The Big Rig Craft Distillery opened their doors on October 17, 2015 and they already have an impressive line-up of spirits for sale at their boutique store within the facility. These spirits include their Premium Vodka and Wildrose Gin; their selections of White Dog Distillate (not whisky for three years yet); and their intriguing Sugar Beet Brum. As well, they are experimenting with an array of flavoured Vodkas some of which are bottled and ready for sale, and others which are in development.
Sugar Beet Brum is produced from raw (brown) sugar manufactured from Alberta Sugar Beets on the company’s main still (Mighty Morley). This is a versatile still consisting of a large wash still, two columns, and a condenser. Chemically, sugar manufactured from sugar beets has the same composition as sugar derived from sugar cane, and in fact if this product was manufactured from cane sugar it could legally be called rum. As Sugar Beets rather than Cane is the source of the raw material for distillation, the folks at Big Rig decided that Brum was a suitable name.
Here is a link to my review of Big Rig’s Sugar Beet Brum:
Review: Big Rig Sugar Beet Brum
Please enjoy my review of this very unique spirit which includes a Commodore inspired cocktail I call Easy.
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(More complete information regarding the production of Big Rig Craft Distillery spirits can be found here: The Big Rig Distillery Tour.)
Like most home bartenders, I do not have a ready supply of Vodka Citron, nor a suitable lemon vodka substitute in my home bar. However, I wanted to construct a Cosmopolitan which would be similar to the IBA formulation. I did this using my newly acquired Big Rig Premium Vodka, and tweaking the recipe by adding a touch of lemon juice and decreasing the lime juice by the same amount. I tried different garnishes, and decided that orange peel seemed to suit the overall flavour profile of the serving (the IBA formulation states a lime slice garnish).
The Rum Howler Blog 