Why's The Rum Gone?

I have had the joy and pleasure of tasting Naked Turtle Rum. I first had it at a tiny, hole in the wall bar at a North Carolina beach. When I asked the bar tender where I could get it, he said, "The ABC store next door."

So, the next day I picked up a bottle and I love it! If you like rum, this one is smooth. It doesn't have any bite to it and mixes really, really well.

1.5 oz of Naked Turtle only has 146 calories and 0 carbs. We love seeing that number beside our carb intake! So, on my journey with ketocktails, I decided to start experimenting with this fabulous rum. Here are some of my concoctions.

Sorry for the blurry picture!

I'm still finding Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash on shelves at Walmart, so I bought a bottle and mixed about half a glass with 2 shots of rum. The soda has virtually 0 everything in it and these two together was sort of like a twist on the classic vodka cranberry. I think it taste better though.

The second one was La Croix Coconut and rum. La Croix, if you're not familiar with it, is just sparkling water. It's nice and fizzy. Compare the 0 grams of carbs in the basic rum to the 5 grams of carbs in Coconut Rum. Skip the flavored liquor and use the sparkling water to add flavor. There's 0 everything in it!

And of course my all time favorite, mainly because I'm a Diet Pepsi addict, is Diet Pepsi and rum. This one is as classic as whiskey and cola. Of course you can use any diet drink here. Both the Mister and I are fond of using white rum in diet Sprite or 7-Up. The lemon lime mixes well with the rum and it's really refreshing.

Other ideas for rum:

• Mix it with Diet Ginger Ale
• Mix it with sugar free lemonade
• Mix it with sugar free cranberry juice
• A mix of sugar free juices for a great rum punch!
• Mojitos! Use splenda instead of white or brown sugar.

OMG I LOVE RUM!!! That's why it's gone. 

Stay tuned for more ketocktails!!

Ketocktails - An Introduction

I'm no stranger to the bar scene, but not in the way you probably assume. I frequent a bar that boasts 69 taps and over 100 bottles of beer. I went there because I was a beer snob and if it's one thing I miss the most on this journey, it's the carby world of beer.

Since my journey into keto, I've given up beer with no remorse. It's been easier than it seems because I already knew the basics when it came to finding carb free cocktail options. So, in thinking about topics for entries I came up with the idea for a crash course into ketocktails, as I call them.

Here are your guidelines if you choose to accept this mission:

1. Fruit juices are a no-no. Why? They're loaded with carbs from added sugars and from the nautral sugars in fruit. Say you just want a basic vodka cranberry.
Here's the recipe for a standard vodka and cran:
1 part vodka - 1oz
2 park cranberry - 2 oz = 7g Carbs.
1 lime wedge

7g of Carbs is dinner. Put the fruity cocktail down. Now.

Taken from Oceanspray.com

Alternative to this sugary nightmare? Sub out the cranberry for club soda or seltzer. Keep the lime wedge for a little extra flavor.

2. Stay away from flavored liquors. Pinnacle whipped vodka has 7g of carbs per 1.5oz (roughly 1.5 shots). Yikes!! If you're ever curious at the carb count of flavored vodkas, which are very popular in mixed drinks, just take a minute to put the name of the liquor into MyFitnessPal and run a search on it. I have no alternative here. I'm not a fan of flavored liquors.

3. Avoid mixers at all costs. These mixers have a lot of sugars added to them. That's what makes your cocktail taste so great. Peachtree Schnapps has 6.6g, Triple Sec has 11g and Razzmataz has 11g of carbs per serving. Those add up fast! Just avoid these!!!

Image found via Google Images

4. Go diet. Do you have the option to use a diet mixer? Do it!! Diet coke, diet sprite, diet ginger ale. Cut out those unnecessary carbs and switch to diet. If you're taking shots and using a chaser or a Coke back, use something diet. 

5. Don't touch anything that has an umbrella in it. Frozen drinks are notorious for having an ungodly amount of calories and carbs in them. They may be tempting when you're hanging out in a beach side bar, but pick something else that doesn't come out of a margarita machine. 

Stick around and I'll share some of my favorite cocktail recipes.