Spiced rum offers bartenders a way of giving an extra hit of flavour to tried and true recipes of old — and it also provides the starting point for more creative and complex drinks. Here, we’ve got three ways to use spiced rum, and three great bottlings.
Chet Faker
• 50ml Stolen Smoked Rum
• 10ml Antica Formula
• 10ml Honey syrup
• 1 Dash Angostura Bitters
Add everything but the rum to bottom to a glass. Add a dash of water then build rum with ice gently. Rocks. Orange twist – originally no garnish though.
This is adapted from a Sam Ross recipe called the Chet Baker — we’ve not changed much, but subbed in the smokiness of this rum instead of the straight up aged rum of the original. Hence, you know, the name.
Spiced Rum Derby
• 45ml Bacardi Fuego
• 30ml lime juice
• 15ml Punt e Mes
• 15ml sugar syrup
• 1/2 passion fruit
Shake all ingredients, double strain and serve up. No garnish.
Adapted from a recipe by Dean Simpson, Wilhelmina’s, Sydney.
Dean Simpson, group bars manager for 8 Hospitality (think Grandma’s, The Wild Rover, and Wilhelmina’s) whipped this tidy little number up for us. We’ve featured a Brown Derby before (made with rum, lime and maple syrup — there’s also one with bourbon and honey); Simpson’s variation uses that as a base and lightens it up with passionfruit and gives it depth with Punt e Mes.
Coconut Grenade
• 60ml The Kraken
• 20ml Routin 1883 Coconut Syrup
• 30ml fresh passionfruit
• 30ml fresh lime juice
• 60ml pineapple juice
• Blue Hawaiian Foam
• Shredded coconut to garnish
Shake all ingredients and strain into coconut cup. Fill with cubed ice. Add foam and shredded coconut.
Adapted from a recipe from the bar that was Hinky Dinks, Darlinghurst.
This drink screams summer — hell, it’s got blue in it, dammit. Pass the leis around — more coconut, please.
Stolen Smoked Rum
Stolen Smoked Rum: a great hit of smoke, the result being heady and masculine – with toffee and vanilla aromas on the nose, coffee, smoke and butterscotch finish on the mouth, and drier than many other spiced rums.
Think Spirits
Bacardi Fuego
Cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla notes are enlivened by a smokiness which adds depth to the flavour and compliments strong mixers such as ginger, coffee and citrus.
Bacardi-Martini
The Kraken
Pours a dark squid ink black. Has a nutty nose with vanilla, coffee, and gunpowder. Slightly sweet on the palate with cola-like vanilla and a spicy, espresso coffee character and caramel, cinnamon cloves and gingerbread before a long, peppery, spiced finish.
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