleans burial least Saturday night, complete with a preacher and marching band. The funeral procession began at Harrah’s directly after the Spirit Awards at Tales of the Cocktail, with a full police escort we paraded up Canal Street and into the French Quarter ending up at Latrobe’s on Royal. Drink were served, of course, a nice Cucumber Cooler courtesy of Plymouth Gin, which were perfect in the New Orleans heat.

So we here at Drink of the Week, raise glass to an old friend.

Red Headed Slut

1 oz. Jaegermeister
1 oz. Peach Shnapps
2 oz. Cranberry Juice

Poor the Jaegar in a highball glass filled with ice, follow with Cranberry Juice. Top with Peach Schnapps and garnish with a cherry. Or split between 2 shot glasses.

Here’s a little video of the parade.

Tales of the Cocktail
past Drink of the Week Cocktails

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The first session I attended during last week’s Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans was a panel titled “2009 Big Trends in Cocktail & Spirit Service”. The panel consisted of Jim Meehan - PDT, NYC, Michael Waterhouse, Devlin Tavern, NYC, and Simon Difford - Source Guide and was moderated by Ryan Magarian - Aviation Gin. The program covered the 4 Ps of Cocktail Service Success, not unlike the 4 Ps of marketing, Product, Precise Execution, Promotion, Passion. It was here that I discover the magic of Tales of the Cocktail, this was no boring seminar and they were serving drinks! A few samples of the cocktail being discussed. Sure is was 10:30 am , but this was New Orleans.

The Panel started off with a discussion product trends.

Spirits
Overall the trend is for full-flavored spirits, moving away from the vodka craze of late. Mezcal, Gin (the new vodka?) and Rye Whiskey are at the forefront of the full-flavored Renaissance. In addition, aged rum is exploding and Jameson sales are through the roof. Cacacha is also making huge strides from just a few years ago.

Sweet
Fortified wines like Sherry, Lillet and vermouth are popular ingredients in cocktails, as well are rice wines sake and shochu. St. Germain elderflower liqueur appears on just about every cocktail menu, and other flower based liqueurs are popping up. Other trending sweeteners include specialty sugars, Agave nectar, Maple syrup and orgeat.

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