I've tried some of the recipes that use a whole jug of everclear, 150+ proof rum, and the like and mostly they tend to taste like solvent grade kerosene. Too much alcohol makes it nasty.
My apple pie uses one 750 ML bottle of 80 proof Lamb's Navy rum, One gallon of unfiltered apple juice/cider, four ounces of cinnamon napoleons two ounces of stick cinnamon, and an ounce of whole cloves. I heat the cider barely to boiling after adding the candy and spices and stir until the candy dissolves then I let it cool and fish out the spices, portioning them evenly into glass jugs. Add the rum, stirring thoroughly. Pour into clean glass jugs and put away until rondy time. This stuff is good right away, like for a Christmas party or the like, but is heavenly after a few months. I found a growler (1/2 gallon jug) that got shoved to the back of a shelf and forgotten in 1995 that I dang near drank in one sitting, it was so good, in the fall of '07 or '08.
I put a batch into a genny-yoo-wine an-tee-kew jimmy-john one Fall after rondy season so I'd have it for first Rondy in the Spring. HUGE mistake!! Half of it leaked out, as the glazing on the inside of that jug was badly flawed when it was made, causing the jimmy-john not to be water tight. The pie inside tasted like fulminate of rabid dog vomit, and not in the good way. I now age and store my pie in glass, and take it to rondy in stoneware jimmy-johns. So be careful.
Three Hawks
