Thread: Home made Bay Rum.

Gday Gentlemen.

I am thinking about making my own bay rum as per the info contained in both Jockeys thread and The Art of Manliness website. Just wondering whether anybody over here has tried? If so could you please share your experiences. I would appreciate any input.

Cheers

Mykel

Wish I could help mate, but I haven't given it a go yet either.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

Wish I could help mate, but I haven't given it a go yet either.


Mick

Cheers Mick. Happy Holidays mate. I have a brother based in Reddy/Kippa Ring and have often thought about treating myself to one of your strops. My professional situation unfortunately has allowed me no such indulgence over the last year or more. Hopefully soon. On a side note, I was speaking to the guy at my local shavershop the other day.. they no longer stock the black beauty strops any longer and are finding it difficult to find another supplier. Apparently they are looking to consistently stock a brand of strop through each store nationwide. I may be completely wrong but this could be an opportunity to pursue. Give it a nudge mate and see what happens.

Cheers

Mykel

Thanks mate, I'll look into it with a phone call and a product sample if they tell me they're interested. Thanks for the heads up mate.
Hope you had a good holiday. I just managed to escape being flooded in out west, so my holidays are going to have to be re-scheduled.


Mick

Mykel,
I've been toying with the idea of putting together some of my own bay rum too. There's a heap of recipes on the net and i've gathered most of the ingredients. The key part of the process is putting it all together whish is the part i haven't done yet. It'll take a few weeks of sitting around waiting, but i'm sure the satisfaction of making something useful yourself will make it worth the wait.
You may have just inspired me to complete the process myself too.

Cheers
Huey

Hey Huey.

Sounds cool. What are you using? Bay wise? The essential oil or Pimenta Whatiever leaves? This is my biggest obstacle. Not sure which way to go or even if I can source the fresh West Indian Bay leaves.

I do know I can get hold of some Vodka and Rum though.

One for me... one for my aftershave

Post your recipe if you can. And keep the thread updated with your results if you actually go ahead. Thanks for the reply too.

Mykel.

G'day Mykel
I made a batch at least a year ago & still using it. Base was some dark rum, Captain Morgan's I think but brand is immaterial. You do need some Bay rum oil ie Pimenta Racemosa. I got mine here : Suppliers of Natural Essential Oils and Vegetable Oils - Australian Botanical Products but you can often get it on eBay if you strike out with abp. I added some Absolut Vanilla Vodka 50/50 so I got 2 bottles out of the process. & a bunch of EO's over time. Frankincense, clove oil, lime oil, etc You can just top it up as you go I even stuck a few orange rinds in the bottle for a few weeks haha. It's hard to muck it up. Just go easy with the EO's & use a good airtight bottle. All the goodies evaporate given half a chance. Probably about a tablespoon or 2 of Bay Rum oil is a good start.

I live in Southern California and that makes me able to grow a Pimenta racemosa tree. I got it on Ebay. It's really small yet, about three feet tall, but I finally harvested about a dozen leaves from it. Someone in the past has pontificated that macerating the leaves will not work but I've found that to be not true. Perhaps if one wanted a much stronger bay rum then yes, distillation would be necessary. However, my bay rum is every bit as strong as one of the traditional products such as St. Lucia or Dominica. All I did was tear the leaves in pieces and let them sit in a cheap gold rum. I could only make about six ounces of it but when my tree is bigger I'll look forward to making a much larger quantity.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

G'day Mykel
I made a batch at least a year ago & still using it. Base was some dark rum, Captain Morgan's I think but brand is immaterial. You do need some Bay rum oil ie Pimenta Racemosa. I got mine here : Suppliers of Natural Essential Oils and Vegetable Oils - Australian Botanical Products but you can often get it on eBay if you strike out with abp. I added some Absolut Vanilla Vodka 50/50 so I got 2 bottles out of the process. & a bunch of EO's over time. Frankincense, clove oil, lime oil, etc You can just top it up as you go I even stuck a few orange rinds in the bottle for a few weeks haha. It's hard to muck it up. Just go easy with the EO's & use a good airtight bottle. All the goodies evaporate given half a chance. Probably about a tablespoon or 2 of Bay Rum oil is a good start.

Thanks Oz.

ABP seems to have it labelled as Bay West Indian. The closest I could see anyway.

I am thinking I will wait until I receive my Ogallala sample pack to actually get going. Considering I have only used Colonel Conk and Wahl I think a little more exposure to some other rums could help me settle on an initial recipe that will have less possibility of being a complete disaster.

How does your rum perform and, more importantly, do you like it?
And does using essential oils mean you need to shake vigorously before use?
Thanks again.

Mykel

No problemo amigo.
Yup Bay West indian is the one.

Performance ? Well it's pretty 'warming' to the skin hehe, but that settles very quickly. I like it fine & in fact never tried any commercial ones before making it but I had a pretty good idea of ingredients from my research. I always shake it before use but that's because the Bay oil floats on top. There may be some other EO's in that layer but the smell is dominated by the Bay. It's not a chore , just a few quick shakes & it's good to go.
The great thing about making your own is that you can tailor it to suit you.

Just found this formula that uses Witch Hazel as a base with very little alcohol. May be of interest ?
http://straightrazorpalace.com/648643-post1.html