The dark interior of Kask does not lend itself to photography as can be seen in the poor quality of the photo I took that night. I blame the light and not the 8 or 9 drinks I put away. The first drink I had that night was a rum concoction called the Boot Strap Buck.
It is perhaps a measure of how good a drink is when you can’t substitute any of the ingredients. If each thing is selected because it fits exactly into the slot it needs to in order to make the drink taste exactly the way it should.
In this case we start with Blackstrap rum. I haven’t yet had a chance to really sit down a work out all the differences in the various kinds of rum, but in general most rum is made from molasses. Blackstrap molasses is what you get after you boil sugar cane juice three times.
The Cruzan is a wonderful dark rum full of flavor and character.
Demerara sugar or turbinado sugar are whole sugar crystals that come from evaporating sugar cane juice before you boil the sugar out of the molasses. The result is something a bit like brown sugar but with more flavor and vanilla characters. It’s fun stuff to play with as it really gets you the best of the sugar cane flavor.
Ginger Beer is a new personal favorite, a good ginger beer has a sharp flavor and can be tasted in cocktails where gingerale falls flat.
The nutmeg is the wildcard here, it’s partly for scent, and partly for adjusting the flavor.
The whole thing is an experience that hits you on a number of different levels. Ginger, spice, rum, lime and citrus all coming at you like a spider monkey. Go get one, you’ll thank me later.
Shaker and Spreadsheet 