Denizen: A Rum From Within

Over the past couple years I have developed quite a love for rum.  Like so many other spirits, I was first introduced to the cane spirit during college after it had been blended (poorly) into a trash can filled with sparkly carbonated stuff a ton of artificial fruit juices, some citrus that I think was left over from the previous year, bubble gum and some hard candies with ice bought at the gas station up the street.  Do you get that my first impressions were nominal at best?  Like meeting the ex-husband while on a first date.

Then there is the rum itself.  These days overproduction, money-saving short cuts, and the marketing world’s love of trying to make every spirit as neutral flavored as vodka by promoting over filtration of taste and smell in the name of the almighty dollar has stolen the very identity of some spirits.  Somewhere along the way someone convinced us that dark is bad, and white is good.  Christ, didn’t we end this discrimination years ago? Didn’t we settle this in the 60′s?

Anyway, rum is a good thing.  It can be made anywhere in the world, and is not as restricted as so many other liquors are making rum a much more varietal opportunity for the distiller and the blender.  Beisdes, most rums are made from molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process, so it starts with a recycled product, and that is a good thing.

I do prefer aged, amber rums to silver/white/unaged/blanco rums.  Why?  Becasue so many of these are the very product of what I hounded on before.  They are tasteless, flavorless and uncharacteristic creatures and lost of their predecessors lively distinctive boldness.  Imagine John Wayne versus Justin Beiber.

Back in the day, even clear rums had character.  They stood proud.  I mean American Eagle proud.  Rum after all was the first native spirit of America.  In fact most rums of that day were not aged either other than the rocking trips a barrel would have taken in a ship’s hold or on the back of a wagon.

So, an ingenious idea:  bring back the old clear rum!  And it has been done with Denizen (not to be confused with the jeans line, though I bet they would make a helluva pairing).  Released just last year, Denizen is a magical blend of rums from Trinidad and Jamaica that create a full flavored rum that yes tastes like rum.  The initial nose is sweet like the smell of fresh sugarcane (what a novel idea!), the color is clear, and holds well at 80 proof.

The mouth feel is medium heavy with notes of tropical fruit and sweet.  I do not detect pepper, and the heat is low.  The finish is clean and refreshing.  Now that is a tasty rum.

Denizen is a blend of 5 rums from Trinidad that are aged up to five years then blended with fifteen rums from Jamaica by blenders in Amsterdam, who have been blending rums since 1723 (Jamaican rums as a category tend to have more wight to them than their brothers and sisters of Puerto Rico and St Croix).

Now, I did say this was a clear rum made up of 20 aged rums.  So how is it clear?  The color has been filtered.  Yes I did bash on filtering earlier, but look back and read again.  I said filtering  flavor was bad. While filtering color while not ny most favorite thing, it is just damn near impossible and WAY too expensive to try to do rum in pot stills and mellow fora short time.  We are subjects of our own technological design.  Personally I would love to have a Jeep I could still work on with having to hook it up to a turbo charged  Hewlett-Packard HP-2700 Chromatigragh

So, Denizen, defined from within, an inhabitant.  I suggest you give Denizen a try and give your inner rum lover a treat.  Retailing for under twenty bucks, and far superior to most of its counterparts, trust me when I say you will love this rum and leave the bat behind!

Repeal Day in Santa Fe

December 5th, aka Repeal Day, is another great moment in American history when we as a country took control of our destiny and said “Enough is Enough”.

Most of us when thinking about Prohibition tend to think of the big cities  and the stories coming out of them about mobsters and speakeasies.  Precious little is written about the small towns like Santa Fe or the Southwest in general.  So I offer you a few tidbits about Prohibition and Repeal in New Mexico

• In 1917,  over 66% of New Mexicans voted for statewide Prohibition.  This is two years before to 18th amendment took place.
• The Editors and journalists of The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper wrote many articles pushing for Prohibition and favored the Temperance Movement.  During Prohibition they drank at a speakeasy on the end of East Palace Ave.
• The owner of The Santa Fe New Mexican, Bronson Cutting, maintained what was called “the finest wine cellar in the Southest”  throughout Prohibition
• Will Shuester, our famous artist and creator of Zozobra, was a bootlegger.
• It is estimated that there were twelve operation stills with a block of the Plaza.
• The Matador was once a speakeasy
• Al Capone, Chicago’s famous mobster, would sometomes hide out in Santa Fe when the heat was on.  He stayed at Bobcat Bites Ranch (now restaurant)
• Most illegal bars in Santa Fe were in someone’s house
• In 1922, twenty cases of illegal hooch was seized on its way the State Republican Convention
• Santa Feans voted 2768 to 201 to bring back the booze in favor of the 21st amendment
• New Mexico ratified the 21st amendment on November 2, 1933

Belly up to the bar, folks.  Why?  BECAUSE YOU CAN!!!!!

Holiday Drinks Part 1: Rompope

The weather has cooled, and the Holidays are upon us.  This means as always a bit of indulgence in family , friends, shopping, parties, food, and yes drink.  The Holidays are a great time to go out, but they are also times to gather around the table or the fireplace, and sit and talk, share, and reawaken belief that life is a good thing.

This belief usually comes with drink (or two).  So for the Holiday Season I want to share some very fun, and in some cases very unique drinks that can easily be made at home.  These are all kid as well as grown-up friendly, and a great chance to spend time with the little imps.

A couple years back I did a post on homemade eggnog, which you can get to by clicking the little blue words.  This year I want to pass along several recipes that you can include in your ceremonious celebrations.  First up…..Rompope.

Rompope (rum-po-pay) is Mexican Eggnog, slightly heavier than other flips (spirits, egg, spice) and used quite frequently as a cooking ingredient throughout Central America.  The dates back to around 1607 where Spanish nuns, many from well-to-do fans were sent to The Santa Clara Puebla in Mexico.  And because they were from the high-end of society these nuns( known as La  Claristas) were accustomed to the best foods, and the best drinks along with the knowledge of quality service.  They were often called upon to wait tableside when royalty was in town!  But most importantly, they were great at making sweet treats.  To this day the local nuns still make Rompope for the town.

Here’s what ya need:

• 8 egg yolks
• 6 cups whole milk
• 1 -1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup blanched almonds
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• rum
• cinnamon sticks for garnish

Here’s what ya do.

Grind the almonds to a fine powder.  Beat the egg yolks until completely creamy and yummy (this is the part the younger kids can do).  Heat the milk over medium low heat and add the sugar and ground cinnamon until dissolved.  Add the milk mixture to the almonds while warm(this is a part the older kids can help with).  The temper the milk almond mixute to the eggs slowly!!!!!  Then add about a cup of rum.  Why Rum?  Why not tequila?  Well, I’ll tell ya.  Tequila may be the spirit Mexico is known for, but it wasn’t around in Santa Clara yet.  It actually was just getting its start in the town of Tequila around the same because it is believed that the Spanish bought the distillation process to Central America.   Rum would have been more available in that the Spanish had brought sugar cane to the Caribbean and Americas.  So we use rum.  Good rum.  And I would suggest a Gold even Dark Rum.

Place in the fridge and it’ll keep for about 3 months, though I doubt it will last that long.  Now if you would like the kiddies to have join in,  just leave the rum out and give them the NA version.  Without booze though the shelf life comes down to about 10 days.

To serve simply pour about 6 ounces into your favorite stemware (The kids will love they get these glasses too!) and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

So how then do we use this in a culinary application?  Here ya go……

• Substitute Rompope for the cream in flan
• Use it as the milk in a Tres Leches
• Pour it over berries
• Add it to ice cream
• Add a little to your coffee.
• Make popcicles

Have a happy start to your Holiday celebrations!

Scarlet Punch: A Thanksgiving Drink For The Whole Family

So the big feast is tomorrow and you need a drink to serve the masses.  Something that doesn’t need a lotta fuss but will get everyone fixed along with the fixin’s.  Well let’s do a punch.  A punch is a great way to get everyone a drink without having to place Uncle Jerry the family “bartender” who tends more to his drink than everyone else’s.

This does take a little planning, so start early.

SHOPPING LIST

• I bottle cranberry juice
• 1 bottle Sparking apple cider
• Whole clove
• whole allspice
• 1 orange
• apple, cranberries  or other decorative fruits (optional)
• Booze of choice (we’ll get there in a few)

First make an Ice Mold: get a large container (1/2 a milk jug, Tupperware, plastic jello mold) and fill it 3/4 with water and set in the freezer.  Don’t worry, your turkey should be thawing somewhere else.  Toss a few cranberries and apple slices in there as well to make it decorative.

Next step: In a saute pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of whole allspice, and 1 tablespoon of whole cloves (couple cinnamon stocks is good too) until fragrant.  Meanwhile put 1 container of cranberry juice in a pitcher.  Once the spices are fragrant, toss them into the pitcher.  Take one orange and slice into wheels, nad toss in the pitcher as well.  Now put everything in the fridge til the next day.

Last Step”  When you are ready to serve, pour the contents of the pitcher into a punch bowl, gently add your ice mold, then top with 1/2 a bottle of sparking cider.

But what about the booze?  No worries!  This punch is designed for fun for the whole family. Have the booze to the side (and away from Uncle Jerry) so the kiddos feel included.

What should the booze be:  In this punch I like 1 oz bourbon, and 1/2 oz Southern Comfort (yeah I have one of those stories too, but don;t worry, this is good!).  Brandy is yummy as is Spiced or gold rum.

Wanna see a vid of me making The Scarlet Punch?  SantaFe.com and I have teamed up for a new video series called “Straight Up with the Santa Fe Barman”