Wednesday, May 28, 2008

You put the pineapple in the coconut and infuse it all up...

Two weeks seems about right for pineapple infusions. So after two weeks, we once again ventured into the lab to pit our wills against our own creation and see if we could come out still upright, with taste buds intact. We started off by pouring two baseline shots of straight Bacardi Coco for control purposes. Now personally, I've been a fan of this rum for a while. It's one of the few coconut rums out there that still weighs in at a hefty 80 proof. (Unlike the more popular Malibu Coco, which comes in at a wimpy 41 proof. That's not a rum, that's a cordial.) I don't know if I've ever actually drank it straight before, but we must do what we must do in the name of science. So we downed the shots and wrote our reactions.

Me: "That's coconut alright. It has a slight burn on the back end, but smooth otherwise. It leaves a slightly unpleasant overpowering coconut taste on the back end, however."

Brendan: "That's pretty smooth, though there is some burn. It tastes like coconut, that's for sure. I can't comment on the rum itself, since I'm not that familiar with light rum."

So, with our palates accustomed to the "before" phase of our experiment with very similar reactions, we ventured forth to taste the "after."

Me: "That's good. The pineapple leaves a sweetness that is absent from the plain Coco. Although, the coconut flavor is all that's left by the back end. This is quality; I wouldn't be opposed to leaving it longer and seeing if we could get more pineapple from it, but I'd be content to take it as it is too."

Brendan: "The pineapple flavor is just strong enough to balance with the coconut. It tips somewhat in the pineapple's favor at first, but slides back towards coconut in the end. Most of the alcohol burn is actually cut out on this one. I think it's a success, though I'm afraid most cocktails we us this in would be redundant."

After a brief discussion, we decided to declare this one a success, bottled it, and put it on the shelf. Since then, we've actually tried a couple pretty decent cocktails with the rum; but as of yet, those cocktails have yet to be examined with our normal scientific rigor, so the readers will just have to wait to see what I've come up with. We've started the Third Age of IoG with a success and the closing up of loops. Hopefully, that bodes well for the current incarnation.

Coming up next - Snickers Infused Vodka!

5 comments:

Jasra/Lisa said...

That sounds really tasty (the coconut/pineapple rum)!

Heather said...

I bet that would make an incredible marinade for chicken.

Solace said...

Surfed here and, might I comment, I'm quite surprised at what you've got going here. I live in an area where cheap rum and tequila are easily found, so if you want information on infusions of those types, do let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you gentlemen out.

On to my next point, on the Apple Vodka, you made one simple (and common) mistake. Whenever apples are used in any form of consumption other than straight, generally a blend of apples are used. May I recommend Granny Smith apples for the tart, Braeburn for a mellow flavor, and possibly either red or golden delicious for some sweetness? The combination of various apples should alter the distillation time, but I'm not quite sure which direction it would head in.

Techempage said...

Solace,

Our apple vodkae are ongoing experiments. We have not perfected it yet and I don't know if we will ever quite perfect it. Some experiments will probably not be repeated; however, I can almost guarantee you that apple will be visited again before this blog is retired.

Sonja Foust said...

Too cool. This sounds really good. And oh, I totally can't wait for snickers vodka. Subscribing to your feed so I won't miss a thing. ;)