How to Make Malibu, Coconut Liqueur

 

Greetings, I am Wagner Ramírez, artisan liquor maker.

Although deciphering the ingredients of this liquor was simple (rum, coconut, and sugar), it has been the most difficult liquor to make, it was a challenge to obtain a liquor with coconut flavor and crystalline at the same time. I am going to tell you about my experience.

The first thing I had to determine was the proportion of rum and coconut in the mash, it turns out that the grated coconut absorbs a lot of liquid and it was difficult for me to reach an ideal measure. Little coconut, no flavor, and a lot of coconut, absorbs all the rum. So, what is the correct mash ratio? This is the most difficult question for an artisan liquor maker to answer. My humble opinion says that for coconut it is 20% and for rum 80%.

But that's not the only problem I found. The coconut is full of fat that collects on top of the mash jar. It takes a lot of work to separate this fat, plus the fat steals a lot of flavor. This is how I discovered that the bottle must be shaken every day, so that the alcohol in the rum extracts the flavors that accumulate in the fat. I told you this liquor is hard to make. And I have not told you what it costs to open a coconut and grate it. Luckily in my country they sell grated and dehydrated coconut.

Next comes the challenge of separating the liquor from the vegetable matter, the fat clings everywhere. Here I recommend first using a stainless-steel mesh, the same ones used in the kitchen, and then a cotton filter. The coconut absorbs a lot of liquid, it must be pressed to the maximum. We notice that the liquor, once filtered, looks totally cloudy. The only solution to this is to leave the liquor in the refrigerator for up to 5 days so that the solids settle on the bottom and the fats accumulate on the top. Then, with a brewer's siphon, we extract the liquor. I almost forgot to say it, if you manage to rescue the fat you can use it for cooking or to make cosmetics. It is a natural fat, without chemicals and with a pleasant coconut aroma.

After this a disappointing phenomenon occurs. The amount of liquor has almost been cut in half. In addition, we note that our liquor is not transparent at all, as is Malibu. I tell you a gossip: Malibu is loaded with chemicals that I, for my personal well-being, have decided not to use. It is not a problem for me to produce a cloudy, delicious, and healthy liquor.

But do not be discouraged, the liquor is delicious, I have to say, it looks better than the original, it has no comparison. An artisan liquor has a whole range of notes that a commercial liquor does not have. I do not regret this work, because the result was gratifying.

Malibu has 18% sugar and 20% alcohol, the recipe I designed has those same characteristics if you follow the steps to the letter. Nor will it be catastrophic to get more alcohol or less sugar.

I am not delaying them anymore, here is the recipe to obtain 1700 ml of liquor:

Ingredients

• 500 g of grated coconut.
• 2000 ml of 40% white rum.
• 150 g of sugar.
• 550 ml of water.

Process

• Macerate the coconut and rum in an airtight glass jar for a month and shake vigorously once a day.
• Filter the solid plant matter with metal mesh and then with cotton. I recommend pressing the pulp of the coconut to extract the most amount of liquid.
• Macerate in a glass jar, in the refrigerator, 5 days. Extract the liquor phase with a brewer's siphon. This step can be repeated one more time.
• The ideal is to reach approximately 800 ml of liquor.
• Place the water and sugar in a saucepan, heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely.
• Once the syrup cools, we mix it with the liquor.
• It is time to bottle.
• Enjoy it.