Homemade Spiced Rum
With Christmas a few weeks away, it’s time to start thinking about the holidays. And time for my annual tradition of making homemade spiced rum.
I’ve never been a big fan of commercial spiced rum,
such as Captain Morgan. It’s cloyingly sweet and watered down to 70 proof. However, the idea of flavoring rum with spices is a natural, combining the buttery sweet flavors of gold rum with warm winter spices.
So, I decided to strike out on my own and try to make a better mousetrap …err… rum. The first step was to use my olfactory senses to pick up the flavor and then begin to craft the amounts. In the tasting laboratory, spices were mixed and infused. As the recipe developed, I went down a few wrong paths. Interestingly, even with the inferior batches, the evidence quickly disappeared. Over the last couple of years, I think I finally arrived at what I think is a substantial improvement over “store-bought” spiced rum.
Homemade Spiced Rum Recipe
- 1 bottle of quality gold or dark rum (Flor de Cana, Bacardi or Goslings)
- 1 1/2” vanilla bean
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1” cinnamon stick
- 1-point star anise
- 1 allspice berry
- Small grating nutmeg
- Very small piece orange zest
Add the ingredients to the bottle and infuse for one week. Using fine cheesecloth strain the liquor to remove the nutmeg gratings. Taste and make any last minute variations to suit your taste. The finished product makes for great hot rum drinks and can be served as an after-dinner drink paired with a chocolate or nut-based dessert.
Enjoy!
