Are you a Discerning Drinker?
Join thousands of like-minded professionals and cocktail enthusiasts, receive our weekly newsletters and see pages produced by our community for fellow Discerning Drinkers.
Forum
Corn 'n' Oil
Rum, slightly sweetened and flavoured with the lime and clove flavours of falernum. There is much debate over the Corn 'N' Oil, particularly the type...
Alex Nichells
25th December 2024 at 22:38
I went with 45ml Mount Gay Eclipse, 15ml Appleton Estate Signature, 15ml Velvet Falernum and 3 dashes of Ango over ice with a couple of lime wedges and a 15ml float of Skipper Dark. Absolutely delicious and I suspect very dangerous.
20th October 2024 at 17:15
This is the Cruzan(TM) version. Not the real thing. The real McCoy is 2oz aged Bajan rum, 1/2 oz Falernum, squeeze of lime. Don’t let anything Cruzan near your corn n’ oil!
8th April 2024 at 11:43
The robust simplicity and authenticity reminds me of a negroni. With good quality ingredients and fresh citrus you almost can’t go wrong. Brilliant.
5th June at 02:12
I thought exactly the same. Solid drink.
28th March 2024 at 11:26
Only a few rums in stock so did a 4:1 ish mix of plantation original dark and Havana 3, no float, velvet falernum and a generous squeeze of lime. Absolutely delicious.
17th March 2024 at 06:39
Nice and smooth with Appleton 8 & no float. Need to try with a Bajan rum.
5th March 2024 at 05:58
Cane Island Thailand 5 | JDT Velvet ... good flavor, balanced but a bit sweet. will try with different run and possibly a drier falernum?
5th March 2024 at 06:27
oops, forgot the lime... tried again with... better balance but not better imo
28th January 2024 at 11:42
As a fellow Carribean, I’ve made this cocktail to spec and mixed it up - Either way, absolutely great to taste and you get hit by the aromatics straight away.
PS: Citizens of Barbados are called Bajans* (Bajan Rum/Food etc.) instead of Barbadians*
PS: Citizens of Barbados are called Bajans* (Bajan Rum/Food etc.) instead of Barbadians*
28th January 2024 at 13:36
Thanks, I've corrected to say Bajan.
17th January 2024 at 00:29
Nice way to make a corn n oil, I personally tend towards the old-fashioned style on cubed ice and without the squeeze of lime juice, just a wedge for garnish. With some high-proof aged rum and a splash of water for volume it’s top tier. Even better when puffing on a Cuban cigar or cigarillo.
18th December 2023 at 16:39
Love this when I’m in the mood for rum. Perfect balance and looks really impressive when you serve it to guests.
17th October 2023 at 20:54
Didn't have any Barbados rum so I used Appleton 8. It was good, but I'll reserve judgement until I've tried it with a few other rums.
30th October 2022 at 19:59
Had this again today 30 October (U.S. National Candy Corn Day). Again it was perfect, but you must like rum being the forward taste and you must use a good rum. Incidentally, it does go excellently with Candy Corn.
20th July 2022 at 18:00
I'm noticing that many Corn N Oil recipes elsewhere include lime juice as an ingredient - generally an amount equal to the Falernum.
I even found one recipe, claiming to be the more authentic version used in Barbados, that swapped the Falernum and Rum ratios - 1.5 oz Falernum, .5 oz Rum. Interestingly, the picture looked spot-on for the drink's namesake - clear on the bottom, and "oily" on top. Also called for the juice of two lime wedges on top.
Thoughts?
I even found one recipe, claiming to be the more authentic version used in Barbados, that swapped the Falernum and Rum ratios - 1.5 oz Falernum, .5 oz Rum. Interestingly, the picture looked spot-on for the drink's namesake - clear on the bottom, and "oily" on top. Also called for the juice of two lime wedges on top.
Thoughts?
5th June 2022 at 17:36
My first recipe was really disappointing. I used Bacardi 8, Plantation Dark rum for the float and my DIY Falernum liqueur (which is pretty good). I tried a second recipe and it was quite good (but not great): Plantation Barbados, Plantation OFTD 69% for the float, my DIY Falernum liqueur, 15 ml lime juice and 5 ml rich syrup (2:1). It is possible to make this cocktail better by changing the rum, so as Simon Difford said: your choice of ingredients! This cocktail can range from 1 star to 5 stars.
25th March 2022 at 00:28
Had this on an unseasonably warm (77F/25C) March evening. Used a 151 Hamilton False Idol 151 float. Great cocktail and very refreshing. Key is to have a very good rum and falernum.
6th March 2022 at 23:42
I had this in a rooftop bar in a hotel in Albuquerque that had been a hospital. I finally found a recipe book that had it and I can't remember its name, but it's somewhere in my library. If you know it, you could save me time. It's a pretty good and surprisingly named drink.
21st May 2021 at 21:23
This is a great cocktail but I like some more lime than just a garnish, so add approx 15ml lime juice. I used gosling's as the dark rum as that's what I had.
13th May 2021 at 12:24
I have been looking forward to this all week, or since you published a list of Falernum cocktails recently, which by the way was very good for me as I noted many to try over the next few weeks. We are having a long 4 day weekend so cocktails started last night on arrival at our weekend home where we have a nice little bar. This was a fabulous cocktail, I went all the way and used Goslings 151 for the float :O.
13th May 2021 at 13:11
Great to hear. Sounds like you've a fun weekend ahead.
13th May 2021 at 12:29
I used my nice new old fashioned glasses (named Nachtmann) I just received yesterday so it looked really good too. This cocktail is now in my little "recurring" cocktail book, the one for cocktails I make 3-4 times a year ( became very sloppy over the years though).
3rd February 2021 at 10:37
@Simon: I appreciate that you took the comment to task. I'm not sure there's a "right" way to make a Corn 'n' Oil. But logic would dictate that there needs to be some sort of visual appeal that corresponds with the name. Also, I love your choice of glassware for the photo: looks like an oil drum.
[Also, not sure why I'm just now getting notification about this post now. The site says that comments were submitted 30+ weeks ago. Might wanna look into that.]
[Also, not sure why I'm just now getting notification about this post now. The site says that comments were submitted 30+ weeks ago. Might wanna look into that.]
3rd February 2021 at 12:12
Thanks. I smiled when I found appropriate glass. I believe you received notification as a new comment was left in this thread yesterday.
5th July 2020 at 09:54
By all means, I think multiple rums in a drink like this makes a superior, more nuanced drink! But you need something super-dark to top this. 15-mL will suffice if you don't feel comfortable using it as the base. And even Kraken works... provided you use a sweeter dark rum as the drink's base.
I've certainly read the Punch article to which you're referring. Tried making an exemplary Corn & Oil for years until settling on a float of Cruzan B-S or Kraken.
Seale does not MAKE "Blackstrap" rum.
I've certainly read the Punch article to which you're referring. Tried making an exemplary Corn & Oil for years until settling on a float of Cruzan B-S or Kraken.
Seale does not MAKE "Blackstrap" rum.
9th July 2020 at 07:50
I tried and liked your combination of rums suggestion with a "black" rum float and have amended the recipe and image above accordingly. Many thanks for the nudge.
4th July 2020 at 11:05
Corn 'n' Oil requires that the rum be Black Strap rum. No other style other than black rum will do! This is a grave error in propagating correct cocktail information.
2nd February 2021 at 12:42
Grave error is mentioning Black Strap rum, as such a thing does not exist! Cruzan, a second class rum producer, uses this in its advertising.
Graver, even stupid, is putting comments based on advertisement influence rather than knowlegde!
Graver, even stupid, is putting comments based on advertisement influence rather than knowlegde!
4th July 2020 at 13:37
I do agree this cocktail is better with a more aged rum and so have changed this accordingly. However,
To quote Richard Seale, distiller of Foursquare in Barbados, “There is no such thing as blackstrap rum.” And I’ve not experienced this cocktail being made with a “black strap rum” the Caribbean and I fear marketing by Cruzan has heavily influenced perceptions, particularly in the USA. On Barbados and Jamaica this is made with local rums and I’ve even enjoyed a Corn ‘n’ Oil based on Wray & Nephew O/P. I’ve not come across Cruzan Black Strap in Barbados or Jamaica and I’m not sure it’s even available there.
To quote Richard Seale, distiller of Foursquare in Barbados, “There is no such thing as blackstrap rum.” And I’ve not experienced this cocktail being made with a “black strap rum” the Caribbean and I fear marketing by Cruzan has heavily influenced perceptions, particularly in the USA. On Barbados and Jamaica this is made with local rums and I’ve even enjoyed a Corn ‘n’ Oil based on Wray & Nephew O/P. I’ve not come across Cruzan Black Strap in Barbados or Jamaica and I’m not sure it’s even available there.