How to Make Coconut Rum

Living in a relatively remote place like Port Douglas, the comforts of modernity were quite lacking--no major shopping malls, no car, no television, slow to the point of being useless internet--all of which meant we were free to amuse ourselves during our free time. Of course, even though we were living in Far North Queensland, the one comfort that we did have in abundance was alcohol. And so, as a means to pass the time and take advantage of our natural surroundings, John decided to make his own coconut infused rum (minus the distilling the rum part--we didn't have that kind of time).

So here are the easy to follow steps for making your own coconut-infused rum.

Step 1) Find a Coconut

Living near a beach, fallen coconuts were numerous--the trick was finding a fresh one. Lucky for us, the Sea Temple Golf Club had just the thing we needed! As John and I both worked at the golf club during our Sea Temple employment, we were fortunate to enjoy playing golf there for free--which was actually a great deal considering they are one of the top golf courses in Australia or Queensland, or something like that. Anywho, we decided one afternoon to get all prepped out in our collar shirts and shorts to play some golf!

And, for your viewing pleasure (and amusement), I've included our little "How to Pretend Like You Know How to Play Golf" tutorial videos.

Pretty impressive, right?

As we were driving our cart along the path from hole to hole, John spotted the perfect coconut just lying there on the course. Success! A fresh coconut was procured. 

Step 2) Drain The Coconut 

The outer casing of the coconut was quite large, but John managed to cut through that to get to the coconut itself. The first step was to drain the water inside:

Step 3) Open the Coconut

Now, for this step some of our friends in Port Douglas went out and bought a $90 machete so they could open coconuts. Which, would certainly work by all means, but we were on a budget so we just stuck to a kitchen knife.

Step 4) Shave the Coconut

Once John had his coconut all drained, opened, with the husk peeled away, it was time to get all the little coconut shavings!

Step 5) Cook the Coconut

Now, this next step is essential to making your coconut rum taste nice, as it doesn't have a lot of natural sugar. So you add water and sugar and heat the coconut to infuse it with a little more sugar.

Step 6) Infuse the Coconut

Now it's time to add the coconut to the rum. We originally used a mason jar but it didn't have a tight-enough seal, as you have to shake your concoction once every day--so we used the Bacardi Rum bottle and an old wine bottle instead. Put everything together and voila!

Step 6) Wait

John left it on the counter for about 4-5 weeks to let the flavor come out.

Step 7) Enjoy the Coconut

Once the coconut-infused rum was ready to drink, John used a small, fine sieve and a coffee filter to get the rum separated from all the coconut bits. Once we got ride of all the coconut bits, you use a spoon or something to skim off the top layer of coconut stuff that accumulates and you are ready to enjoy! Pop some in a glass with an ice cube and head to the beach!