Category: Rum

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Return to Boo Loo Lounge, Orinda’s Small but Stellar Tiki Bar

Had a great visit to the small but formidable Boo Loo Lounge, located in central Orinda adjacent to the Orinda Theater. I helped organize a meetup of the Patreon community members of the Make & Drink YouTube channel and we had a nice little group there in the afternoon on Saturday. Boo Loo remains such an interesting space due to its small size. A few of us opened the place to secure some seats for the meetup but we were followed by four other couples and this place was actually pretty much full right at opening. But an hour later it was just our group inside, perhaps due to the ebbs and flows of the movie theater attendees.

Boo Loo Lounge Mai Tai

I’m pleased to report the Mai Tai is once again pretty great here, after a past dalliance with the Hamilton Petite Canne Shrubb Orange Liqueur that imparted far too much of a grassy flavor from its Rhum Agricole base. I found the Mai Tai to be plenty rummy, thanks to the Jamaican and Demerara rums, but also very approachable for the casual visitor who might have never visited a tiki bar before. We also heard great things about the Zombie, said to be the best a few had ever tasted, and we thought the Lady of Singapore was a fruity and light cocktail that was very satisfying. The Ruby Daiquiri remains a stellar entry.

One of the guys in our meetup mentioned a rum from Alabama and I inquired with Boo Loo’s manager, Maxton Kennedy. He showed me the two expressions of Rum Trails rum they have, including a Tequila Cask which I didn’t love the taste of. But the Red Wine Cask was full of flavor, so much that it reminded me of rums from Jamaica. The Daiquiri I had with this rum was fantastic.

Maxton Kennedy

The interior remains immersive and cozy, with the music still on point as well. Maxton mentioned the cocktail menu is expanding soon, along with a new bar program feature that some folks will find very… intoxicating. Look for those announcements coming soon.

Rum Trails Daiquiri
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The Rum Curious Club Happy Hour at Forbidden Island

We had a nice afternoon of rum exploration in Alameda a couple weeks ago at Forbidden Island, an event produced by the Rum Curious Club and sponsored by Flor de Caña rum. I’d attended a couple previous Rum Curious events locally that had different formats, but this one seems to be the right scope.

This Happy Hour event had free registration and was held in the afternoon on Forbidden Island’s tented patio that’s still a great place to gather. Rum Champion Bryan Inman led the event and the discussion of Flor de Caña rum, including samples of five expressions including their 25 year old rum. Brand ambassador Melissa Borras also discussed Flor de Caña’s production methods and rum line, with Dan Marshall from Alameda’s CRAFT Beer & Wine in attendance for people to order rums for pickup at discount.

Whereas some of the previous Rum Curious Happy Hour events were paid, this one was free for rum tastings and the option to purchase $10 Flor de Caña cocktails from a special menu. This seems like a great balance and doesn’t require everyone to pay up front especially if they’re not drinking (or not drinking much). And it really helps when those cocktails taste great as they did on this day – shout out to the Forbidden Island team for preparing these delightful drinks.

This was a well-run event, and I think this is the best format for these Rum Curious Club Happy Hour events. You get to try some rum without an upfront cost, there are modestly priced cocktails for those who choose them, and an option to purchase the rum if you like it. This is one of those cases where everyone wins.

Flor de Cana 25!!
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Louisiana Rum: Bayou White / Sweet Crude

I picked up these two Louisiana rums at a grocery store around the corner from our hotel in the French Quarter. I was so impressed a bottle of the now-discontinued 504 Silver from Louisiana I wanted to try some other brands.

Both are 80 proof pot still rums made from sugar cane juice and bottled without age in a barrel (edit: Bayou is made from molasses, Sweet Crude from sugar cane syrup). The overly heavy grassy notes you sometimes see in cane juice rums aren’t present, though the softness I found in 504 or in the Cacachas I’ve tried isn’t there either. Both are clean with mild flavors and a bit of astringency. Nothing particularly special other than the idea of having a rum made in America and using cane juice rather than molasses, and the promise that a rising tide of rum production in Louisiana will lift all boats.

Both were similarly priced, though the Bayou White seems a little richer than the Sweet Crude.

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New Orleans Rum Society

One of the things I made sure to do in New Orleans was get signed up with the New Orleans Rum Society from the Black Duck Bar on the second floor of the Palace Cafe. There’s no cost to sign up and you get a checklist of 37 rums to purchase and taste, and when you complete the list you get your name on the plaque on the wall.

For my first rum I wanted to do something local so chose an aged expression of Old New Orleans Rum. I found this to be quite delicious and plenty flavorful even at 40% ABV. And this pour was really cheap, $6!

Even better is that members get a free pour of the rum of the month, which was the new Mister Fogg Navy Rum when we visited in October. I didn’t love this rum when I bought a bottle a couple months ago but it was pretty nice during our Jazz Brunch visit. We really enjoyed our brunch, by the way, as the Palace Cafe’s food and Dixieland jazz really worked great for a hangover Sunday.

There is a selection of over 130 rums here, so there’s plenty of different brands and styles to choose from when you complete the list or decide to choose your own adventure. If I was a local I’d be able to knock this out in a few fortnights but it’ll be a while in tourist mode. Still, something cool to check out next time you’re in NOLA.

Rum of the Month
Back Bar
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Ultimate Queen’s Park Swizzle?

I’d be meaning to make this and it was featured on this weekend’s video from Derek on Make & Drink on YouTube. Derek highlights the difference between Trader Vic’s original 1946 recipe from his Book of Food & Drink with the commonly seen modern Queen’s Park Swizzle using colorless rums and a gigantic float of Ango on top. That style looks great on menus and social media, but leans closer to Mojito territory and doesn’t hold up to the Ango as well. And let’s remember Trader Vic’s noteworthy description of this cocktail, “Queen’s Park Swizzle is the most delightful form anesthesia given out today.”

So, I went with the classic Trader Vic’s recipe that originally called for a Demerara rum. I’m actually out of 86 proof Demerara rum, so I used the Hamilton Florida Rum Society blend that’s 60% Demerara and 40% Jamaican rum, and I compared it to my boozy Jamaican-forward Ultimate Mai Rum blend to see which I preferred.

Queen’s Park Swizzle by Trader Vic
Half of a Large Lime
Mint Leaves
3 oz 86 proof Demerara Rum (Lemon Hart or Hudson’s Bay)
2 dash Angostura Bitters
½ oz Simple Syrup
Squeeze lime wedges and drop shells with mint leaves at bottom of 14 oz glass. Fill glass with shaved ice, add most of ingredients and swizzle until glass frosts. Garnish with sprig of mint.

Comparing the two drinks, the Florida Rum Society rum provided some of the classic Demerara rum smoky notes and overall worked better in this cocktail. The Ultimate Mai Tai blend didn’t work as well because I went a little heavy on the Ango which seemed to overpowered the rum. You definitely want a bold rum in this style of drink.

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504 Silver Rum from New Orleans

I was so happy to receive this 504 Silver Rum from Happy Raptor Distilling from a friend who brought it back from New Orleans, until I learned the distillery shut down earlier this year. It’s too bad, this is a really nice rum distilled from sugar cane juice. Very similar to some Brazilian Cachacas I’ve tried and Copalli from Belize, also distilled from sugar cane juice, but cool that it was a domestic product.

The savory notes from this cane juice rum are really fantastic in a Mai Tai.

I don’t know if there are still bottles for sale anywhere but if you can find it, do yourself a favor and give it a try.

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Mount Gay Eclipse Navy Strength

Mount Gay Eclipse Navy Strength is a new limited edition expression of the longstanding intro level Barbados rum, now available in a full flavor 57% ABV format. Eclipse is a blend of pot and column still rums and is light in body with a few years in the bottle, so while it is approachable in cocktails there isn’t always the flavor I want from cocktails like a Mai Tai, and it is sort of too much for lighter rum drinks like a Daiquiri. In the past I shied away from Eclipse in lieu of either true lighter rums from Puerto Rico or more flavorful lightly aged rums such as Appleton Signature or El Dorado 5.

But this new Navy Strength expression is much more what I want from a rum, a lot of flavor that comes through in a cocktail and is even pretty approachable when served neat in a glass. The term Navy Strength isn’t a true measurement but conveys the much higher ABV in this expression. Some of the Foursquare products from Barbados can have an overly oaky flavor, including Real McCoy 5 and Old Brigand, but this Mount Gay leans a little more floral.

I made a Mai Tai and found this expression cuts right though and you can really taste the rum, and a great alternative if you’re looking for something that’s a little mellower than the funky Jamaican rums or grassy Martinique rhums.