Quest for "The Ultimate Rum Runner" Part 2

[azisme]

Basically Part 1 was a history of my limited experience and to obtain a blessing to use the good stuff for mixing. Mission accomplished, now on to the ingredients.

Referring to the sample recipe below, I am asking for help with the quality of the ingredients much more so than the recipe itself.

1 oz Light Rum
1 oz Dark Rum
.75 oz Blackberry Brandy
1 oz Banana Liquor
.5 oz Grenadine
.5 oz Cranberry juice
1.5 oz Orange Juice (preferably fresh from the orange)
Squeeze of fresh lime


Here are the rums that I am able to purchase locally:

Gosling’s Black Seal, Zaya 12 yr, Barbancourt 5 star 8yr, Flor de Cana Gold, Mount Gay Extra Old, Myer’s Dark, Pampero Aniversario, Prichard Fine Rum, Pusser’s British Blue Label, St. James Extra Old Rhum, and Gosling’s Gold.

For the Rum I am leaning towards trying the Gosling’s Black Seal for the dark, and the Flor de Cana for the light. What are your suggestions? The cost of any two of these bottles is within my affordability range, but I sure can’t purchase several bottles to test which one works best.

For the Blackberry Brandy I am currently using Chambord Royal Deluxe which is actually a French black raspberry liquor. It has an incredible taste, but is very sweet. If I were to use it I would reduce the quantity. I am looking for blackberry brandy suggestions as well.

For the Banana Liquor I am using Vice Rei Licor De Banana. It was the only banana liquor that my local “Total Wine & More” store had, but it seems pretty good. I am looking for a fairly dominant banana flavor. I am considering supplementing or substituting this with banana extract. Suggestions?

For the rest of the ingredients, I am not sure if there is much for options other than quantities and alternative ingredients.

[stockdoct]

Chambord is indeed delicious

I use a blackberry liquor from Germany spelled (let me grab the bottle) Thienelt Echte Kroatzbeere Seit 1907. Its awesome.

The only Banana liquor Ive found is disgusting "99" Brand (99 proof) Banana. It tastes like an alcoholic version of the chewy Circus Peanuts candy

[Tiare]

I don`t know about that Thienelt Echte Kroatzbeere Seit 1907 liqueur, but Chamboard is good..

For the rum..Gosling`s is good..but i would try Pussersґs Blue label...?

[stockdoct]

I too am trying to perfect the rum runner....

For my own personal drinking, I skip the Grenadine since it adds unnecessary calories and syrupy sweetness, but adds little benefit to the taste. But if I have friends over, I'll add a little because the drink without grenadine has kind of an ugly color.

To conserve unnecessarily-high alcoholic content, I'm happy mixing Cruzan Banana Rum instead of the light rum / banana liquor combination. Cuts the alcohol content significantly

My concoction goes something like this:
1 oz dark rum. I use Tortuga (Goslings sounds interesting! I might try this)
1 oz Cruzan Banana rum
3/4 oz. Blackberry liquor
2-3 oz Orange juice
Splash of 0-calorie Tonic Water
1/4 oz floater of Coruba dark rum over the ice cubes

[Gwydion]

In a tall glass, mix the following:

Crushed Ice
1 shot Oronoco
1 shot Pyrat Pistol
1 shot Goslings Black Seal Rum
.5 shot banana liquor
.5 shot Chambord
Add orange juice
Splash of grenadine
Stir until well mixed
Float a shot of Captain Morgan's 100 proof on top

Made one of these yesterday and it was yummy.