Making handmade Falernum is a real treat and is easier than one might think. House made Falernum smells and taste wonderful. With a fresh Falernum you can taste all the complexities and it’ll add a deep flavor component to your cocktails. Commercial grade Falernum cannot compare as it is flat and dull. Go the extra mile and your cocktails and taste buds will thank you. You’ll have your guest “Wowing” your creations.

Recipe

from Jeff Berry’s Beachbum Berry Remixed

• 6oz Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum
• Zest of 9 limes with no white pith
• 40 whole cloves, toasted
• 1 ½ oz (by weight) peeled and chopped fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons blanched, slivered almonds (dry toasted until golden brown)
• 14 oz cold processed simple syrup.* I use 1:1
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• 4 ½ oz fresh lime juice, strained

* How to cold process simple syrup: Use warm water just warm enough to melt the sugar. Combine the warm water and sugar in a jar and shake until sugar dissolves. Doing this will give you a crisper simple syrup with a lighter density.

Instructions

Step one

Combine the rum, lime zest, cloves, almonds and ginger in a sealed mason jar, letting mixture soak for 24 hours.

Step two

Strain through moistened cheesecloth, squeeze out all the liquids.

Step three

Add the almond extract, sugar syrup, and lime juice. Bottle up and shake to incorporate. This should keep in the fridge for one month.

Cocktails

Here are a couple cocktails that incorporate my Falernum. I will be featuring these cocktails at my event at the Wharf Rat Thursday, September 9^th 2010.

Don the Beachcomber’s Mai Tai

• 1 oz gold rum
• 1 1/2 oz Meyers’s Plantation rum
• 1 oz grapefruit juice
• 3/4 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
• 1/4 oz falernum
• 6 drops Pernod or Herbsaint
• Dash of Angostura bitters

Bitter End

• 2 oz white rum
• 1 oz grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz falernum
• 2 dashes Bittercube Jamaican #2 bitters
• 2 dashes of Angostura for a float

Adapted from Left Coast Libations by Yanni Kehagiaras.