Thread: DIY Bay Rum

This thread kind of disappeared when the site was upgraded not so long ago so thought i would bring it up again.

The reason being is I made some bay rum about 2 months ago. After 2 weeks maturing I took a whiff and it smelt pretty nasty. I forgot about the bottle and left it to one side. Two months later I found it again (tonight) and out of curiosity took a smell. Well, its pretty good! So filtered off the spices etc and have bottled it up.

Odd thing is, it smells very different on the skin than out the bottle. It is pretty mild too so it won't intoxicate anyone in the office tomorrow . It actually smells really balanced. The bay undertones are nice and the cinnamon is nice and mellow, then you have the orange top note over the top. All in perfect harmony it seems. I'm pretty chuffed.

So, if your bay rum turns out to be pretty nasty, hold on to it until it becomes a vintage

Rob

Very interesting, do you remember the recipe/method?

Here you go Fella,

http://www.recipezaar.com/72514

I used a 50/50 mix of withc hazel and vodka as the base

A little low on the alcohol. If you're making an alcohol-based as, then the optimal percentage would be about 55. I don't know how things are in the UK, but here in Canada, denatured alcohol is much cheaper than booze. That could save you a few bucks unless you're doing a little moonshinin'

Thanks for the link

yep, I'm thinking the alcohol needs to go up too. Perhaps that was why it took so long to mature as all the oils and fragrances would not extract from the spices etc.

I'm going to do another batch with some ethanol in it. I can get neat ethanol from the lab.

I don't recommend using denatured alcohol as it is typically denatured with methanol or methyl isobutyl ketone. Both of which are pretty nasty (hence you can't drink it). In some cases they add an aniline dye too to turn it a nice purple colour. I don't fancy a purple face!

Whats wrong with moonshining? That how I plan to spend my Christmas!

Any alcohol-based aftershave has been denatured. As long as you don't drink the aftershave, it won't harm you. Do you have any job openings in the lab? What kind of a still setup are you running? This is coming from the last of a long line of moonshiners

I was joking about the moonshine. I brew my own beer but have never distilled anything (other than at work in the lab).

The Irish guys make a fairly lethal drink called Potchine from potatoes and I have a Romanian mate how makes his own plum brandy but I don't make any. It is also highly illegal here.

Irish vodka? I'll have to try that... You may wish to send me a couple oz of potato-scented aftershave Plum brandy (Sljivovica) is also very popular in Serbia. My uncle makes it every year with plums grown on his land. Suggest appricots to your Romanian friend, that also makes great moonshine (and a good base for an aftershave lol) AFIK moonshining is fairly illegal in Canada as well but they don't make too much trouble if it's for personal consumption and not for sale.

I wonder if you can use corn whiskey for this.........