November 2014- Rum in the News

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November 2014- Rum in the News

- by Mike Kunetka

BLUE CHAIR BAY RUM CREAM

Kenny Chesney and the folks at Blue Chair Bay Rum will cover the flavored rum market, the spiced rum market and the rum cream market this Holiday with their Coconut Spiced Rum Cream. This limited release will combine toasted coconut, silky vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves with a creamy, rummy base. Forget Egg Nog this Holiday Season and reach for the festive red bottle.

DESTILERIA CANECA

Destilería Canéca, LLC, a Miami-based company, with operations in Miami’s Wynwood Design District, began production December 2011 and is now delivering the first rum ever produced in the City of Miami. The company is inspired by the founder’s five generation family tradition of rum production in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, dating back to 1911. Malone stated, “There is a sense of winning in the air here in Miami. I am very grateful for the opportunity to raise my family and to grow a business in this great city. We hope residents and visitors alike embrace “The Spirit of Miami ”.” A panel of international judges at the 2013 San Francisco World Spirits Competition awarded the Gold Medal for Best White Rum to Miami Club Rum, its flagship brand.

BERRY BROTHERS & RUDD

In the past I have written about BB&R’s Pink Pigeon rums, but they also have a collection of their own bottlings. Sourcing rums throughout the Caribbean, they offer a 12 year old rum from Panama, a 14 year old rum from Guyana, a 15 year old rum from St. Lucia and a 10 year old from Barbados. If you are looking for that very special gift this holiday season, take a look at their Exceptional Cask Collection’s 1977 Jamaican Rum Overproof (58.0% ABV).

Here is their description: “Rare, very old, Jamaican rum, aged in a Bourbon cask, high strength, probably pot-distilled. We don’t know a great deal more about this rum but when we tasted a sample, we were bowled over. Its over-proof strength is an enhancement to its complex character. This charming 35 year-old rum exudes aromas of cigar boxes, coconut, spice and ripe banana. The palate has a rare complexity, rich, juicy and balanced by the judicious oak influence. This is a connoisseur’s rum and one to savor.” If you are interested, you had better hurry, there are only 110 bottles available.

DRUM CIRCLE DISTILLING

In the September issue of Got Rum, our very own rum reviewer, Paul Senft, gave rave reviews for Drum Circle’s Distiller’s Reserve Spiced Rum. Now they are experimenting with aging their spiced rum in barrels that previously aged craft beers. Every batch is unique because the barrels are all different and impart different flavors into the spiced rum. Beer Barrel Finish is released at a higher proof (80 proof/40% ABV) than the regular spiced rum. The upfront flavor has hints of the beer that was previously in the barrels. The middle is characterized by spice flavors mellowed by the time spent in the barrels. The finish carries through smoothly with the taste of honey prevalent. Siesta Key Beer Barrel Finish Spiced Rum will be available primarily through the tasting room at the distillery.

While you are at the distillery, be sure to inquire about their upcoming Coconut Rum. Head Distiller, Troy Roberts, has been working for two years to perfect this combination of rum, honey and real toasted coconut.

CANE LAND DISTILLING COMPANY

The Cane Land distillery will break ground on its new plant off River Road in Baton Rouge later this year, producing rum from fresh Louisiana sugar cane and molasses grown on the Alma Sugar Cane Plantation. Cane Land co-founder and Baton Rouge native Walter Tharp said the distillery’s proximity to the sugar mill is key to producing rhum agricole, a rum spirit made from sugar cane juice, instead of molasses. “Fresh pressed cane juice starts to ferment immediately so that’s the reason we chose Baton Rouge to be close to the mill,” Tharp said. “Once the sugar cane is pressed or is crushed, you have about a two hour window to distill it. The only other producer of rhum agricole in the country is the California-based St. George Spirits”, Tharp said. “They’re only able to produce about 500 bottles annually, but we’ll be able to produce more in 30 minutes than they can in an entire year.”

Tharp said the Alma Sugar Cane Plantation has been owned by his family for years, and produced more than 400 million pounds of sugar last year and 10 million gallons of molasses.

Tharp said he and his co-founder, Jim Massey, are hoping to make the distillery a part of the Baton Rouge and Louisiana State University community. They are even working on a possible internship program for students as well as allow people to visit the distillery and bottle rum.  “People can come to the distillery and do a 30 minute tutorial on how to bottle spirits, and we’ll let them work in the distillery for about five hours and then they’ll leave with a bottle of rum and a T-shirt,” Tharp said. “We think it’s going to be a pretty cool program, and it will build brand ambassadors. It will give students at LSU and Baton Rouge citizens a sense of ownership of the distillery.”

Tharp said Cane Land has a distribution agreement already in place to get the spirits out to stores once production gets underway. Cane Land will produce a few types of rum and rhum agricole, with different aging and production processes for each.

DOS MADERAS

The folks at Dos Maderas are famous for their double cask aging process. Dos Maderas 5+3 is first aged in oak casks for five years in the Caribbean (Guyana & Barbados) and then sailed across to Spain for an additional three years of aging in casks that once held the internationally acclaimed “Dos Cortados” 20 year old Palo Cortado sherry. Dos Maderas Rum PX then undergoes a third and final aging step when the rum rests for two years in casks that previously held Don Guido, a 20 year aged Pedro Ximenez sherry. Their latest offering is Dos Maderas Luxus. It is matured for 10 years at its place of origin in the Caribbean, before being transferred to the Spanish Sherry house of Williams & Humbert. There it matures for a further 5 years using the Solera system method in American oak casks which have previously contained the internationally renowned 20 year old DON GUIDO, a Pedro Ximénez Sherry with extraordinary aromas and flavors.

KO HANA RUM

About a decade ago, Robert Dawson set out to catalogue and plant all the old varieties of sugarcane that he could get his hands on— sugarcane that sugar companies passed over for hybrids that grew straighter and taller and were easier to harvest via machine. Now, he has 12 acres of sugarcane on the North Shore and is planting another 15 acres in Kunia, next to the distillery where he makes his Hawaiian agricole rum, Ko Hana (translation: “work of the cane”). And the beauty of cane juice rum is that Dawson can produce rums from single varietals of sugarcane. So far, his batches have included lahi and manulele varieties, the lahi “very green and grassy with soft notes of cream and butterscotch,” Dawson says, while the manulele has an “earthiness at the forefront, then finishing with rock candy and cinnamon.”

By this fall, Dawson hopes to open a tasting room next to the distillery, where people will be able to sample the rums, including a few aged in Bourbon and Chardonnay barrels.