Coconut Rum, Half Forgotten Bitters, Navan and Ice Cubes

I started a new project this evening, a toasted coconut rum. I hate Malibu and its sickly sweetness, so today when I was at 23rd Ave Liquors, I spotted a bottle of Appleton White Rum that just seemed to call to me. I toasted 8oz of shredded coconut in the oven tonight until I got a nice light toast on the coconut, put it in a pyrex bowl and covered it with the rum. Its now wrapped up and in the basement to do its magic. I'm not the biggest fan of the flavor of coconut, but I really felt like a drier rum with a coconut flavor might be nice for doing some tiki-inspired drinks next month. Now, I'm wondering if I should start a batch of coconut bitters. They sound like a perfect complement to tiki drinks. Perhaps I'll start a batch after Xmas.

Next up, I actually carmelized some sugar (3 tblsp sugar, 1 tblsp water) and added it to the grapefruit/ tomato bitters. I'll stir it 2x a day for a week to let the flavors get to know each other a bit and it'll be time to bottle it up next week. I'm happy to have that project in its final stages. I think I'm going to call these bitters my Half Forgotten Bitters.

Also, I picked up a bottle of Navan. I'll have a full product review up tomorrow, but let me just share my initial impression. Its delicious stuff. My mind is racing thinking about the possibilities. Currently I'm drinking 2oz of Navan, 3 dashes of Peychauds bitters, and equal parts 1/2 and 1/2 and soda water on the rocks. Its nice, but I think this is a bit of a work in progress, I need to punch it up just a little more.

Lastly, I got some new ice cube trays from Amazon today. More on ice cubes to come soon, but Daniel Shoemaker from the TearDrop Lounge has made an ice cube believer out of me.