Why rim a cocktail? Well, you shouldn’t limit yourself to the universal ’salt-or-no-salt’ question for your margaritas. A rimmer adds not only flavor, but can also enhance aroma and visual appeal. Disadvantages for the at-home cocktail lover is the basic fact that rimmers can be messy, and they can also cake up over time.
There’s a new product out there, just perfect for gift-giving and for your bar at home. The BARMAID DRINK RIMMER easily rims any cocktail glass, and you can choose from a selection of six standard rimmers: Sweet Mint (great for mojitos and mint juleps), Tangy Lime (works on just about any boat drink for you Parrot Heads), Spicy Chili (perfect for bloody marys and margaritas), Fresh Lemon (a nice addition to martinis), Chocolate Raspberry (this is a fun one – more on it later), and Cinnamon Harvest (wonderful for spiced and hot drinks).
The Barmaid is handheld, virtually no waste, dishwasher safe, and very easy to use. You just wet the rim of your cocktail glass with a lime, lemon, fruit, spirit, or a bit of water, and you place the bottom slot of the rimmer on the edge of the glass. Push the button and turn the glass – it’s that simple. For the rimmer-challenged, the company has an instructional video on its website www.limetreecove.com (don’t worry, we won’t tell if you watch it). They are also starting a drink blog soon to facilitate ideas. You can use The Barmaid Rimmer on an empty or full glass, and adjust how much rimmer you want.
Lime Tree Cove features a cocktail recipe for a CABLE CAR, using spiced rum. I tried it, and it works very much nice, oh yes. Here it is.
8 oz Spiced Rum 2 oz Triple Sec 2 oz Simple Syrup 2 oz Fresh lemon juice Lime Tree Cove Cinnamon Harvest 2 cups Ice
Simple syrup is, well, simple. Boil water and sugar in the ratio of 2 cups sugar to 1 cup of water.
Directions: Add rum, triple sec, simple syrup, and lemon juice. Shake Add ice. Rim beverage with Lime Tree Cove Cinnamon Harvest Enjoy!
I invited some friends over and we played with the rimmer flavors. They all worked nicely; however, I went bat-puckey nuts with the Chocolate Raspberry. Since it was a mostly female crowd (my wife and her friends) I played to their chocolate habit. Chocolate Rumtinis (dark crème de cacao, dark rum) and Mochatinis (rum or vodka, dark crème de cacao, coffee liqueur) wedded to the rimmer with applause all around. I also tried chilled Castries Peanut Rum Cream with the Cinnamon Harvest, and it was superb! Very decadent. The Tangy Lime and Cinnamon Harvest were equally enjoyed by the Cuba Libre lovers. Two folks tried tequila shots with the Fresh Lemon and the Tangy Lime Rimmers with approving results (although at this stage of the game, I don’t think they were too objective).
This is a home-use product, designed for a relaxed party application. People can rim their own glasses, or you can take charge. On a humongous margarita glass (the kind that you KNOW is going to smack someone down if they drain it too fast), it took me eight pushes of the button; for a typical martini glass, about six. I found that part of the fun was letting my attendees do it themselves – well, they actually took it out of my hand and just started playing with it themselves.
