Review: The Real McCoy Rum

The Real McCoy Rum is named in honor of Bill McCoy, a rum runner in the Prohibition era. According to the story the company tells, McCoy would buy the alcohol in the Caribbean, sail it to New York City, and sell it from his vessel anchored far enough offshore to be in international waters, not subject to U.S. alcohol laws.

While other rum runners during Prohibition diluted their wares with other substances — such as turpentine, wood alcohol and prune juice — McCoy sold his completely unadulterated, and they gained the reputation of being the “real McCoy.”

Much of this story is true, according to other historical sources.

The phrase “the real McCoy” signifying that something is the genuine article, however, predates Bill McCoy by decades if not longer.

That doesn’t really matter for its significance in the story of The Real McCoy Rum, though. The company prides itself on using only blackstrap molasses and spring water in its classic Barbados-style rum — no additives.

The rum is then aged for three years, five years or twelve years before being bottled for sale.

The company was founded by filmmaker Bailey Pryor, who had the inspiration while producing a documentary film about Bill McCoy. The film went on to win five Emmy awards. The rum is award-winning too, and deservedly so.

For this review, the company sent me a bottle of the 5-Year Rum. I tried it straight and in three different types of cocktails, and was very impressed by it's smoothness and ability to play well with a variety of mixers.

Straight:
The rum is smooth and flavorful. Because it’s not a spiced rum, the flavor profile is not overly complex, but it has a subtle sweetness from the molasses without being overpowering.

Dark & Stormy:
This is the rum-based version of the currently trendy Moscow Mule. Make it with an ounce to 1 ½ ounces of rum in a cold copper mug (ideally) or a glass of ice, a splash of fresh lime juice and top off with ginger beer.

The Real McCoy blended well with the spiciness of the ginger, maintaining a discernible flavor without dominating. In the past, I’ve usually used Kraken spiced rum for this drink, and its flavor can overpower the mixer if not kept in check. The Real McCoy 5 Year is a better choice for more equitable blend of flavors.

Cuba Libre:
This is a classic, rum and cola with a touch of lime. I used Pepsi sweetened with natural sugar (not high fructose corn syrup) and the result was a refreshing, easily-drinkable cocktail. This one would be a good choice for a hot summer day by the pool.

ChaChaCha: Finally, I picked a recipe provided by The Real McCoy.  The ChaChaCha gets its name from horchata, a Latin American rice drink with strong notes of cinnamon. Blending the rum, a chocolate liqueur and horchata, the result is richly sweet dessert-type cocktail. While it’s good, it’s sweet to the point of cloying, and the flavor of the rum is swallowed up by the strong chocolate and cinnamon ingredients.  I look forward to trying a few of their other cocktail recipes.

In addition to the 5-Year, which is suitable for both cocktails and drinking neat, they also make a 3-Year, a clear rum intended for cocktails, and the 12-Year Super Premium Rum, with rich flavor notes intended to be savored on their own, either neat or on the rocks.

Overall, The Real McCoy 5-Year lives up to its story. If you’re looking for a straightforward rum without additional spices, consider trying it. You won’t be disappointed.

Be aware, though, that so far the product is in stores in only 15 states. There is a locator on the website that will tell you where you can buy it locally, if you can.  If it isn't currently available to you locally, click the search icon on the Locator page without putting in a zipcode, and you'll get a list of online stores that carry The Real McCoy.

http://www.realmccoyspirits.com/
https://www.facebook.com/therealmccoyrum
https://twitter.com/TheRealMcCoyRum

Review: Jarware Mason Jar Accessories (and Greek Potatoes!)

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were visiting World Market specifically to pick up a few particular items, and - because we know ourselves well - we'd agreed with one another not to buy anything that wasn't on our list! No cool funky little storage bin, no 'I didn't know this existed but now I neeeeed it' household gadget, and most definitely, no amazing snack items we'd not seen in years.

So, when I tripped over a rack of Jarware accessories - BPA Free, recycled plastic inserts that turn your mason jars into everything from a tea infuser to a piggy bank - I was charmed but resolute to look into them later and not buy them.

I almost tried to talk him into one or two - these things are very inexpensive!  We both agreed that the juicer in particular was a very cool idea, but we had agreed, so no... not today...  We felt so virtuous, we took ourselves out to eat and spent a lot more than we would have if we'd just bought the juicer.

That's what we do.

A couple days later, I was given the opportunity to review a few of their items and, huzzah!  One of them was the juicer!  So the virtue really worked out for me this time!

Jarware sent me three items to try: the juicer, the tea infuser, and the travel cup lid.  I set about rounding up a couple jars to try them on, and happily got to work.

The infuser and travel cup lid both required a regular sized jar mouth, while the juicer goes onto a wide mouth lid.

The way each one of these works, the Jarware piece snaps into the ring of a canning jar lid of the correct size, and then screws onto the jar itself.

Some of their other products (such as the Coffee Spoon Clip) connect to the jar itself, rather than to a lid.

Unfortunately, I ran into problems with both the infuser and the travel cup lid.  With each, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get the insert to fit evenly into the ring of the lid, and as a result, it wouldn't screw evenly onto the jar.

Since each of them are intended to be tipped when in use (you'd turn the tea infuser jar upside down while steeping), a wrongly screwed on lid would be a significant problem!

I didn't want to give up easily, and fought with it off and on for a couple days.  Because I have arthritis, I assumed this might just be me, and asked my husband to give it a try.  And he has, several times, without success.

On their website, the FAQ mentions this issue, saying,

"WE KNOW INSTALLING YOUR JARWARE CAN BE A LITTLE TOUGH SOMETIMES, BUT DON’T FRET!

THE PLASTIC USED FOR OUR JARWARE ITEMS AND THE SIZE OF THE RIM CAN VARY EVER SO SLIGHTLY DURING PRODUCTION. THESE SMALL VARIATIONS CAN SOMETIMES COMPOUND AND MAKE CERTAIN ITEMS EASIER TO SNAP IN, OR VICE VERSA HARDER TO SNAP IN.  

IF YOU ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY, PLEASE RUN THE BAND OVER HOT WATER FOR 30-60 SECONDS AND THEN TRY TO SNAP IN THE JARWARE.
JARWARE LIQUID ITEMS (COCKTAIL SHAKER, TEA INFUSER) NEED TO HAVE A TIGHT FIT AND WILL REQUIRE SOME EXTRA FORCE. AS SUCH, THE PRODUCT WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE RIM AND SHOULD BE CONSIDERED PERMANENT."  

They even include a video showing you how to do it!

So, we tried it again, repeatedly, heating the ring band, and while it helped get the drink lid all the way in to look at it, the jar still leaked when tilted.

We had even less luck with the infuser lid - no matter what, it was just not going to go into that ring!

Sadface

 From the text I quoted, I am guessing that perhaps a different unit might work better (we did switch out rings about a half dozen times to make sure it wasn't that), and since they are very inexpensive ($3.99 for the drink lid and $9.99 for the tea infuser), I might be willing to try them again, however I think if enough people are having issues like this, maybe it'd be best to pre-insert them into a ring and sell them that way?

In spite of those two going awry, the the one I was most interested in, as I mentioned, was the juice extractor, and this one was a roaring success!

Now, we have a few juicer extractors already - a few, because they are never pleasant to use! Either you need to have very strong hands to get anywhere, or they're just a giant mess.

I found the Jarware Juicer ($5.99) to be very easy to assemble, use and clean.  It slipped easily and firmly into a widemouth jar ring, which was then readily screwed onto the jar.

I was able to make quick work of several lemons without getting tired - for me, it was much more gentle on my hands to be able to hold a jar than to use a similar variety that would sits inside a small dish.

I was able to juice each lemon thoroughly, with all seeds and pulp falling into the juicer crevice as they should, while the juice itself fell neatly into the jar - all ready to be used or stored away for later use!

Clean up was also a breeze - the juicer quickly comes off the ring and one firm shake got all of the pulp and seeds out of the crevice and into the trash or compost bin, so the juicer can be hand washed or tucked into the top rack of the dishwasher.

I have since used it several times, which alone tells me how much I like, it because over the years I have made all sorts of excuses to avoid having to squeeze fresh citrus in spite of having several tools to help me do it.

In my opinion, this one winner makes up for the two that didn't work out - I'll keep trying with them, but since I wasn't able to make them work, I can't recommend them.  If anyone's tried one of them and successfully gotten to to connect to the ring and attach to a jar without leaking, please share your tips in the comments!

The juicer, though?  Grab one the next time you come across them - or get a few and keep them on hand for stocking stuffers.

You can buy Jarware products  locally in select stores, or directly from their website, with free shipping for orders $29.99 or more.  Jarware products are also available on Amazon.

Now that I can quickly squeeze up some fresh juice, I celebrated by making one of my favorite potato dishes to go along with some Lemon-Garlic Chicken and Cucumber Salad:  Greek Potatoes!

Greek Potatoes are rich with broth and lemon - lots and lots of lemon.  They are great as a side, although our local Greek restaurant serves them as an appetizer because they are that good!

Greek Potatoes
(serves 4)

6-8 medium sized waxy potatoes
3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp oregano (fresh if you've got it, but dry will do)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth

Traditionally, you should peel the potatoes but I don't - just scrub well and chop into 1" chunks.  If you think about it, stab the chunks with a fork a few times, the better to infuse them with the lemony marinade.

Combine everything in a container that can be turned upside down (or use a large ziploc bag), and let marinate at least 2 hours - longer is better!  Flip every so often to make sure every potato is able to soak up that lemony goodness.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Turn potatoes into a large casserole dish, marinade and all, and let them roast for about an hour and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender and starting to crisp on the outside (only a little!).  They will still be saucy.

Serve with sauce spooned over them - enjoy!

http://www.jarware.com/
https://www.facebook.com/masonjarware
https://twitter.com/masonjarware
https://www.pinterest.com/masonjarware/

Awesome Life Friday #69

Welcome to Awesome Life Friday!

We're so looking forward to seeing what you've been cooking, creating, growing, decorating, reviewing, giving away, and thinking about this week!

While you're here, leave your posts at the other link up we co-host here - Party in Your PJs!  It starts on Tuesday evenings, and runs through Sunday.  I hope you'll join us there as well!

Here's what some of us have been up to this past week:

Stroganoff Stuffed Mushrooms

Friendship Break-Ups: Painful But Sometimes Necessary

We hope you'll check them out if you haven't already!  Don't forget to peek at the sidebar and check out what other giveaways we currently have going.

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The Boondocks Blog // How to Repurpose Cans Instead of Being Overrun By Them

Strength & Sunshine // Smoky Spiralized Purple Sweet Potato Fries

The Herbal Spoon // How to Make Mint Extract

The Navage Patch // DIY Bird Bath

The Pistachio Project // Probiotic Carrot Cake Popsicles

Olives 'n Okra // DIY Vintage Patriotic Bunting

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