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Home made rock and rye


ethangsmith
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Has anyone on here made rock and rye at home? I figure it's probably pretty simple- rye whiskey, sugar (I suppose you wouldn't have to use rock candy), and some diced up fruit chunks. I'm just curious as to how much sugar to use and what the best fruits are to use. I think I'll probably use Wild Turkey 101 rye as my whiskey base if I should decide to go ahead with the project.

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  • 9 months later...

BTT

Just made a batch. Ritt BiB, jigger of barrel aged rum, rock candy, cloves, cinnamon, lemon, and orange. I'll let you know what I think of it in, oh, a fortnight or so.

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I made some with KCR recently. Very simple one. Rock candy and a slice of orange. It was good, especially mixed with some club soda over ice.

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Was planning on throwing it in some tea or cider, but soda doesn't sound half bad either.

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Some good ideas here. I think I may also use the KCR and toss some fruit and maybe some black licorice or horehound in it as well. I bought a bottle of the Hochstadter's Rock and Rye, which has honey and horehound in it in addition to the traditional ingredients and it's REALLY good. Heck, I can do it all in one shot and just dump a bag or citrus-flavored Ricola in it!

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  • 3 months later...

Bumping this because I am gathering all my ingredients together to make my own rock and rye for the first time. When I went to get rock candy all I could find was the flavored stuff. Reading recipes, the rock candy dissolves anyway. Rock candy is only sugar, if it's dissolved what does it matter if I use rock candy or regular sugar crystals? I am probably going to use some raw sugar, but was hoping someone knew if there was a reason. I'm kind of assuming it's because that's the way they always did it and rock candy wasn't so hard to find way way back.

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I think it was to match the advertizing slogan, 'Rock and Rye", which has probably been around as long as we've had rock candy and rye whisky.

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I would say you are correct. As far as I know rock candy is simply 10X sugar that's been dissolved into water and then allowed to crystallize. I think the original iterations of Rock and Rye in Philadelphia were home made and it was often fed to children or women when they were ill. Generally rye whiskey (What was readily available in Philly....) was poured into a cup and a stick or two of rock candy was added along with fresh fruit, honey, and horehound (...if available) to make it healthier and more tolerable to a woman or child. I see no issues with using pure sugar. I would avoid brown sugar though as it may impart a weird molasses flavor in the background. It may be interesting to experiment with different ingredients and proportions to strike a balance. I've always thought about using larger amounts of lemon and lime juice with a moderate amount of sugar and honey (using the honey partially as a sweetener and partially as a flavoring agent). I think that would make for an interesting and almost refreshing drink on ice.

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It is done! Went with a bottle of Ritt, an orange, a lemon, 5oz sugar, about 10 each whole cloves and allspice, a cinnamon stick, and 4 Luxardo cherries with extra juice from the bottle. I'll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks.

ethangsmith, did you end up making yours back when you started the thread? How did it turn out?

post-8576-14489818627931_thumb.jpg

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Never made mine. It's on the 'to do' list, but may not get done until winter 2013-2014.....

It is done! Went with a bottle of Ritt, an orange, a lemon, 5oz sugar, about 10 each whole cloves and allspice, a cinnamon stick, and 4 Luxardo cherries with extra juice from the bottle. I'll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks.

ethangsmith, did you end up making yours back when you started the thread? How did it turn out?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I cracked into my rock and rye last night. All the sugar was dissolved so i figured it was ready. Wow, this stuff is good. I'm not really a cocktail person, but I could see myself drinking these all night. It's funny that I've never seen this in a bar because it would make the mixologist look very good in a "there's no way i could make this at home" way (which you can, but it tastes different enough from a normal mixed drink that you'd think you couldn't). All the flavors are well integrated. I can taste the citrus and spices, lots of cinnamon (might need to cut down on it for balance), and sweet and syrupy goodness. I'm hoping to get sick by Monday so I can skip work and put this old time remedy to an all day test.

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  • 2 weeks later...

way to go, compliance. Do you think the raw sugar added much in the way of flavor? are you keeping the mix in the fridge?

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way to go, compliance. Do you think the raw sugar added much in the way of flavor? are you keeping the mix in the fridge?

You mean compared to refined sugar? Can't say really since I've never made another batch with anything else. I generally like raw sugars better because they have a little extra flavor, kind of a step towards brown sugar. I can't pick it out in the drink but using the raw certainly didn't hurt, it tastes fantastic :P. Maple syrup might be another interesting sugar to mix in the recipe.

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Ok, I am going to have to make a batch of this. I would imagine this might be a good summer drink, not sure why I think that though.

Best regards, Tony

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Ok, I am going to have to make a batch of this. I would imagine this might be a good summer drink, not sure why I think that though.

Best regards, Tony

I can tell you it tastes great on the rocks. That's been my preparation of choice recently.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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