Ranglum
While I love exploring old cocktail recipe books and trying out new drinks that catch my eye, sometimes I find myself wanting to try a new drink without the risk of running in to a dud recipe. Usually I turn to my esteemed fellow bloggers for a recommended tipple but this weekend nothing was quite taking my fancy, and I was about to settle for another Old Fashioned when I remembered about some recipes a bartender sent me last year.
Gonçalo De Sousa Monteiro is former head bartender at Le Lion in Hamburg and Victoria Bar in Berlin, and I had the pleasure of enjoying some of his drinks, and quizzing his encyclopaedic knowledge of gin, whilst in Berlin last year. I’ve already featured his Juniper Club Cocktail here, and tonight’s drink is another delicious mixture of his making.
Born out of playing with dark rum, lime and falernum while listening to Ernest Ranglin, the Ranglum makes great use of both Forgotten Flavours Falernum and Wray & Nephew overproof rum. The recipe may appear similar to the The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, something Gonçalo only realised after formulating the drink, but having tried both side by side I think this modern creation is much more interesting that its older sibling.
Ranglum
- 2 shots / 40 ml / 2 oz Gosslings Black Seal
- 1 shot / 20 ml / 1 oz lime juice
- ¾ shot / 15 ml / ¾ oz falernum
- ½ shot / 10 ml / ½ oz Wray & Nephew Overproof
- ½ to 1 bar-spoon sugar syrup
- Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain in to an ice filled old-fashioned glass and garnish with a lime wedge.
The Ranglum has a deep molasses flavour, and a surprisingly dry finish. The Wray & Nephew adds a delicious earthy undertone to the drink, and while the falernum maintains a fairly background role it helps lift the drink, avoiding it becoming too muddy and deep. A lot of rum and tiki style drinks tend to be fairly bright and summery, but the Ranglum displays both a wintery depth whilst also being subtly refreshing.
While overall I prefer the Ranglum, The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club is still a very decent drink and is definitely worth trying out. Lighter in body, the spice and citrus of the falernum and lime take a more prominent role, and the Cointreau lifts the drink even further. Try both, and see which you prefer – you can’t really go wrong with either.
Just one caveat – if you’re not using Forgotten Flavours falernum you may want to adjust the recipes slightly. From what I understand many of the homemade recipes tend to be far spicier, so you may not need to use quite as much…
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
- 2 shots / 40 ml / 2 oz gold Barbados rum
- 1 shot / 20 ml / 1 oz lime juice
- ¾ shot / 15 ml / ¾ oz falernum
- ¼ shot / 5 ml / ¼ oz Cointreau
- Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain in to a cocktail glass and garnish with a lime wedge.
Posted in Falernum, Lime, Recipes, Rum
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January 26th, 2009 at 7:22 am
This is a drink right up my alley, but typically i`m out of Gosling`s so i`ll make this with another rum. Great recipe and as usual your pictures are lovely.
Cheers!
T
February 1st, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Yeah T, I thought you might find the recipe tempting! Let me know how you like it…
June 25th, 2009 at 12:12 am
This is one of the more original cocktails I’ve tried lately! Went with Coruba for the rum – it adds a kick that the Gosling’s wouldn’t be able to.
Cheers Jay!
June 18th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
[...] first came across the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club at Oh Gosh!, and then again in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, which attributes it to Trader Vic’s [...]