A dramatic yet mellow dark rum with up-front flavour that is styled on popular seafaring rums of olden times. Each essence bottle will make three standard size 750ml bottles. Gluten Free. Cocktail Suggestion: USS Richmond Punch Cocktail All hands on deck for the historic quadruple-liquor USS Richmond Punch. This punch from Liquor.com advisory board member and cocktail historian David Wondrich is nothing short of miraculous. It's not only the perfect way to entertain a party, but the dark rum, VSOP and port combination has a well-rounded, citrusy flavor and isn't too sweet. The key ingredient is a little black tea, which has just enough caffeine to keep the party going! Ingredients: 6 Lemons 1 1⁄2 cups white sugar 2 cups Strong-brewed black tea (use 2 teabags, 16 oz water) 2 cups Top Shelf Dark Rum 2 cups Premium Classic VSOP 2 cups Top Shelf Ruby Port 1⁄2 cup Top Shelf Grande Paris 1.5L soda or Champagne Instructions: Place a 2-3L bowl of water in the freezer and let freeze overnight. Peel 6 lemons with a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, trying not to get any of the white pith. In bowl, muddle the peels with 1.5 cups of superfine sugar and let stand for an hour for the lemon oil to leach out. Juice the peeled lemons and add the juice to the sugar mixture, along with the tea. Strain out the peels and pour into a 4L container. Add the rum, VSOP, port and Grande Paris and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. To serve, unmold the block of ice into a 8L punch bowl. Add the chilled punch stock and top off with the club soda (or, if feeling dangerous, Champagne). Garnish with grated numeg and 1 seeded lemon sliced thinly. Serves 20.
