Kahlua, by the Numbers

UPDATE!

Over at Ed & Clare's last Sunday, we did a taste test of HoyLua vs Kahlua, straight.

Overall Opinions:

• Both are very sweet
• Color is similar
• Kahlua has more "Legs"
• HoyLua has a more pronounced  coffee flavor, perhaps because of French Roast
• Both are fine liquors

Making a new batch using Eric's "White Lightning" of 170 proof!

There are many recipes on the web for home-made Kahlua, a rum and coffee liqueur originally from Vera Cruz Mexico. The ratios for these recipes are all over the place, so I decided to take a more analytic approach.

First, we know from product labels that Kahlua was originally 53 proof but is currently down to 40. Further it has 11.2 grams of sugar in a 1 oz serving.  Many recipes use vodka for the alcohol but 80 proof vodka is 60% water, so after you account for the water, alcohol and sugar, you only have 0.4 grams left for the coffee. Using 100 proof vodka only gets you to 3.7 grams. Some recipes use instant coffee to offset this but neither sugar nor coffee dissolve very well in vodka.

The solution is to use 190 proof Everclear which leaves room to dissolve the sugar in fresh brewed coffee. We will use brown sugar as it contains molasses, like in rum, to give it a more authentic flavor. Finally, instead of using a vanilla bean and waiting a month or so, we will use vanilla extract. After all, vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol!

You will need four screw-top wine bottles for this recipe.

1 750 ml bottle 190 proof Everclear
2 lbs brown sugar
8 tsp vanilla extract
8 cups freshly brewed coffee, we used french roast

Divide the Everclear equally into the four empty wine bottles (a little over 6 fl oz each).
Add 2 tsp vanilla extract to each bottle.

Repeat the following for each bottle:
Put 8 oz of brown sugar into a 1 quart measuring cup and stir in brewed coffee up to the 18 fl oz line.
Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved then allow to cool below 140 degrees.
Pour the coffee/sugar mixture into the wine bottle, then cap and mix gently.

That's it! You now have 4 bottles of 47.5 proof Kahlua, at a cost of less than $7.50 per bottle.

For our first batch we made 2 bottles with light brown sugar and 2 with dark. Further, we tried almond extract as well as vanilla. Our preference was for the dark brown sugar and the vanilla.

Dark vs Light Brown Sugar

This is all you need

love and bacon,
pops

Rummy Bears (because Boozey Bears didn't sound very classy)!

After a rather long absence I return with this:
a post on the wonders of gummy sweets, vodka, and rum (who would've known??)!

In this collaborative Hoyer and Swearingen Experiment (Hoyingen), 

we present you with the all-too-scientific findings of what we currently call, Rummy Bears. 

This experiment was originally hatched with a couple of simple questions:
has anyone ever tried out the Pinterest pin known as Vodka Bears
(See pin here [one of many])
and
is it any good?
(Of course, Pinterest was somehow involved.)

We, of course, decided that getting to the bottom of this quandary
required some of our own scientific exploration.

Before we began:
*We first decided to create two sample groups.
One with vodka and one with rum.
*We chose Stolichnaya Russian Vodka and Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum.
*We also decided to take a Pinterest suggestion of using Haribo gummy bears
over any other brand. Apparently, other brands get gross.

 We couldn't find a regular sized Haribo bag
so we bought 5 or so snack sized bags.

 Kjersti, modeling with a pack of Haribo.

 Originally, we planned to put all the bears in one container
and with one single alcohol type; but the more the merrier!

Our first alcohol type, Stolichnaya Russian Vodka.

Second alcohol type, Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum.

We let these babies sit in the refrigerator for a few hours

before testing them.

Upon testing them, we discovered two things:
*A few hours isn't nearly enough time
and
*Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum and gummy bears are horrid together. Yuck.

After the first round of tastings,

we took the following measures before sticking our bears back in the fridge:
*We replaced Sailor Jerry's with Malibu Coconut Rum.
*We let them sit overnight and didn't try them again until the next evening.


It was worth the wait,
our second tasting the following day was a success!

Conclusions:
The final outcome, after some tweaking, was delicious!
The gummy bears perfectly soaked up their respective alcohols,
making them taste like treats rather than alcoholic booby traps.

Although, we replaced the spiced rum late in the game with the coconut rum,
it worked out well; despite the lingering spiced rum flavor.

I personally preferred the vodka bears;
but overall, it was 3 to 1 in favor of the Rummy Bears.

CHEERS!

-The Hoyingens