Iron Chef has FAILED Us!

What a tragedy. Here we are, watching the fine Iron Chef show featuring Symon vs Trabocchi (first aired February 2009). There they are, squaring off. They have beautiful woodland strawberries, wagu beef, shrimp... all the finest ingredients that the show is known for. One of the contestants - we didn't notice which one in our apoplectic fit - ended up making a mojito. In fact, it was a basil mojito (the basil used in lieu of mint)... and that was the tragic moment.

You see, in the midst of all of those fine ingredients, we see the master chef pull out a 1.5 liter jug of Bacardi Light rum and fill up the glass.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKIN' KIDDING US!

Alright, after a few Zen breathing techniques, let's talk about this rationally. There's nothing wrong with Bacardi Light; it's a very serviceable rum. And what the heck, they're mixing it with simple syrup... but then again, this is Iron Chef. Can you at least try a little bit?

For us, aged rums are beautiful in mojitos but people tend to like the crystal clear quality so fine: use a light rum.

But come on! There's still some great stuff out there!

There's a beautiful little Rhum Agricole put out by La Favorite that's been very well regarded.

Matusalem makes awesome rums and their platino is no exception. And it's only $17 so it's actually about the same price as the Bacardi!!

What about some boutique rum like 10-Cane or a microdistillery like Rogue?

Then the moron judge tasted the mojito. He rightly noted that the chef poured it a little strong (we noticed it was like five ounces of rum in some ice and a half-ounce of syrup). This moron judge said, "Did you consider diluting the cachaca at all?" Sweet Mary Mother of Jesus you fool; cachaca is a specialty Brazilian rum while YOU-culinary Einstein-just tasted garden variety Bacardi, which is a Puerto Rican Rum.

What a tragedy this was.

So yeah, if you're keeping score at home we had a master chef use Bacardi Light rum and the master judge suggested he used a Brazilian rum in a Cuban drink that used basil instead of the trademark mint. So while Brazilians everywhere are spitting nails over the thought of their national spirit going in a Cuban drink we can just think to ourselves: that's the American melting pot.

Just to be fair, Top Chef also ran with some cocktails in their semi-final match for the 2008 season and they were supposed to make some kind of cocktail for New Orleans. We didn't notice what kind of liquor they used. But all these chefs could use an introduction to the wonders of Proof66 and it's ability to nail awesome spirits with very little effort.