Rummy

Tonight I decided to experiment with rum drinks. I have both white and gold rum and a zillion mixers, so I figured it wouldn’t be a problem to find some interesting concoctions to try. Naturally, the first 20 or so recipes in my bartender’s book called for egg whites. My bartending books calls for a heck of a lot of egg whites, no matter what the liquor. That’s weird because I can’t recall ever seeing a bartender crack an egg over a drink in public, but maybe they have an egg white button on the mixer gun:)

Anyway, the drink that caught my eye is called the Black Devil. How could it not? I can hear my regular bartender saying it: “Your usual Camper, the Black Devil?”

“Hell, yes!” I’d say. (Get it?)

Anyway the drink called for a black olive, and I always have them in supply- except of course for tonight. Curse you, Black Devil!

I flipped past another 20 or so pages of egg white drinks then finally landed upon the Cuban Manhattan. It calls for white rum, sweet and dry vermouth, Angostura bitters, and a cherry. Can do!

The drink tastes like a Manhattan minus the whiskey. I suppose that’s to be expected. There is the same sweet and dry vermouth combination and cherry topping. To see if I could taste the rum in the drink at all, I had a sip of it straight. I was drinking Bacardi, so I didn’t expect much.

Holy moly! I’ve completely forgotten what rum tastes like. When I recall it, my mouth puckers with sugary sweetness. I guess my taste buds don’t know what they’re talking about. To their defense, even Beverages and More’s website, which usually has a pretty succinct and accurate description of their beverages, lists it as “The number one selling rum in the world; good in any number of tropical drinks from Mai Tai's to Pina Coladas!” That’s like saying “it’s weak and gross, but if you cover it up with enough fruit you won’t even notice!”

I disagree. The Bacardi is rich and interesting on its own. The nose reminds me of sharp, pure alcohol (okay, rubbing alcohol) with a strong natural scent of banana or plantain peels. I had to sniff it about 20 times before I could identify that smell, nearly hyperventilating in the process like when you get lightheaded blowing up an inflatable raft. Anyway, the taste isn’t light and sweet at all; it’s very rich- all coffee and chocolate tastes. Wild!

None of that comes through in this Cuban Manhattan cocktail unless you’re really, really looking for it, and still it’s hard to distinguish it from the bitters. I beefed it up with the addition of a little more rum, and found it to be more interesting, if a little less user friendly.

Long story short: The drink was good, and I have a lot more to learn about rum.