photo via Art in the Age
After weeks and weeks of anticipation for Art in the Age’s newest spirit RHUBY, Jon surprised me with a brand new bottle that he had literally snatched from the hands of a clerk at our local Wine and Spirits store. We had been waiting for a while to try their new liquor, being huge fans of ROOT and SNAP. We each had a glass of RHUBY by itself to see what it tasted like on its own and it’s definitely unlike Art in the Age’s other 2 boozes. RHUBY is much more delicate and has a vaguely spicy initial taste with a surprisingly citrus-y finish. Unlike ROOT, I don’t think I’d drink this spirit on the rocks, but in my opinion, it makes a really great addition to cocktails with rum, gin or whiskey.
I decided to start my experimenting with RHUBY and rum, so I mixed up this little cocktail:
Pale Fire
1.5 oz RHUBY
1.5 oz 10 Cane Rum
1 oz vanilla syrup
3 dashes West Indian Orange Bitters
2 strawberries, muddled in a rocks glass
Shake well with ice, and serve over crushed ice and muddled strawberries and a strawberry garnish.
NOTES: I have to admit, this drink would have been 10x better had I made a real vanilla bean syrup and not an embarrassing short cut syrup that I won’t even post the recipe for because it was awful. I think, overall, the drink would be fantastic with 1.5 oz RHUBY and just 1 oz of 10 Cane plus a real vanilla syrup (that I swear I’ll make once I can afford to buy a handful of vanilla bean pods). I’m excited to try RHUBY with gin as well, because I think the two flavors will mix very nicely. Also, I’m making a peppercorn tincture for RHUBY too because I’d really like to bring out the hint of pepper and spice it has.
I’m really intrigued by the idea of RHUBY and I’m hoping to pick up a bottle next time I head down to Philly to visit my brother who lives there. I own both SNAP and ROOT and while I like both of them, I haven’t yet gotten around to experimenting with them in cocktails of my own creation. Definitely need to work on that.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I stumbled upon your site today and I’m impressed. Lots of interesting recipes and great photos, too. I’ll be making some of your drinks soon I hope, and when I do I’ll be sure to post it on my Flickr page (with proper credit, of course): http://www.flickr.com/photos/aphonik/sets/72157623354514784/
Cheers!
Eric
holy christmas you’ve made a lot of pretty cocktails! I’m very impressed, your home bar looks really similar to ours!
I haven’t really done a lot of cocktail experimenting with ROOT or SNAP either, I find that their flavors are really strong so it’s a little hard for me to think of other booze they’d mix well with (SNAP less so than ROOT). RHUBY is so great for mixing, I fell asleep last night thinking of other combinations that all sounded really intriguing.
I would love to see what you think of some of the drinks we came up with, if you end up making them. Definitely check back in and let me know how that goes!