5 Minutes of Rum
Notes on rum, a few minutes at a time.
Bear with us, we're learning. Not so much about rum, but about video lighting and framing. Once upon a time, I did a rum podcast. When a friend recently gifted us a rum advent calendar (of sorts), we decided to turn tasting it into a series of videos. First up: Mount Gay XO Reserve
Undead, undead, undead.
One of my oldest friends has just published a book - The Lives of Lowbrow Artists: Volume 1. Just as it says on the tin, it’s made up of profiles of Lowbrow artists, focusing in Volume 1 on some such artists who have made a significant impression on both Fritz Costa, the author, and many of us who are in orbit around mid-century, polynesian pop, “tiki”, hot rod, and other “lowbrow” art aesthetics.
The book is available now on Amazon Kindle. Volume 1 has chapters on Josh Agle (Shag), Tim Biskup, Miles Thompson, Derek Yaniger (who also did the cover art you see here), and Brandi Milne. I can almost guarantee you’ll learn something new, even if you think you know the stories of these artists.
My friend Jen is a very talented designer. She channels her powers for good, and a few weeks ago designed a number of t-shirts for sale in her Cotton Bureau shop in an effort to donate to the Black Lives Matter movement. All of the proceeds from the Black Lives Matter shirts go to Black Lives Matter (oh and there are several other designs as well).
I was more than happy to make a couple of purchases myself. And while I wasn’t sure how to best support the Black Lives Matter movement personally, at least in our current pandemic era, I could put my money where my dammed mouth was. Everything is hitting like a ton of bricks. I want to pledge my support, and I want to feel it.
I’m matching Jen’s fundraising sales dollar for dollar, up to $1000. If we can get Jen to $1000 in sales, I match it. I hope some of you will consider buying a shirt and spending my money by doing so.
Every batch of homemade falernum (almost always falernum #9) is validated via a Corn and Oil. Don’t accept any Corn and Oil recipe that calls for blackstrap rum - they’re reading too much into the word “oil”. This is a Barbados cocktail, and should be assembled accordingly.
Corn And Oil (Smuggler’s Cove version)
1/2 oz falernum - homemade here, but the SC recipe calls for Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
2 oz blended, aged Barbados rum (Planation 5 in this case)
2 - 4 dashes of Angostura bitters (4)
Add everything to an old-fashioned glass and add crushed ice to almost fill. Stir/swizzle until frosty. Sip.