Spiced rum may conjure up notions of Captain n’ Coke, from long-forgotten college drinking days. However, the Alander rum from Far North Spirits is a far cry from its commercial cousins. Single estate distillers from Northern Minnesota take great care with their small production spirits. They even grow the grains for their gin and vodka and mill, ferment, and distill everything by hand. As for the rum, they source the sugar cane from a family farm in Louisiana and according to their website “All rum spices are purchased whole (no extracts or flavor-house oils) and infused by hand: whole bean vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. A hint of espresso lends a surprising depth of flavor.” Which they then conclude with this statement:
“Making rum in Minnesota may sound audacious, but then we believe fortune favors the bold.”
As it turns out making rum in Minnesota using Far North’s meticulous care results in a spiced rum that is soft and supple, a hint sweet, with complex chai spices on the tongue. It would be great to sip by the fire place straight up, but at the PRINT. Bar we are putting it into a classic cocktail, the Daquiri. Again, we are not referring to the insipidly sweet thing that comes frozen from a machine, but instead it’s predecessor, the Hemingway Daquiri, a simple blend of lime and grapefruit juice with white rum, simple syrup and a dash of Luxardo Liquer. We thought this cocktail would really let the Alander rum speak for itself. Our twist is that we are using an intense orange simple syrup leftover from the pastry department’s citrus candying.
Closer to Christmas we will also be putting into Egg Nog and Coquito, and if we ever get that cold snap it will make for an elegant version of a hot toddy.
Cheers & Happy Holidays!
