Making Homemade Bay Rum

What about using a spiced rum?

 

I suppose one could use the spiced variety. To my nose, there isn't a significant difference in the smell between most bottled spiced rums and plain rum. Plus I wished to control the exact spice amounts going into the mix. Difference in taste? yes, but since taste isn't playing a role in this mix, I opted for the cheapest dark rum.

 

Sailor Jerry's spiced rum smells good enough to use without adding anything else.

 

And you can use it as a mouthwash too.

 

I thought the same thing, I might try starting out with a spiced rum... Now off to start my taste test/Aroma sampling....

 

Second Test Sample: Two & a Half Weeks
Second 'splash-on' sample test just to see how things are progressing.

Impressions:
• Jar mixture a bit cloudier
• still a very light FRESH scent and cool & slightly astringent on the face.
• The cinnamon doesn't seem as pronounced as it was a week ago, it has mellowed a bit.
• Detect the 'ginger' notes in the fragrance
• Definitely the BAY aroma is still there.
• The 'lime' fragrance is still more subtle than I like at this point. I may decide, if the lime zest doesn't become more prominent, to add some lime essential oil to tweak it up a notch.

I still wish to give this mix another 3 weeks or so— time to further meld & develop. I give the jar a vigorous shake once a day.

 

Third Test Sample: Coming up on ONE month
Initial mixing of ingredients: August 15, 2013. Shaken & mixed daily

Impressions:
• Jar mixture murky; looks pretty disgusting. Thank goodness this will be strained before bottled.
• The aroma is quite pleasing. A spicy sweetness has developed over the past few weeks (hints of cinnamon, ginger, something mysterious)
• Dominant initial scent is Bay, hint of rosemary—but the herbalness doesn't dominate as it did several weeks ago. More balanced with the other aromas.
• Disappointingly, the 'Lime' scent is still too subtle. I will go ahead and add some lime oil to the mixture to help bring it more to the forefront.

I'll give it some more time and see if the scent continues to develop/progress.

 

Okay, the wait is over!

It's been just over a month since I created this 'elixir' and have been diligent about shaking & mixing it daily. Time to filter and bottle the stuff and put it to use!
Comparing the contents with Day one, you can see it's gotten rather cloudy & murky. The aroma is lightly spicy, but 'fresh' smelling.


Using an old plastic coffee filter, I filtered out al the solids and other 'bits' floating about the liquid.
The color is a light amber...


Using a small funnel, I poured the mix into two bottles with corks...


The Finishing Touch: Adding labels.
I printed out the label design I created a while ago. I then applied a spray 'fixative' to the glossy label stock to provide better protection against moisture.
I trimmed out the labels carefully, sprayed with adhesive, and mounted them to the bottles.



"Yeah, great.....but how does it smell?"
I applied the aftershave quite liberally this morning, post-shave. It certainly has a 'spice' nose to it— cinnamon, ginger, citrus—but there's also the prominent herbal (bay) scent.
Overall, the scent is quite light and dissipates fairly quickly. Its about 3 hours after the application of the bay rum as I type this—and as I sniff the back of my hand, I can still detect the sweet spiciness of the aftershave. It is certainly not overpowering.
My wife says it smells, "clean" not "old-manish" nor 'barber-shop'— she says the cinnamon, allspice and herbal notes are prominent to her nose. It is unlike most of the Bay Rums I've tried, so in that observation, it is a UNIQUE aftershave.
I was afraid of smelling like an old Christmas fruitcake, but fortunately, that did not happen.

What would you do differently?
I was disappointed at how little the LIME scent came through. I put a substantial amount of lime zest in (6-7 limes), plus some lime EO. But I couldn't seem to pull the lime to the forefront. The cinnamon is prominent as it the ginger, so I'd probably cut-back on the amount of those ingredients. Adjusting ingredients to get the 'perfect' scent is a challenge, but this is part of the learning curve and the experimentation process—and part of the enjoyment of doing a project such as this.

 

Looking great! You have me wanting to try it!

I might actually enjoy smelling like Christmas fruit cake, though. I am the guy who really loves fruit cake! I get regifted so much at Christmas, I have enough for a full year.

 

Thank you for sharing...Will have to give this a try when seminary is over!

 

Yes thanks for sharing, always enjoy articles that feed my DIY bug. How does it feel on the face post shave?

 

Light, mildly refreshing—think 'witch hazel' vs 'stinging aftershave.' I had concerns about an alcohol burn considering the amount of booze in the mix, but the end result is more like a light, cool, tingling cologne. Very subtle.
So I can splash it on with abandon and not worry about face burn nor overwhelming the olfactory senses of anyone nearby.

 

I really must get started on making some.

 

Awesome production. I really respect folks that take the time to backward engineer products and make them their own. Congrats. Maybe some day I'll give this a try.

 

Thanks! This was a fairly risk-free endeavor, where the only real negative impact would have been to my own or my wife's sense of smell if the stuff were to have come out foul smelling. Fortunately, the results were worth the effort.

 

Oh my god,

why have i found your beautiful home made Bay Rum not until now?! I will try it myself too. The ingrediants are all good to buy localy. How do you like it on your skin?! Dries it out the skin a bit or is it moisturizing due to the glycerine?!

Greetings
Thorsten

 

Thorsten, the Bay rum I made has a refreshing tingle on the face, does not sting, and actually leaves my face feeling clean & fresh. The scent is subtle—not as harsh as say the clubman bay rum. I always add a shea cream after every shave so I can honestly say if the BR dries out the face. It does have a fairly quick evaporative effect (cooling) that I happen to like.

 

I read out loud what you wrote about what your wife said about the smell "old manish" that's the same thing my wife says about all the AS I use except Clubmans VI bay rum. Thanks for sharing your journey into making aftershave.

 

Thank you very much Kevin. I have done a list with all the ingrediants and will try to buy them in the next days. Hope my experiment won´t fail... but i will do it exactly like you wrote it down here so wonderful.
And if it will fail,i have two bottles to drink. Because then i´m frustrated!!!

 

Have fun, Thorsten! I don't consider ANY homemade result a failure—I think of them all as gaining experience and hope to learn from the results.
If I were to attempt making BR again, I would use the same ingredients (no clove, again), but may add less cinnamon. If you are familiar with Pinaud Clubman Bay rum, you'll smell a pronounced spice to the scent (mainly the clove). With this recipe, the spiciness is still there, but the cinnamon is more prominent. It is not as overwhelming as the Clubman clove scent, but you can detect it. I actually enjoy the cinnamon spiciness scent, but it may not be to everyone's liking. Don't be shy on adding more lime as well—if you enjoy a more citrusy scent. I put in a ton of lime zest, but I hardly detected it in the final product. Maybe more lime essential oil I will use next time.
The amount of Bay Rum this recipe makes is about 14-16oz (414-473mL), which should last for some time unless one bathes in it.
Good luck!