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.