Bay Rum with Lime Cocktail

[JMM]

So I haven’t been here in a long time… 12 years? But it seems the right place to ask.

I’m near the end of a bottle of Dominica Bay Rum with Lime, and I love the smell. It would make an amazing cocktail if such a thing existed.

Does such a thing exist?

My mind is gravitating toward Demerara rum, falernum syrup, and some sort of lime. The scent isn’t grocery store lime, it’s not really Rose’s either.

Idle curiosity. I figure here at least the scent is familiar enough and not entirely as obscure as if I asked on a cocktail forum.

 

[The Knize]

No idea. I assume that the bay rum manufacturer is using a lime oil from lime peels rather than lime juice of any kind. I frankly do not know whether there are manufactured lime oils safe for human consumption. You could muddle lime skins, I suppose, and get a similar lime smell and flavor, or just muddle lime quarters.

The falernum would add a clove/all spice scent similar to that in bay rum.

 

[JMM]

I did get pretty close on a first pass. The lime fragrance seems to be, as you suggested, very close to the oils from the peel.

So on a base of Smith and Cross (1.5 oz) and a splash of 151 Demerara (.25 oz), I sweetened with probably 1 oz BG Reynolds falernum, then the juice and oils from the peel of 1/4 lime. It was a bit overly concentrated at that point, from both the rum and the falernum, so I thinned it out with a couple ice cubes and topped with sparkling water.

The fragrance wasn’t quite the same, but it definitely captured the idea. A little too syrupy though.

I think the rum base would have been better with less funk and a sweeter Demerara like El Dorado 5, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find it in the northwest for a few years.

 

[The Knize]

Wow, that was high alcohol, if I remember the Smith and Cross. Also, I have only ever used the JD Taylor falernum, but an oz seems like a heck of a lot of falernum! I do not know how much funk the 151 you used has, but the S&C has a boat load. Almost anything other than something like Dr, Bird would have less funk/hogo!

I think keep experimenting for sure,

 

[TexLaw]

I frankly do not know whether there are manufactured lime oils safe for human consumption.

There are. I've used Boyajian lime oil for baking and other cooking stuff, and I've even added a drop to a cocktail when I found that my limes went off in the fridge. It's potent stuff, though, so be judicious.

Boyajian also makes very good orange and lemon oils (that are a key part of my citrus ginger sugar cookies).