With rum and its various spiced incarnations enjoying a moment of late, spiced rum is a timely addition to your liquor collection. To make your own, you’ll need a good bottle of rum that you could comfortably sip without having to add a dash of cola. You’ll also need a mix of spices including a vanilla bean, cloves, a cinnamon stick, fresh nutmeg, orange zest, ginger, allspice berries, peppercorns and star anise. If you’ve gone to the trouble of purchasing a quality bottle of rum, it’s important to pay the same attention to the spices – don’t substitute the vanilla bean for vanilla essence or the fresh nutmeg for the dried and ground variety. You can add the spices in measures depending on your tastes, and you can also eliminate them to create your own secret recipe (who knows, you could well become the next Colonel Sanders if you find the perfect blend of secret herbs and spices).

Combine all of the ingredients in an airtight jar or bottle, seal and store in a dark, cool place for 48 hours. After this time, you can do a taste test to see how it is coming along. Add more of the ingredients you think aren’t as dominant and allow the mixture to sit for another 48 hours. After this time, strain the spices from the rum and bottle.

Image via Life Tastes Like Food.