Drink of the Day: Rum

Rum is my favorite liquor to consume. In a shot, in a glass, in a cocktail, right out of the bottle; it's all good. I love rum. Rum rum rum! See, in this picture over here? I'm consuming a delicious rum laden Black Cherry Mojito (which you'll find the recipe to in this post ;p) and enjoying it quite a bit. Two of my real life nicknames are Rummy and Rum Stealer. There is no mystery behind either one of those nicknames. They are kind of self-explanatory. For the second one though, I didn't steal rum from a store or anything. Just don't leave your rum unattended around me. If you want to keep it anyway. If you want me to grab it and run away drinking it, then by all means, leave your rum unattended around me. Anyway, I'm featuring drinks today that have rum in them and explaining about what "simple syrup" is. So here we go. =)

Rum Collins

Ingredients:

2 oz Light Rum
1 (Juice of) Lime
Soda Water
1 tsp Powdered Sugar

Garnish:

Lemon slice, cherry

Directions:

Fill a glass with ice. Add rum, juice of lime and powdered sugar and shake to mix well. Strain into a collins glass over ice cubes. Fill with club soda and stir gently. Garnish with lemon slice and cherry.

I found a neat little video to go with the rum collins recipe so if you want to watch it, here you go. =)



How to Make the Rum Collins Mixed Drink


Rum Sour

Ingredients:

2 oz Light Rum
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Garnish:

Cherry, Orange Slice

Directions:

Shake all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with the fruits.


Black Cherry Mojito

Ingredients:

1 oz Bacardi White Rum
1 oz Cruzan Black Cherry Rum (or 1/4 oz black cherry syrup)
4 mint leaves
1 fresh lime
Club soda

Garnish:

Fresh mint, lime wedge, cherry

Instructions:

Muddle mint, lime and simple simple syrup in the bottom of a glass. Fill 3/4 (or 1/2 if you prefer) with ice. Add white rum, add black cherry rum (or syrup) and then top with Soda. Stir well. Garnish with mint, lime wedge and a cherry.

Some people like to do the first step in a separate glass. Then fill another glass with desired amount of ice, pour in the muddled ingredients on top of ice, add liquors and then top with the Soda. Stir well and garnish. Not much difference honestly.

Note: If you use syrup instead of Cruzan Black Cherry Rum, increase the amount of White Rum to 2 oz.


A lot of cocktails call for "simple syrup" and I got a few e-mails asking me if they can use anything to "replace" the simple syrup. So, I'm going to tell you that simple syrup is pretty much sugar water. You can make it at home, no problem.

Simple Syrup Recipe

1. Put one cup of water in a small saucepan.
2. Add two cups of sugar.
3. Heat to a boil while stirring.
4. Reduce heat and continue to stir until the sugar dissolves.
5. Cool to room temperature.
6. Find a clean container that will hold at least a cup and a half.
7. Using a funnel, pour liquid into container.
8. Seal and store in refrigerator up to a month.

You can also add 1 oz of vodka to the simple syrup after bottling it to help with mold/bacteria issues. It's just easier not to keep it around that long though. You can also do a 1:1 ratio and only do 1 cup of sugar per 1 cup of water. If you only want a really small batch, you can do half a cup of water to half a cup of sugar. If you refrigerate it, make sure it's in a container or bottle that will remain tightly sealed.


And as always... Don't drink and drive please. Remember to be responsible when you're out having drinks.

Have a great weekend y'all!