Black Tot Day was 31 July 1970, which is exactly 50 years ago today.
Elexir Distillers, the producer of Black Tot Rum, wants to celebrate this occasion with a 24h virtual Rum festival. Let's join the party !!!
Black tot Day was the day the British Navy were served the last of their famous rum rations. In 1970 it was voted in the UK Parliament to stop the rum ration given fears surrounding the more complex technology in operation across the Navy.
The remaining flagons of rum were stored for special occasions like the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Some flagons found their way to former officers and private collectors. Over the course of several years, Elixir Distillers co-founder Sukhinder Singh tracked down and purchased these last remaining flagons, and blended them together to create his ‘Black Tot Last Consignment’.
From that same distiller we received a bottle of “Finest Caribbean Black tot Rum”, so we could also raise our glass for this celebration. This rum is also inspired by the story of Navy rum and its pioneers of blending. This is a blend of some of the world’s finest rums, bottled without anything added or taken away. Bringing together the rich flavour profiles of Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica, this is a rum with tropical, coffee and chocolate notes.
For my first drink, I keep it simple because I imagine they didn’t have a lot of ingredients available on the ships in those days. For a second drink, I make my own variation on the official 50th anniversary cocktail. In total I’m giving you no less than three ideas to join the celebration.
Black Tot Old Fashioned
Ingredients
50 ml Black Tot Rum Finest Caribbean
10 ml Falernum (I used World’s End Falernum, available in your local liqueur store)
10 ml Cane sugar syrup
1 dash of Angostura bitters
Method
Add everything to a shaker with ice. Shake for 15 seconds and dirty dump into your highball glass. Add some more ice and a sprig of mint. Mine had mint flowers, which look incredibly sexy on the pic.
Want something more interesting and complex ?
BLACK TOT DAY - 50TH ANNIVERSARY COCKTAIL
Ingredients
50 ml Black Tot Rum Finest Caribbean
50 ml Pineapple juice
10 ml Yellow Chartreuse
10 ml Fresh Lime Juice
5 ml Simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Ginger Ale
Method
Pour ingredients (except the Ginger-Ale) together in a shaker with enough ice. Shake hard and double strain in your pre-chilled highball glass, with some nice shards of ice in it. Top with just a little splash of good quality ginger ale. Garnish with mint and lime.
But…
Even when you’re not really into rum cocktails, you should really try this rum neat or with a cube of ice.
Why not pair it with a delicious dessert with pineapple and fresh fruits, some ice-cream and… hey, you only live once… top it with some whipped cream and a cocktail cherry.
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations. For this article parts of the text was supplied by the producer of the base spirit.
Most bartender competitions are more or less the same. The goal is to create a fantastic cocktail, using the product(s) of the organising producer. I was excited to see a completely different competition, launched by Chairman’s Reserve, a rum-brand from Saint Lucia Distillers, based on a small island with the same name south of Martinique in the Caribbean.
Next to their original Chairman’s Reserve Rum, they are also known for their tasty Spiced Rum. The exact recipe of this mix is of course a secret, but they based their ‘Spice Lab’ bartender competition on the skill of spicing up your rum.
Bartenders from nine countries (UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, China and Santa Lucia) could enter the competition and create their own spiced blend, starting from Chairman’s Reserve original Rum. This flagship product is a marriage of aged rums from coffey and pot stills. Each batch is matured separately in ex-bourbon casks. Later they are blended and rested in oak vats for an additional six months. The average age of the blend is five years. This rum has the typical richness of pot still rums, with aroma’s of cooked banana, caramelized fruits and spicy oak derived vanilla. Flavours of chocolate, golden raisin, tobacco and clove with a long and creamy finish.
The known spices used for their Spiced Rum are cinnamon, bois bandé (bark of Richeria Grandis), vanilla pods, nutmeg, cloves, mint, bay leaves, ginger, turmeric, garlic and several fruit syrups and essences.
On Santa Lucia each family has its own secret recipe to create spiced rums. From all the contestants in this competition, three winners will be selected who can produce their own limited edition of spiced rum, which will be marketed internationally.
In the first round the competing bartenders had to describe their vision of a spiced rum. From idea to serve. The selected bartenders from the first round then received a kit containing six spices, and room for a maximum of three extra spices to be added by themselves.
In the kit : cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla pods, almonds and orange peel. This second round will end in September, giving the bartenders enough time to perfect their spiced rum creation and promote it in their community.
Only the best creations will be selected for the third and final round : Three bartenders will be chosen and invited to Santa Lucia from the 17th to the 21st of November 2020 to create their own limited edition of Chairman’s Spiced Rum in collaboration with the R&D team. Part of the profits from this Limited Edition will be donated to local associations to help the hospitality community of Santa Lucia, deeply affected by the COVID19 crisis.
I was very lucky to receive the same kit to do my own experiments. I decided to add star anise and liquorice and mix it up to a nice Spicy Rum Old Fashioned. I added the rum and spices to a small jar and let it macerate for a few days. I removed the spices and had it rest for a few more days, before using it in my cocktail. The result was (for my personal taste)… absolutely delicious !
Spicy Rum Old Fashioned
Ingredients
50 ml Home-spiced Chairman’s Reserve Rum
10 ml Simple syrup
1 dash of nutty bitters
1 dash of orange bitters
Method
All ingredients can go directly into a bold tumbler. Stir with lots of ice. Add a cocktail cherry. Enjoy.
P.S. This drink also pairs fantastic with a good cigar !!!
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.
We’re in the #rumweek, but since our family holidays are coming closer, I don’t have the time to do a full series of drinks now. Nevertheless I’m going to do a few tasty rumdrinks this week. Inspired by the team of Whatz Hap, who added small bottles of Peaky Blinder Black Spiced Rum to the Father’s Day breakfast boxes last month, I decided to make a Peaky Blinder version of the classic Mojito. To my own surprise, after 551 blogarticles I never mixed a Mojito, so it was about time to create a variation on this true Cuban classic 😉
The rum is of course named after the popular TV series Peaky Blinders, telling the story of crimeboss Tommy Shelby and his family in the Birmingham of the roaring twenties. The Peaky Blinder Black Spiced Rum is blended with multiple herbs and spices, adding layers of oranges, nutmeg, vanilla and raisins.
Peaky Blinder Mojito
Ingredients
50 ml Peaky Blinder Black Spiced Rum
25 ml Perrier
1 Lime
10 Mint leaves
2 barspoons of cane sugar
Method
Add four parts of lime and 10 mintleaves into a large glass. Add the rum, sugar and soda. Muddle. Add crushed ice and stir to bring up the goodness. Garnish with a wedge of lime and a sprig of mint. I was lucky to find a few mintflowers in my garden.
P.S. If you have a small bottle like mine, don’t pour it in the glass but plant it in the ice to serve. Stir it up a little before you drink.
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.
The COVID19 virus has disabled the economy and our lives worldwide for several months. It’s interesting to see how organisations and companies handle this situation.
Supermarket Delhaize launched a great campaign, motivating us to ‘catch up’ on all those lost apero-moments during the lockdown. Let’s spend this summer having several great apero-moments with our small bubbles of friends and family in our homes and gardens. How could you ever disagree on that 😊
A few weeks ago they have sent me a totebag with a few nice surprises : A bottle of gin, a few mixers and a bottled cocktail and mocktail, mixed by Star-tender Hannah Van Ongevalle. They also added some coupons for snacks, to pick up at the local supermarket.
I decided to create a fun apero-moment with our neighbours, followed by a tasty BBQ.
For your inspiration, I’ll share what was in the bottles :
Apero Sur L’Herbe (Cocktail)
Ingredients
Gin
Lemon Juice
Peach-Cherry-Vanilla syrup
Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic
Crispy Carole (Mocktail)
Ingredients
Lemon juice
Non-alcoholic gin-style spirit
Camomille-star anise syrup
Fever Tree Ginger Beer
Spread the idea : Catch up on your lost apero-moments too !
#ecobelgisch #inhaalzomer
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.
Each summer I try to create a new tasty summercocktail. Last year it was the Sunshine Lover, which also made it to the menu of cocktailbar Coaster.
This year I created a summer drink in the style of the Caipirinha de Jerez I posted earlier, but added some blood orange juice for a complete makeover. Let’s say it’s a delicious crossover between a Caipirinha and a Daiquiri, with a big splash of sunshine 😉
Summer Sour
Ingredients
25 ml Angostura 1824 Rum
25 ml Pitú Cachaça
15 ml Fresh lime juice
15 ml Blood orange juice
15 ml simple syrup
Method
Shake with lots of ice. Double strain in a cocktail glass with a big block of ice. Garnish with a dried piece of orange or a cocktail cherry. Pick your choice. Enjoy on a hot sunny terrace. Works pretty good with insalata caprese bites.
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.
