Thread: Make Your Own Bay Rum

What do you guys think about this: I just take some store bought bay rum and add a bit of a vanilla bean. Thought about it when I saw the guy using vanilla vodka in his homemade bay rum

I researched several vintage bay rum recipes; I wanted basic, simple, authentic, but light (I have never been able to wear aftershave as its always too strong on me). I found that most recipes used a ratio of 1:128 for the Oil of Bay, so I went with half that (1/4 tsp oil of bay in 8 ounces of aftershave). The Oil of bay (the right one) was easy to find at a local aromatherapy/holistic medicine store in their essential oils stock. Most of the vintage barber recipes I looked at used oil of bay and variations on mixtures of rum, distilled spirits of wine (modern equivalent is everclear or 90% ethanol), and water to arrive at alcohol contents ranging widely from 15% to 65%. I settled on a 50:50 water/Jamaican Rum mix (equals 20% alcohol ) so as to not dry out skin.

Comparing the end product to the commercially made Bay Rum I have (Booster Shaving Products Bay Rum) I found that mine smells extremely similar (maybe a little nicer), and slightly stronger (I expected weaker!). Also like the Booster product, it dissipates fairly rapidly. Works for me!!! I think its more authentic made with the real rum (Booster uses SD alcohol 40 denatured alcohol) and no artificial colouring (I used amber rum).

Recipe: 1/4 teaspoon oil of bay, 4 oz Jamaican Rum, 4 oz water.

I think I am going to try this!

I just purchased this on Ebay. If Im successful growing it I will post the results when I use some of the leaves.
BAY RUM TREE Pimenta racemosa
BAY RUM TREE Pimenta racemosa Cologne Scent Plant (SP) - eBay (item 130378935808 end time Apr-28-10 16:55:12 PDT)

I found a source for leaves:

GRENADA MARKET

Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for your useful post.

Here is a link to two additional bay rum recipes from the "Art of Manliness" website.

Homemade Bay Rum Aftershave | The Art of Manliness