In-flu-ential

Oy, another week like the one prior and I’d be fine and happy sitting in a cask of rum and sit adrift on the open sea.

It’s been a fantastic week for the Kleenex and Ricola, but not so much for mixing and drinking, so I’m going to have to advise on some of the comings and goings of interest around the internet.

There is a great thread at Tiki Central regarding the use of top-down mixers vs. blenders in Tiki Drinks.  Top-down mixers had been (and in many cases still are) the method of choice for getting a level of pleasingly frothy texture, but mixers went the way of the Dodo at all places but the malt shop once slushy drinks became all the rage.  Blenders can work fine and dandy, but one fraction of a second too much can be the difference between perfection and slushy, nigh-undrinkable mess.  Particularly of note is Sven Kirsten’s post, assisted by some research at the Tiki-Ti.

At What Does John Know, the blog of Malt Advocate Publisher and Editor John Hansell, John has word that Buffalo Trace has been working on an aged white rum.  This is not the first distiller I’ve heard of (or sampled from) that is working on a white rum product.  I have a feeling 2008 is going to be a fine year for rum indeed.