The Rumcast (Will Hoekenga and John Gulla)

Even if you’ve never heard of Amsterdam-based E&A Scheer, you’ve probably had rum that came from them. Or through them, rather. As rum blenders, they source rum in bulk from distilleries all over the world and create custom-made blends for customers who then sell it under their own brands. Walk down the rum aisle in your local liquor store and you’ll likely pass multiple brands who sourced their rum from E&A Scheer (Denizen is one of many examples you may be familiar with).

On this episode, we sat down with CEO Carsten Vlierboom and CCO Niels Benschop to discuss what it takes to source massive volumes of rum, how they work with customers to create blends, their views on the evolving rum landscape, and much more. Carsten and Niels also guided us through the process of using their rum blending tool to create our very own Special Hypothetical Rum Blend for Rumcast listeners!

Links:

E&A Scheer

E&A Scheer Blending Tool

Article: “The Most Important Rum Company You’ve Never Heard Of: E&A Scheer” by Matt Pietrek

Article: “Liquid & Logistics: Inside E&A Scheer, Master Bulk Rum Blenders” by Matt Pietrek

Article: “The Main Rum Company: Vintage Cask Valhalla” by Matt Pietrek

Societies, groups, collectives—whatever you want to call them, communities that bring rum enthusiasts together, whether in person or online, are a big part of furthering rum education and driving conversations across the category. But what goes into actually starting one? How do you find people interested in participating and sustain excitement and involvement? And wait—how do you get to do all that cool stuff like private barrel picks from beloved rum makers around the world? As founder of the Florida Rum Society, Jay Cocorullo has experience with all of the above. We brought him on the podcast to share his experience growing the FRS, his tips for others looking to start local rum groups, the FRS’s work to bring a better rum selection to Florida rum consumers, barrel picks, and more. Oh, and as a long-time member of the FRS, John had a thing or two to add as well!

Note: This episode was recorded back in September. It’s been a hectic few months for The Rumcast, but we’ll be back with regular episodes soon!

Rhum Barbancourt is a square peg to the round holes of rum categorization. It’s made with fresh sugarcane juice in a nation with historic ties to France, but it is not rhum agricole. It hails from Haiti, but there is a world of difference between it and clairin. Its production has aspects associated with all three of the colonial-based French, Spanish, and British categories. To get to the core of what makes Rhum Barbancourt unique, we sat down with the company’s new CEO—and fifth generation member of the family that started the brand—Delphine Gardère. We discussed:

The aspects of production that make Barbancourt distinct from other rums

Barbancourt’s relationship with the 3,000+ farmers that supply the distillery’s sugarcane

Delphine’s vision for the company, and the relationship between maintaining tradition vs. trying new things

What it means as a company to be an ambassador for Haiti

The importance of elevating women in the spirits industry and transitioning from a male-dominated environment

Barbancourt’s approach to aging with a combination of vats and different cask types

Bringing pot still production back to the distillery (and what kinds of releases it might yield)

And much more!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Netherlands Rum Society Facebook Group

Netherlands Rum Society Instagram

Maggie Campbell’s interview with Delphine Gardère for the Daily Beast

Watch Rhum Barbancourt’s livestream with WIRSPA and Zavvy.co

Rhum Barbancourt Website

Rum enthusiasts may be used to seeing new rum brands launch with the aim of challenging misconceptions of the category and showcasing everything we love about it to a wider audience—but it’s unlikely you’ve seen one created by anyone with the unique background and experience of Marc Farrell.

Born and raised in Trinidad, Farrell attended MIT at the age of 16 before going on to graduate from Harvard Business School and become the youngest VP at Starbucks in the company’s history (with a few other interesting stops along the way). In 2019, he launched Ten To One Rum with the aim of showcasing not only Caribbean rum, but the Caribbean itself, to a wider audience that has often misunderstood both.

Ten To One started with two flagship rum blends, one featuring unaged rums from Jamaica and Dominican Republic, and the other featuring aged rums from Barbados, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. More recently, the company put out its first limited release, a selection of four single barrels of 17-year-old rum from Trinidad.

On this episode, we start by talking through some gift ideas for rum lovers before jumping into the interview with Marc, which covered everything from the intention behind the brand (and what makes it unique) to the rum itself, including topics like:

What rums were around during Marc's upbringing in Trinidad?

Caroni perception in Trinidad

The process of creating the rum blends that became Ten To One's flagship products at launch

What sets Ten To One apart from other rum brands and independent bottlers

What goes into creating a rum brand that's representative of the entire Caribbean rather than just one nation

Broadening people's perceptions of the rum category

The factors that make a brand authentic rather than contrived

Ten To One's new limited release: four single barrels of 17-year-old Trinidadian rum

And more!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Ten To One Rum Website

Spirits Flight Palate Development Tool

In this episode, we take a look back at our favorite rums and rum-related experiences of the year, while also revisiting some of our top highlights from the Rumcast’s first year. Pour yourself a glass of something you fell in love with in 2020 and listen as we discuss:

Our personal favorite rums this year in the following categories…

Unaged rum

Aged rum

“New to me” rum

Best value rum

Most surprising rum

Overall rum

Our favorite podcast moments of the year in the following categories…

Favorite interview

Most surprising interview moment

Most awkward interview moment

And a few more surprises!

Note: The Hamilton Florida Rum Society Blend mentioned in the episode is 65% Guyanese rum from Demerara Distillers Ltd. (aged 3-5 years) and 35% Jamaican rum from Worthy Park (aged 1 year).

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming in 2021.

In this episode, we talked to Dr. Frank Ward, an icon of Barbados rum, about his time as managing director at Mount Gay, the sought-after pot still rums released under the Mount Gilboa brand (and via various independent bottlers), his time as chairman of WIRSPA, the development of the Authentic Caribbean Rum marque, his thoughts on the Barbados rum GI, and more. Before the interview, we kick things off with a short new segment called Rerums in which we each revisit a rum we haven’t had in awhile and share our impressions.

Links from this episode:

The Authentic Caribbean Rum Marque

Matt Pietrek’s article on the history of Mount Gay, which contains further insights from Dr. Frank Ward

San Juan Artisan Distillers, the makers of Ron Pepón (Dr. Ward mentioned his experience consulting the distillery)

The Lone Caner’s review of Mhoba Rum’s French Cask Rum (mentioned during Rerums)

Friends of Rum Tennessee, the new rum society in Tennessee mentioned during the intro

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming in 2021.

In this episode, we each do a top 3 list of essential mixing ingredients that we think every rum lover should have in their home bar to better explore their rum collection —and to take their rum cocktail game up a few notches. Also, don’t miss our intro topic discussion debuting a brand new resource for the rum community we are excited to put on our website: a current list of geographically-based rum groups, clubs, or societies. We hope everyone will either find and join a local group in their area, or be inspired to create one if it doesn’t exist! Head over to rumcast.com/rum-societies to check it out.

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we start with a quick edition of Rerums (revisiting rums we haven't had in awhile) before moving into our St. Lucia Distillers interview. In the interview, we talk with CEO Margaret Monplaisir and Master Blender Deny Duplessis about the wide variety of rums produced at St. Lucia Distillers. Known for brands such as Chairman’s Reserve, Admiral Rodney, and Bounty (and Denros Strong Rum if you’re local), the distillery uses its unique combination of stills, base ingredients (both molasses and fresh sugarcane juice), casks, and aging environment to create a style of rum unlike any you’ll find elsewhere.

Margaret and Deny discuss their personal rum journeys, the qualities that define St. Lucia rum, the complexity of the distillery’s approach to rum making, the advantages and challenges that come with producing such a wide variety of distillates, the distillery’s many stills, the Chairman’s Reserve Master’s Selections, the development process of a rum blend, the legacy of Laurie Barnard and his enduring influence on the distillery, and more.

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we start with John’s impressions of the new Great House release from Hampden Estate before jumping into our interview with Christelle Harris, marketing director at Hampden. Christelle’s family purchased the legendary Jamaican distillery at auction from the government in 2009, and she has been instrumental in developing the brands now associated with the distillery itself.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Christelle shares how she decided to take on a role with the distillery in the first place, Rum Fire’s evolution (and the lessons learned from it), the process of discovering how truly special Hampden is, introducing the world to the first rums aged at Hampden, becoming friends with Richard Seale, the infamous Luca Gargano story, the Great House releases, Hampden’s endemic bird series, some exciting news for Hampden fans in the U.S., and more. Plus, cameo appearances from her grandma.

To learn more about Hampden Estate, check out:

The Hampden website

Hampden Instagram

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we start with some more chatter on Hampden’s latest Great House release and revisit a defunct rum produced in Trinidad (though probably not the one you’re thinking). From there, we jump into our conversation with Ian Burrell, the Global Rum Ambassador and co-founder of Equiano Rum (the world’s first African and Caribbean rum) among other ventures.

In signature fashion, Ian takes us on an entertaining ride through discovering the rums of Mauritius, his relationship with Richard Seale, how the first Equiano rum blend (Mauritius rum and Barbados rum) came to be, what to expect next from Equiano, developing the International Sugarcane Spirits Awards, adventures in awards categories, overlooked or underrated rum distilleries, his basketball and music careers, and more!

Links to learn more:

Ian Burrell’s website

Equiano Rum

The International Sugarcane Spirits Awards

International Sugarcane Spirits Awards results from Year One

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we talk to Jay West (whom the Internet may know better as t8ke), prolific spirits reviewer and founder of the Aficionados Group, the collective behind the XXX Series of rum releases and a recent string of high ester bottlings, including that DOK release you probably saw everyone talking about. Jay takes us through the stories behind those releases, what he’s learned from reviewing nearly 2,000 spirits, his approach to analytical drinking, techniques for improving your ability as a taster, spirits recommendations for rum fans, what’s next rum-wise for the Aficionados Group, and more.

Links to learn more:

The Aficionados Group Website

Whiskey Raiders, where Jay is Managing Editor

Fine Drams, where you can find many Aficionados releases for sale

Reddit’s r/rum community

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we kick things off with a listener question on additives in rum, along with a quick rerum, before jumping into our interview with Francisco Terrazas of Paranubes. Paranubes is a fresh sugarcane juice rum distilled in Oaxaca, Mexico, by José Luís Carrera, a third generation sugarcane grower and distiller of aguardiente de caña. Not only does Francisco share the backstory behind the brand and all the details of the unique production process that gives Paranubes its distinctive character, he also gives an overview of the broader category of Mexican rum—which is much bigger than you might realize.

We came away from this interview with even more excitement for a region that is often overlooked by rum enthusiasts, and think you will, too.

Topics covered include:

Paranubes’ history as a brand and how their partnership with José Luís came together

Rum vs. aguardiente de caña (and why you see both on the label)

How the relationship with Paranubes has impacted production for José Luís

The full details on the rum’s production process (including the four months-long rolling fermentations)

Growing awareness of Mexican rum as a category

Regional differences in rum production across the country

And lots more!

Links to learn more:

The Paranubes Website

Follow Francisco on Instagram

The Imbibe article on Paranubes mentioned in the episode

The Punch article mentioned in the episode

In this episode, we kick things off with a quick discussion of some rums from KōHana Distillers in Hawaii before jumping into our interview (18:44) with Kevin Crossman, the creator of UltimateMaiTai.com. Kevin has spent the last couple of decades drinking his way toward the ultimate mai tai, both in bars and at home, and documenting the process on his website. We pick Kevin’s brain on a little bit of mai tai history, the cocktail’s evolution over the years, an ingredient-by-ingredient breakdown (with recommendations for each component), finding the right combination of rums, the bars that’ll make you a great one, and much more.

Links to learn more:

Kevin’s website, Ultimate Mai Tai

Kevin’s history of the Mai Tai

Follow Ultimate Mai Tai on Instagram

KōHana Distillers (mentioned during the intro)

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we answer a listener question everyone has as they get deeper into rum: now that you’ve experienced most of the initial wave of recommended rums for those getting into the hobby, where do you go next? We came up with our top three picks for what to look for (while staying under $100) and revealed them to one another live. If you’ve already dipped a couple toes in the water and are looking to expand your rum horizons, this episode is for you!

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we share thoughts on some recent rum experiences (including the Appleton Hearts collection) before jumping into a roundtable discussion Will hosted with three rum producers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico that are growing sugarcane for the purpose of making rum (Erik Vonk of Richland Rum in Georgia, Pepe Alvarez of San Juan Distillers in Puerto Rico, and Steve Jefferson of Kuleana Rum Works in Hawaii). Erik, Pepe, and Steve give insight into the unique challenges that come with operating sugarcane farms while running distilleries in regions not historically known for producing the style of rum they’re making (or for producing rum at all, in some cases).

As mentioned on the show, this roundtable discussion was originally broadcast via livestream with Zavvy.co and American Rum Report.

Relevant links:

San Juan Distillers website

Richland Rum website

Kuleana Rum Works website

The original livestream broadcast of the roundtable discussion

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

It’s not uncommon to find rums that were distilled in Belize, but how much do you know about the distillery that many of them come from? In this episode, we chat with Amanda Perdomo and Myito Perdomo of Travellers Liquors to get the deeper details on one of the biggest sources of Belizean rum. You’ll get a window into the Perdomo family’s history in the rum business (which dates all the way back to the 1950s), the production process at Travellers, the distillery’s approach to bulk sales, their upcoming releases, and much more.

Relevant links:

The Travellers Liquors website

Rum Revelations’ article/review on Belizean rum

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we start with a quick review of recent rum and cocktail experiences before getting to an interview with Martin Cate (18:30), owner of the bar Smuggler’s Cove (among other ventures) and author of the rum and tiki book by the same name. Martin catches us up on the planned June 15th reopening of Smuggler’s Cove and then we hop around a variety of rum- and bar-centric topics, including the evolution of rum selection in the U.S., the making of the Smuggler’s Cove rum categorization system, what an updated edition of Smuggler’s Cove might look like, secret recipes in the modern era, the state of rum’s perception, what makes his bars different, and more.

Relevant links:

Learn more about Martin’s bars and projects:

Smuggler’s Cove (San Francisco, CA)

Hale Pele (Portland, OR)

False Idol (San Diego, CA)

Lost Lake (Chicago, IL)

Max’s South Seas Hideaway (Grand Rapids, MI)

Get a copy of the book Smuggler’s Cove

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

Big news: we collaborated with Holmes Cay to co-create a new rum release! Meet Fiji Rum, a blend of pot- and column-distilled, molasses-based rum that was distilled at South Pacific Distilleries in Fiji. In this episode, we sat down with Holmes Cay founder Eric Kaye to take you through the unpredictable series of events that led to the rum’s creation, all the decisions that went into bringing the release to life, why we settled on this particular blend of rums (and others that we considered), what sets it apart from other rums you may have had from Fiji, and much more.

Relevant links:

Check out the Holmes Cay website for all the specs and details on the rum.

If you’re looking to locate a bottle, check out this page on the Holmes Cay website

Listen to the episode that led to the creation of this rum, our interview with Carsten Vlierboom and Niels Benschop of E&A Scheer

In this episode, we chat with Lance Surujbally of The Lone Caner about his Key Rums of the World series—one of our favorite pieces of rum writing online right now. It’s an essential series for anyone wishing to understand the rums that are defining the modern era, whether you’re new to the category or have enjoyed it for years. Lance talked us through the origin of the series, how he settled on his criteria for a key rum, the challenges of the project, why the series is important, which entries have gotten pushback, what we might see next in the series, and much more. At the end, we discuss the art of review writing, the importance of disclosure and transparency, the transience of rum discourse, and have a few laughs along the way.

Relevant links:

Key Rums of the World Series (you can explore every entry in the series from this page)

The Rumaniacs Series (mentioned several times throughout the show)

You can follow The Lone Caner on Facebook to keep up with new articles

In this episode, we chat with Jen Akin, general manager of Rumba in Seattle, about the ins and outs of managing one of the world’s top rum bars. Jen talked us through creating new rum blends, managing a 20-page rum list, tasting rum from 1892, where cocktail ideas come from, the opening of the new bar next door (Inside Passage), the challenges of presenting rum to a broad spectrum of clientele, what makes Rumba special, rum regions she’s most excited about, recreating an Amazon box as a drinking vessel, and much more.

Relevant links:

The official Rumba website

The official website for Inside Passage, the new bar next door

Follow Jen on Instagram

Thanks to Holmes Cay for sponsoring this episode. Explore their current releases at HolmesCay.com and keep an eye for new ones coming this year.

In this episode, we each selected three rums we think rum drinkers are underrating right now and discuss why they’re worth giving a second (or first) look. There are so many factors that can contribute to a particular bottle being underrated, whether it’s price, style, design, category perception, lack of media coverage, lack of distribution, and more. Give it a listen and then email us at host@rumcast.com to let us know what your underrated picks are!

In this episode, we get caught up on everything new happening at Worthy Park with one of the Jamaica distillery’s newest team members—Craig Nicholson! As quality control manager and senior blender, Craig has a hand in just about everything the distillery puts out, from Rum Bar products to the distillery’s eponymous lineup of aged releases. Prior to joining Worthy Park, Craig spent over a decade working for National Rums of Jamaica in roles at both Clarendon and Long Pond distilleries. We discuss everything from Craig’s journey into the rum industry, to the differences between working at Worthy Park vs. NRJ, how he is acclimating himself to the many varieties of rums produced at Worthy Park, his preferences between the distillery’s marks, high ester rum production, Worthy Park’s latest releases (like Worthy Park 109 and Select), and much more.

In this episode, we chat with Knud Strand about the rapid rise of Mhoba Rum, a single estate distillery making rum from fresh sugarcane juice in Malelane, South Africa. Over the last few years, Knud has worked closely with founder Robert Greaves to guide Mhoba’s development, bring the rum to new markets, and get it on the radar of rum enthusiasts around the world. Knud takes us through the distillery’s origin story, how he got involved, his own backstory in the rum and spirits world, the ever evolving production process at Mhoba (which includes everything from homemade pot stills to muck pits, unconventional aging methods, and more), how deals with independent bottlers like Velier and Holmes Cay came together, the magic of terroir-driven spirits, what’s next for Mhoba, and much more.

Links to Learn More:

Check out Mhoba’s website here

Follow Knud on Instagram

Ever thought you had your mind made up on a certain rum, distillery, or brand…only to have another experience change the way you look at it? Yeah, us too! In this episode, we each share three experiences that caused us to look at a particular producer a little bit differently.

In this episode, we talk to Kyle Reutner of Kō Hana Distillers about the Hawaii distillery’s approach to making fresh sugarcane juice rum from heirloom Hawaiian sugarcane varietals. We go deep into:

How sugarcane’s journey to and role in Hawaii differs from other places around the world

Why Kō Hana is focusing exclusively on single cane varietals in their rum

The distillery’s production process (and how it’s designed to isolate the sugarcane as the key variable outside of time and location)

The differences between heirloom sugarcane varietals and sugarcane that was used for modern sugar refining before the decline of Hawaii’s sugar industry

The challenges of creating aged rums that highlight the sugarcane rather than obscuring it

What the future of Hawaiian rum as a category looks like

Kō Hana’s place in the larger category of sugarcane juice rums around the world

And more!

Links to Explore After Listening:

Check out Kō Hana’s website here

Book Recommendation: Kō: An Ethnobotanical Guide to Hawaiian Sugarcane Cultivars by Dr. Noa Kekuewa Lincoln

Book Recommendation: From King Cane to the Last Sugar Mill: Agricultural Technology and the Making of Hawaii's Premier Crop by C. Allan Jones and Robert V. Osgood

In this episode, a listener’s message about visiting St. Lucia Distillers inspires us to each pick three destinations for our rum travel bucket lists. Listen in on the discussion, then send us your own picks!

In this episode, Master Distiller Don Benn takes us behind the scenes at West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados. Topics discussed include his 20+ year career in rum, how WIRD has changed over time, rebuilding the Rockley still, creating the Stade’s Rum brand, and more. Also, before the interview, we introduce a new segment (What Are You Buying?), and do a quick Rerum inspired by this episode’s guest.

Links for Further Reading:

”Rockley — Deconstructing the Myth” on Single Cask Rum

“A Potted History of the Rockley Still” on Rum Diaries Blog

“Bristol Spirits 1986 Rockley Still 26 YO Barbados Rum Review” on The Lone Caner

“Stade’s — A New Barbados Rum Brand Emerges” on Cocktail Wonk

“Barbados Rum Cheat Sheet” on Cocktail Wonk (for more WIRD history)

In this episode, we begin a conversation on the myths, misconceptions, and “marketing-speak” that create confusion in the rum category. From the all-too-common “rum is sweet” to eyebrow-raising marketing claims, we bounce around a variety of the stuff we’ve heard a lot lately and discuss what fuels it.

In this episode, Johann Jobello takes us inside the world of Transcontinental Rum Line, La Maison & Velier’s growing collection of rum releases sourced from all over the world. As product manager and U.S. market coordinator, Johann has a hands-on role at every stage of the process, from sourcing the rum, to aging it, to planning releases, and more. We discuss:

Growing up in Martinique, the heart of rhum agricole

Johann’s experience working at the La Maison du Whisky fine spirits shop in Paris before his current role

The finer points on tropical vs. continental aging

The making of a Transcontinental Rum Line release

Label transparency and how they decide what goes on a Transcontinental Rum Line label (and what doesn’t)

A sneak peek at upcoming Transcontinental Rum Line releases

Balancing Transcontinental Rum Line releases with Velier’s numerous rum brands and releases

Sourcing from distilleries vs. rum brokers like E&A Scheer

Where rum lovers should go in Paris

And more!

Learn more about La Maison & Velier and Transcontinental Rum line at the LM&V website

Links to Johann’s Paris Recommendations:

La Maison du Whisky

Bar 1802

Dirty Dick

In this episode, Stephen Shellenberger takes us on a deep dive into Boston Apothecary, his rum and spirits-focused blog that has become one of the largest digital repositories of historic research on rum production.

We discuss:

The origin story of Boston Apothecary

The historical significance of Rafael Arroyo, and why Stephen is so fascinated with his work

What’s the deal with “rum oil,” the aromatic body that Arroyo prized above all others

Stephen’s presentation on grand arome rums at Lallemand and WIRSPA’s Alcohol School conference in Jamaica

Fission yeast in rum

And a whole lot more!

Relevant Links:

Check out Boston Apothecary here

Here’s the “Top Ten Blog Moments in Rum” article mentioned in the show (a great starting place for exploring the blog)

All of Arroyo’s available works online in one place

Arroyo’s “The Aroma of Rum,” an excerpt from which is read during the show

Stephen’s presentation on grand arome rum (with annotated commentary) from Alcohol School

Further reflections on the Alcohol School presentation

Another view on fission yeast from Richard Seale that is worth checking out

Stephen’s article on the single use glass issue in spirits mentioned at the end of the show

In this episode, Richard Seale takes us through the story behind the new high ester rum from Foursquare, and the larger vision for the Barbados distillery’s journey into cane juice rum production.

We discuss:

Where the idea to make a high ester rum at Foursquare came from

The production process used to make the rum (and why he chose to make it a blend of molasses-based rum fermented with cultured yeast and cane juice-based rum fermented naturally)

Why Richard isn’t a fan of “high ester” as a descriptor for this rum (but has accepted it)

What the future of high ester and cane juice rum production looks like at Foursquare

The humbling experience of natural fermentation

Richard’s view on the importance of S. Pombe yeast (and the myths that distort its perception)

The evolution of the Barbados Rum Experience, a collaboration between Foursquare, Mount Gay, and St. Nicholas Abbey

The doctoral scholarships that RL Seale and Company is funding for Barbados rum history research at the University of the West Indies

And a whole lot more!

Relevant Links:

Check out the Barbados Rum Experience here

Get more details on Foursquare’s investment in Barbados rum research at the University of the West Indies here

For more discussion of S. Pombe, see Richard’s article titled “Yeast in Rum,” and our interview with Stephen Shellenberger of Boston Apothecary

Somehow it’s already time for our second annual year in review! As per tradition established one year ago, we take a look back at our favorite rums and podcast moments of the past year. Grab one of your favorite drams from 2021 and look back on the year with us as we discuss:

Our personal favorite rums this year in the following categories…

Unaged rum

Aged rum (4 years or less and over 4 years)

“New to me” rum

Best value rum

Most surprising rum

Overall rum

Several of our favorite podcast episodes and moments (and a couple ideas on what we’d like to do in 2022)

And a big surprise courtesy of the hidden musical talents of John Gulla

After revisiting the past in episode 44, we look to what the future holds for rum in 2022! Each of us looked into our non-existent crystal balls and made three rum-related predictions we believe will come true this year. Tune in for highly scientific prognostications on release trends, transparency, and even rum names.

In this episode, we talked to Justin Boseley, founder of Dead Reckoning Rum, one of the first (if not the only) independent bottlers in Australia. Justin has also imported rum into Australia for over a decade through his company La Rumbla Imports. Between the two roles, he’s had a front row seat to the evolution of rum in Australia in recent years, where everything to the imported products available to the actual rum being made in the country has changed dramatically. We discuss:

The difference in Australia’s rum scene now versus the past

How working on billionaires’ yachts led him into the rum business

What it looks like to come up with your first handful of releases as an independent bottler

His philosophy on rum blends

Australia’s unique aging environments

Why celestial navigation is cool as hell

How the pandemic motivated him to go from importer to independent bottler

Getting creative with cask finishes and secondary maturations

What to watch for from Australia’s recent boom of new rum distilleries

Upcoming Dead Reckoning releases

And more!

Relevant Links:

La Rumbla Imports website (Dead Reckoning releases can be found here)

The Fat Rum Pirate’s review of Dead Reckoning Mutiny

The Fat Rum Pirate’s review of Dead Reckoning The Sextant

Australian rum distilleries mentioned:

Husk Distillers

CAVU Distilling

Lord Byron Distillery

Requiem Rum

Devils Thumb Distillery

Yack Creek Distillery

Beenleigh Distillery

In this episode, we talked to Mitch Wilson of Black Tot Rum about the brand’s origins in British Navy rum, moving beyond the blends of the past, their unique approach to rum blending, and much more! Topics discussed include:

How to define navy rum or navy style rum in the first place

Misconceptions and myths about navy rum

The making of Black Tot’s blends

The importance of transparency in rum blends

Black Tot’s unique “solera” blending component

What you might find right now in Black Tot’s aging warehouse

What’s coming next from Black Tot

Relevant Links:

Get the full breakdown of each blend at Black Tot’s website

“Setting the Record Straight on British Navy Rum History” from Cocktail Wonk

“The British Navy’s Rum Vatting System: An Inside Look” from Cocktail Wonk

In this episode, we go head to head trying to construct the perfect rum flights in three different categories: Caribbean rums for beginners, Caribbean rums for intermediate rum drinkers, and non-Caribbean rums. Along the way, we discuss and debate what makes a good flight, the pains of our toughest cuts from each category, and more.

Relevant Links:

Check out Will’s article on Cheramie Rum (mentioned in the intro) here

In this episode, we chat with Jacklyn Broomes (Agricultural Manager) and Maggie Campbell (Estate Rum Manager) about all things agriculture and sustainability at Mount Gay (along with a few hints at what to expect from the estate rum program in the future).

Topics covered include:

How Jackie and Maggie both ended up working at Mount Gay (and a closer look at each of their roles)

The vision behind Mount Gay’s agriculture and estate rum programs

How Mount Gay intends to use their sugarcane and the molasses that comes from it

Why sustainability should be more than a buzzword to rum enthusiasts

How to balance doing something totally new at a distillery with such a long history and established styles/traditions

The life of luxury enjoyed by the estate’s pampered honey bees

The other crops you might be surprised to find growing on the estate (it’s more than just sugarcane)

What to watch for next from Mount Gay

Relevant Links:

Get a closer look at the estate on Mount Gay’s Instagram

For a bit of Mount Gay history, check out our episode with former managing director Frank Ward

Per the discussion in the intro, here are links to several rum festivals around the world:

Miami Rum Congress

UK Rum Fest

Rum Fest Berlin

New York Rum Festival

Miami Rum Renaissance Festival

Chicago Rum Festival

California Rum Festival

In this episode, we look back at the top 6 things we’ve learned about rum after recording 50 episodes of The Rumcast! Plus, we kick off the show with a special announcement—we’re launching a Rumcast Patreon so we can start doing more fun things with the Rumcast community and make the show even better!

To join the community and support the show, go to: patreon.com/therumcast

THANK YOU to everyone for listening!

In this episode, we welcomed Carsten Vlierboom of E&A Scheer back to the show to discuss the single cask side of the business—The Main Rum Company. If you've ever enjoyed an exceptional independently bottled release, there's a good chance it was sourced from Main Rum.

We dug into not only what they have in their aging warehouses, but what actually goes into managing such a large selection of rare and limited rums from all over the world. How do you know when to sell a particular cask? How do you decide which location to age each cask in? Which casks would Carsten most want to bottle for himself? And what exactly is an "infinity" cask?!

You'll hear all this and a whole lot more.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get cool extra stuff? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Relevant Links:

Check out The Main Rum Company’s website here

Listen to our previous episode with Carsten about E&A Scheer here

For more background on The Main Rum Company, read Matt Pietrek’s article about it here

In this episode, we challenged each other to build our own personal budget home rum bars featuring 5 rums under $30. 

But wait! There were more stipulations!

Each rum had to be from a different country, at least one rum had to be unaged, and at least one rum had to be made from cane juice.

We laugh, we argue, we come to agreements to disagree.

Listen in and let us know what your picks would be!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get cool extra stuff? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with Don Q's new master blender Liza Cordero and maestra ronera Silvia Santiago to dive deep into an iconic distillery of Puerto Rican rum. Although Liza only recently became master blender, she's worked at the distillery for nearly two decades, and Silvia has been there for 48 years. There's an absolute wealth of knowledge between the two of them, so we hit a bunch of different topics, including...

Don Q's single barrel and cask finish releases (and what we'll see next)

The distillery's production process and approach to blending

Why they choose not to sweeten their rums

The differences in their light rums and heavy rums

The Sherry cask solera that's been at the distillery as long as anyone can remember (and how it gives them a unique blending component)

The role of intuition in blending

The perils of molasses sourcing

A humble request for higher proof rums

And more!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get cool extra stuff? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Check out the photo of the rum pilot plant scientists mentioned near the end of the episode at The Rumcast website (scroll down).

In this episode, we caught up with Kate Perry and Johann Jobello of La Maison & Velier to learn about Arhumatic—a French brand that's quite different from anything else in the LM&V portfolio. Arhumatic specializes in rhum arrangé, a traditional preparation of rum in islands with French ties like Réunion, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. Rhum arrangé involves macerating rum (either rhum agricole or molasses-based rum, depending on the island) in fresh fruits and/or botanicals, typically for months at a time. While commercial brands are common in France, Arhumatic is possibly the first to become available in the United States. In the interview we discuss...

The history and origins of rhum arrangé

How rhum arrangé varies between the French Caribbean and Réunion

How Arhumatic produces their rhum arrangé and develops new ideas

The perils of the term "flavored rum" (and why it doesn't feel fitting for products like this)

Why La Maison & Velier decided to partner with a brand that's so different from the rest of their rum portfolio

How Arhumatic going beyond rhum agricole in their rhum arrangés with Jamaican rum, clairin, and more

The challenges of bringing unfamiliar types of rum to new places

The best ways to use rhum arrangé

And more!

Additional Resources on Arhumatic:

Arhumatic website

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get cool extra stuff? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we caught up Peter Holland, the man behind The Floating Rum Shack, Foursquare's UK brand ambassador, and general rum guy for That Boutique-y Rum Company. Peter has been writing and educating on rum since 2008, giving him a unique perspective on a ton of rum-related topics. We chatted about:

Rum's evolution since 2008

Developing new releases for That Boutique-y Rum Company

Spreading Foursquare throughout the UK

The exciting world of Madeira rum

Alternate bottle size fantasies

The perils of rum labelling and categorization

And more!

Follow Peter on Instagram 

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get cool extra stuff? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we're doing something new—a distillery-by-distillery guide to a single rum-producing country. And what better place to start than Jamaica? After a quick overview of the Jamaican rum category, we take a closer look at the rums of:

Appleton Estate

New Yarmouth Estate

Worthy Park Estate

Hampden Estate

Clarendon Distillers

Long Pond Distillery

In addition to offering some background and a look at what sets each distillery apart, we also recommend a couple of our favorite options from each distillery.

For further reading on these distilleries, we recommend perusing the Jamaican Rum section on Matt Pietrek's website, Cocktail Wonk. (His Jamaican Rum Distillery Cheat Sheet is a good place to start.)

Also, here's a link to the VinePair article on Coruba Rum recommended during the episode.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get cool extra stuff? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with Steffen Mayer, who spent the last five years writing the ultimate book on Caroni (Caroni: 100% Trinidad Rum). Caroni, of course, is the legendary Trinidad distillery that closed around 2003, leaving behind a cache of aged rum that subsequently became some of the most sought-after rum in the world after bottlers like Velier built up its legend. And that's before getting to the rum's entirely unique flavor profile.

Steffen took us through his journey of writing the book and shared insight after insight that he learned from the 100+ interviews he conducted, including:

Why Caroni closed

The truth about Caroni using Jamaican rum in some of their blends

Which distilleries around the world have used Caroni rum in their blends

Why the value of Caroni's aged rum was so heavily disputed following its closure

Caroni's use of neutral spirit in its blends

The differences in Caroni's rum marks (and which ones are more worth seeking out)

Where Caroni's "dirty" notes come from

The most memorable interviews and tasting sessions he had while writing the book

And much more!

Here are links to some of the retailers carrying Steffen's book:

https://www.spiritacademy.it/en/libri/caroni-book-100-trinidad-rum-5030.html

https://www.whisky.fr/en/steffen-mayer-caroni-100-trinidad-rum.html

https://www.armagnac.de/products/caroni-book

https://www.whiskyboeken.nl/en_GB/a-72158467/library/steffen-mayer-caroni-100-trinidad-rum/

https://www.whiskytempel.de/shop/caroni-100-trinidad-rum-volumne-1-2-book-by-steffen-mayer.html

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with a veteran of the independent rum bottler world, John Barrett, owner of Bristol Classic Rum. The UK outfit has been sourcing, aging, and releasing rums since the '90s, giving John a rare perspective on how the category has evolved over the past few decades and where it's going next. He's been to all your favorite distilleries, he was among the first to purchase remaining Caroni stock, and he's full of stories from the better part of a lifetime in rum. You'll hear about:

The path that took John into rum sourcing and bottling nearly 30 years ago

The delicate art and science of aging rum

Why John thinks cask strength rum is overrated

His process for determining the right bottling strength

Where John thinks the next wave of great rums might come from

How Bristol got in early on sourcing Caroni—and proceeded to make one of its biggest bets ever on their rum

And much more!

You can learn more about Bristol Classic Rum at their website. 

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we're continuing what we started with The Rumcast Guide to Jamaican Rum by hopping over to a typically less familiar locale when it comes to sugarcane spirits: Mexico.

Mexico has a relatively unique rum landscape that includes everything from small, family-run farm-to-bottle operations that have been producing fresh sugarcane juice-based spirits for generations, to larger scale operations producing rum more closely aligned with typical mass market products found throughout Latin America. There are way too many distilleries to discuss in one episode, so rather than attempting to be comprehensive, we chose to focus on the two Mexican rum styles that most interest us right now: aguardiente de caña and Charanda.

After discussing some background on both rum styles—including a look at the Charanda Denomination of Origin—we dive into the following brands and distilleries:

Uruapan Charanda

Sol Tarasco Charanda

El Tarasco Charanda

Gustoso Mexican Rum

Paranubes

Dakabend

Tso'ok

Camazotz

Cañada

Ron Aconte

As noted during the episode, we are keeping a running list of all known Mexican rum producers (including the many not covered during this episode) on our website: https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/mexican-rum-guide

For more information on Paranubes and Mexican rum, check out Episode 24, featuring our interview with Francisco Terrazas of Paranubes.

For a deeper look at the distillery behind Uruapan Charanda, check out this virtual distillery tour.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we're checking the final (for now!) Barbados rum distillery off our list with an interview with the owner of St. Nicholas Abbey, Larry Warren. Unlike the three much larger scale rum distilleries in Barbados (Mount Gay, Foursquare, and WIRD), St. Nicholas Abbey focuses entirely on small batch production that includes everything from growing the sugarcane to bottling the rum. 

We talked everything from production process to the latest updates with the Barbados GI and everything in between with Larry, including:

What inspired him to not only purchase St. Nicholas Abbey in 2006, but turn it into a working farm and distillery

How their rum differs from other Barbados rums

Getting rum advice and feedback from Richard Seale

Why they uses sugarcane syrup rather than molasses or cane juice

St. Nicholas Abbey's current lineup of rums (and what that will look like going forward)

What's next for the Barbados GI (and a response to recent criticism)

And much more!

Relevant Links:

Learn more about St. Nicholas Abbey on their website.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we checked in with a relatively new rum distillery in Scotland that's already received some impressive praise in its early history—Ninefold Distillery! Owner and distiller Kit Carruthers took us through the journey of starting a rum distillery from scratch at Dormont Estate, a 450-year-old estate in the south of Scotland. We discussed:

The current landscape of rum production in Scotland

Kit's journey from climate change researcher to becoming a rum distiller

Ninefold's production process

Reactions to Scottish rum

Creating barrels from the estate's own trees

The unexpected history of Scottish rum

The ups and downs of starting a distillery

Releasing a rum with That Boutique-y Rum Company

Adventures with Watson, the distillery cat

And more!

You can learn more about Ninefold on the distillery's website. 

You can also check out some reviews of Ninefold's rums on The Fat Rum Pirate:

Unaged Rum

Aged Release #1

Aged Release #2

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Note: After you listen, go to rumcast.com/vote to help us determine the winner!

We’ve got something quite different for you this week. In the spirit of the start of fantasy football season, we did the nerdiest thing we’ve ever done in Rumcast history—a fantasy rum draft!

We competed head-to-head to “draft” rums from the selection of a single online liquor store for 11 different rum categories. The goal? To create the superior “desert island” rum bar. 

Now, we need you to determine which of us did the best job.

Have a listen, and then head to rumcast.com/vote to help us determine the winner!

We "drafted" rums for the following categories from a selection of 173 rums currently available at Pike's Liquors:

Unaged

Lightly Aged (1-4 Years)

Aged (5-14 Years)

Long Aged (15+ Years)

Cane Juice Unaged

Cane Juice Aged (Any Length)

Multi-Country Blend

Non-Caribbean

Non-Caribbean

Overproof

100% Column

100% Pot

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

This week, we sat down with Wes Burgin, the man behind the 800+ rum reviews at The Fat Rum Pirate. If you've ever searched for info about a particular rum online, odds are you've already come across many of Wes's reviews. It's one of the biggest resources out there for rum geeks and we had a blast diving into Wes's approach to reviewing, how the industry has evolved since he launched the site over eight years ago, and much more, including:

Guarding against your own biases when reviewing rum

Dealing with angry responses from brands that didn't get favorable reviews

How he's managed to review an average of 100+ rums per year over the last 8 years

Standouts (both good and bad) from all the rums he's reviewed

How far rum has come in terms of transparency (and how much further it has to go)

The current state of rum distilling in the United Kingdom

And more!

Plus, at the beginning, we also reveal the results of The Rumcast Fantasy Rum Draft from Episode 62 and crown our inaugural champion. If you missed out and still want to vote, head to Rumcast.com/Vote!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

This is the first of two episodes exploring a category that has much more than meets the eye: Puerto Rican rum. In Part 1, we jump into a quick stylistic overview of the category before exploring its three most well-known distilleries and brands: Destilería Serrallés (Don Q and more), Bacardí, and Ron del Barrilito (Hacienda Santa Ana). Along the way, we also untangle the whole Havana Club thing, offer recommendations, and debate the merits of the "is Ron del Barrilito a spiced rum?" question.

In Part 2, which will arrive next week, we continue the conversation with the island's new wave of craft distillers and how they are evolving the category.

If you'd like to join The Rumcast in donating to Hurricane Fiona relief, here is a link to the Hispanic Federation's hurricane relief fund: https://www.hispanicfederation.org/fionahelp/

Other relevant links mentioned during the episode:

Cocktail Wonk's deep dive into Destilería Serrallés and Don Q

Paul Senft's article on the Havana Club trademark war

Havana Club nutritional information

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

We're back early with the follow-up to Part 1 of our Guide to Puerto Rican Rum. In Part 2, we dig into the wave of new distilleries popping up across Puerto Rico that are trying atypical things such as producing fresh cane juice rum, aging with new American oak, distilling with pot stills, and much more. Distilleries discussed include Destilería Coquí, San Juan Artisan Distillers, Destilería Cruz, and several others.

If you'd like to join The Rumcast in donating to Hurricane Fiona relief, here is a link to the Hispanic Federation's hurricane relief fund: https://www.hispanicfederation.org/fionahelp/

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode we sat down with the Cocktail Wonk himself, Matt Pietrek, to dive into his and Carrie Smith's new 850-page opus on Caribbean rum, Modern Caribbean Rum: A Contemporary Reference to the Region's Essential Spirit. Along the way, we also discussed his journey from software engineering to full-time rum work, the current state of rum, and much more, including:

Which rum-making countries proved to be the hardest to write about

Surprising things learned in the course of writing the book

Lessons learned from multiple adventures in self publishing

What makes this book different from other commonly recommended reads on rum

How working with WIRSPA has broadened his perspective on rum

The future of molasses production

Assessing past rum predictions

Whether he likes Star Trek or not

And more

If you'd like to check out the book, head over to: https://www.wonkpress.com/products/modern-caribbean-rum

This episode is sponsored by Down Island Spirits, a brand new independent rum bottler that has just launched the first releases in its Single Cask Rum Series in the U.S. Click here to check out and order their initial 4 releases.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode we sat down with Herbert Barbancourt-Linge Jr. of Providence Rum / Distillerie de Port-au-Prince and The Spirit of Haiti. Herbert took us deep into the making of one of Haiti's newest distilleries, which has already put out interesting releases like Providence First Drops and Providence Dunder & Syrup. We also talked all things clairin, which Herbert has helped rum enthusiasts across the globe discover through his involvement in The Spirit of Haiti with La Maison & Velier. Topics discussed included:

The process of building a new distillery from scratch in Haiti

Defining Providence's style of Haitian rum (and how it's different from clairin)

How they ended up partnering on Providence with La Maison & Velier

How The Spirit of Haiti was formed

The early days of searching out Haiti's best clairin producers

Clairin culture around the island

How clairin's export success has been received in Haiti

What to expect from Providence's aging program

Cane juice vs. cane syrup

The Barbancourt family backstory

Misconceptions about Haiti

And more

You can learn more about Providence Rum at their website: https://www.providence-rum.com/

This episode is sponsored by Down Island Spirits, a brand new independent rum bottler that has just launched the first releases in its Single Cask Rum Series in the U.S. Click here to check out and order their initial 4 releases.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode we sat down with Joshua Singh, co-founder of 1423 Spirits and S.B.S Rum, an independent bottler based in Denmark that's doing some very interesting things right now. Since it's the holiday season, we also talked about the making of 1423's annual rum advent calendar and what goes into selecting 24 different rums for it every year. Topics discussed included:

The rum advent calendar selection and feedback processes

Why 1423 adds sugar to some of their rum brands (but not S.B.S)

The problems with the EU's decision to cap the allowable amount of sugar added to rum at 20 g/L

The challenges of introducing rum to new people

S.B.S's new origin series dedicated to interesting unaged rums (and how the first 4 were selected)

Convincing a Dominican Republic distillery to make a grand arome (or aroma grande) rum

Sourcing cane juice rum from Ghana

Emerging rums from India

The type of barrel that Joshua believes works like magic when aging high ester rums

And more

Correction: After the episode, the folks behind Camikara Rum sent us some details to clear up some of the confusion in our discussion:

“Camikara is a marriage of liquid distilled in both column & pot stills and is matured in Oak Barrels in the sub-tropical climate of the northern plains in India. The temperature in the northern plain of India are extreme, the summers can be 122 F and the winters can be 32F, so the barrel undergoes a lot of expansion and contraction, as a result of which the first year we lose 13-15% of our barrels to angels, then it lowers down to 10-12% and so on. For the 12 Year old  Camikara Rum, we have lost 94% of the liquid filled inside the barrels over years and only 6% of the originally filled liquid could be retrieved, hence the name Camikara - means liquid gold in Sanskrit. This initial set of liquid is bottled in 3 batches ( Batch 1 of 1200 bottles for India, Batch 2 of 1200 Bottles to the UK, Europe and Rest of the world and the Batch 3 1176 Bottles to the United States). Camikara is sipping rum, which is 100% natural. There is no added sugar, spice, color or flavours added.”

You can learn more about everything Joshua is doing at the 1423 website: https://www.1423.dk/ 

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we dig deep into our rum cabinets to discuss each of our 3 favorite picks for daiquiri rums that are underrated, overlooked, or under discussed. While most rum fans are already familiar with the go-to top recommendations like Havana Club 3, Probitas, etc. we wanted to celebrate some of our favorites that don't get as much of the spotlight in conversations about the ultimate rum vehicle, the classic daiquiri.

Along the way, we discuss our go-to home recipes, what we like and dislike in daiquiris, a holiday-inspired variation, and more!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

It's time for our third annual Year in Review episode where we take a look back at our favorite rums of the year in the following categories:

Unaged rum

Aged rum (5 years or less)

Aged rum (Over 5 years)

“New to me” rum

Best value rum

Most surprising rum

Overall rum

Plus, we each make a pick for a new category irreverently dubbed, "Am I the a**hole for not liking this rum?"

Along the way, we also discuss the rums we would give a selection of celebrities, musical icons, and celebrated authors at a Rumcast Secret Santa party.

Of course, we'd love to know what YOUR favorites were this year, so be sure to send us an email at host@rumcast.com and let us know!

Last but not least, a sincere Happy Holidays and New Year to all of you for listening to the show and writing in!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Hey Rumcasters, to celebrate the end of 2022 we decided to make December's bonus episode (typically exclusive to patrons) free for all!

In this edition of Release Rumblings, we share our rum wishes for 2023 before previewing a handful of interesting upcoming rum releases.

If you'd like to get more episodes like this every month, just head on over to patreon.com/therumcast!

Releases discussed include Papalin Haiti, La Maison & Velier's new Flag Series, the potential arrival of a Guadeloupe distillery's rums in the US, and a new bottled-in-bond rum.

Happy New Year, everyone!

For the first episode of 2023, we're looking ahead and making 3 predictions each for the world of rum this year. Before we look ahead, however, we look back on the predictions we made for 2022, face the music on our misses,  and debate our hits.

We're curious — what predictions do you have for rum in 2023? Email us at host@rumcast.com and let us know!

Cheers to 2023!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

28 Distillery Visits. 11 Countries. 13 Months.

In this episode, we sit down with Richard Nicholson, founder of the New Zealand Rum Society and your fellow Rumcast listener, to unpack what can only be described as a rum journey of epic proportions. Richard spent 13 months on the road taking 28 distillery visits, attending numerous rum festivals, and visiting three of his own personal rum "Holy Grail" destinations, from Barbados to Martinique to Guadeloupe to Madeira to Scotland and beyond. 

In addition to pulling as many rum travel tips out of Richard as we could, we also went deep into his on-the-ground exploration of rhum agricole and all of the delightful surprises it has to offer right now, his trip into the cellars of the Main Rum Company, and much more, including:

How he went about planning this rum odyssey in the first place

His #1 "run, don't walk" destination for other rum enthusiasts based on his journey

The magic of Marie-Galante rums

Cane juice rums more people should be talking about

Adventures at rum festivals across Europe

The ins and outs of Madeira rum

And more

You can follow Richard and his adventures with the New Zealand Rum Society here on Instagram. 

You can also check out the New Zealand Rum Society on Facebook. 

Also, if you're curious to see the complete list of distilleries Richard visited, here it is:

Barbados x3: Foursquare, Mount Gay, St. Nicholas Abbey

Martinique x8: Depaz, La Favourite, La Mauny/Trois-Rivières, Neisson, Rhum JM, Saint James/J Bally, A1710, HSE (aging/bottling didn’t get to Usine du Simone)

Guadeloupe x6: Bologne, Damoiseau, Kurakera/Longueteau, Montebello, Reimonenq, Papa Rouyo

Marie Galante x3: Bielle, Poisson (Père Labat)/Rhum Rhum, Domaine de Bellevue

Madeira x5: O’Reizinho, Engenhos do Norte, Engenhos da Calheta, Engeno Novo (William Hinton), Florentino Izildo de Gouveia Ferreira

Amsterdam: Rummie Club

Scotland: Ninefold

Scotland (Scotch distilleries): Arran, Lagg, Springbank, Glengyle, Glen Scotia

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sit down with Renegade Rum's Mark Reynier and Jane Nurse to learn all about the Grenada distillery's terroir-driven approach to cane juice rum. This is one of the newest distilleries of its size in the Caribbean, and the path to bringing it to life was not easy. In Part 1, Mark and Jane take us through the winding journey of not only building a distillery from scratch, but also planting hundreds of acres of sugarcane across an array of locations around the island in an effort to highlight all the flavors the land has to offer. 

We discuss:

How an Englishman got the idea to build a rum distillery from scratch in the Caribbean

Why Grenada became the ideal location for the project

How Mark's experience starting Bruichladdich Distillery in Scotland and Waterford Distillery in Ireland informed Renegade

The setbacks that nearly killed the project multiple times

What terroir means in the first place (and how Renegade thinks about the concept)

Why terroir in spirits has drawn heavy debate and controversy

And more

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we complete our interview with Renegade Rum's Mark Reynier and Jane Nurse (we released Part 1 last week, and you can check it out here).

In Part 2, we get deeper into the production process of the rum and how each stage can impact terroir (for example, using cultured vs. wild yeast). They also took us through the long-term vision for Renegade's releases (which is quite different from the releases we've seen so far), the broader conversation around transparency in rum, and much more!

Relevant Links:

The Renegade Rum Website

"Why We're Not Interested in Tallying Esters" - an article on Renegade's site that we reference near the end of this episode

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with Shannon Mustipher (rum educator, cocktail consultant, and author of Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails) to dive deep into the art of making modern rum cocktails. Shannon has spent the better part of a decade designing and launching many rum-focused bar programs and is known for her modern approach to cocktail making.

Topics discussed include:

The creative process of constructing rum cocktails

Naming cocktails

What she's been up to since the 2019 release of Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails

How to use multi-spirit split bases in recipes

Knowing when to use Rum Fire vs. Wray & Nephew vs. Rum Bar Overproof

Rum styles that are the most challenging to work with in cocktails

Her thoughts on cocktail competitions and shows like Netflix's Drink Masters

What is was like to appear on a recent CBS segment about rum

Her favorite bar right now

And much more!

You can find Shannon on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/shannonmustipher/

You can find all the info on her book, Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails, here: https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780789335548/

Photo Credit: Noah Fecks - https://www.noahfecks.com/

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Announcement: We’re now offering annual subscriptions that allow you to save 10% on the Rumcast Patreon community! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we're picking back up with our Rumcast Guides series and turning our focus toward home with the United States. With hundreds upon hundreds of distilleries making rum (most of which have spotty distribution at best), it can be a difficult to actually find the stuff worth exploring in the first place. Which distilleries are actually serious about making rum? What kind of styles are emerging? What do we even mean when we say "American rum"? We explore all this and more, including...

The most common characteristics of American rum

Does American rum have a style?

The most intriguing regions within the category

What's up with so many distilleries using crystallized sugar as a portion (or all) of their rum base rather than 100% molasses?

The landscape of cane juice rum in the U.S.

A high-level look at 20 noteworthy distilleries 

What we would put in our "Intro to American Rum" rum flights

And more

If you'd like to explore our past episodes on some of the producers mentioned in this episode, check out:

Episode 37 with Kyle Reutner of Ko Hana Distillers: https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/kohana-distillers-hawaiian-sugarcane

Episode 27 with Erik Vonk of Richland Rum, Steve Jefferson of Kuleana Rum Works, and Pepe Alvarez of San Juan Artisan Distillers: https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/the-sugarcane-files

To explore other episodes in our Rumcast Guides series, check out:

The Rumcast Guide to Jamaican Rum: https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/jamaican-rum-guide

The Rumcast Guide to Mexican Rum: https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/mexican-rum-guide

The Rumcast Guide to Puerto Rican Rum (Part 1): https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/puerto-rican-rum-guide-1

The Rumcast Guide to Puerto Rican Rum (Part 2): https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/puerto-rican-rum-guide-2

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with Shaun Caleb, master distiller at Demerara Distillers Ltd. (makers of El Dorado Rum) to discuss a wide range of topics related to DDL and his career in rum, including...

His path from Guyana to Princeton University and back to Guyana to work for DDL

Learning to distill on some of the oldest stills in the world

How DDL's range of both historic and modern stills allow them to produce an array of 20+ rum marques

The differences between the Port Mourant double wooden pot still and Versailles single wooden pot still, and how they express themselves in the rum

How DDL had the foresight to preserve its heritage stills

Why modern distilleries don't use wooden stills

High ester rum production at DDL (and how it differs from Jamaican high ester rum production)

Why there aren’t “lost” DDL rum marques

The backstory on DDL's decision to reduce its practice of aging rum with caramel in the barrels

The one type of still Shaun would add to DDL if he could

What to expect from El Dorado Rum in the future

And much more!

Also, before we got to the interview, we created a March Madness themed bracket of Demerara rums (it ties into the interview, we swear).

You can find out more info about El Dorado Rum and Demerara Distillers Ltd. at the following links:

Official El Dorado Rum website

Matt Pietrek’s deep dive into Demerara Distillers Ltd. on Cocktail Wonk:

Part One

Part Two

Q&A with Shaun Caleb

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with Ed Tiedge, master distiller at Copal Tree Distillery (the makers of Copalli Rum) in Belize. Copalli is yet another example of a large, relatively new operation devoted entirely to making cane juice rum all the way from field to glass. 

They have some interesting upcoming releases that caught our eye (we noticed them in the TTB label registry), so it was a good time to connect with Ed and get the scoop on everything they're up to. We discussed:

Ed's journey from owning a craft distillery in New York to moving to Belize to become a rum distiller nearly 8 years ago

How he applied his eau de vie background to making rum

Having their early rums evaluated by Richard Seale

How Copalli arrived at its initial lineup of releases (and how they landed on a 75% column / 25% pot blend for their unaged rum)

The different cane varietals they're cultivating (and how each expresses itself differently in the rum)

Experimenting with various cask types

Their upcoming single cane varietal 100% pot still release

How a self-avowed hater of flavored rums ended up making a cacao rum

And more!

You can learn more about Copalli on their website. 

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we embark on a journey to discover which Foursquare rums that are $50(ish) or less are truly the best value. To do this, we went through a blind tasting of 10 widely available affordable rums distilled at Foursquare Distillery:

Alleyne Arthur's Special Barbados Rum (43% ABV)

Old Brigand Black Label (43% ABV)

Real McCoy 5-Year (40% ABV)

Doorly's 5-Year (40% ABV)

Doorly's XO (40% ABV)

Doorly's 8-Year (40% ABV)

R.L. Seale's 10-Year (43% ABV)

Doorly's 12-year (43% ABV)

Real McCoy 12-Year (40% ABV)

R.L. Seale's 12-Year (46% ABV)

Note: We mention in this episode that some online sources state that Doorly's 12 is a blend of 90% ex-bourbon cask rum and 10% ex-Madeira cask rum. We reached out to Richard Seale to ask about it and he responded with, "We have never released any info on the blend of Doorly’s 12."

Along the way, we rate each rum blind so we can walk away with our own personal rankings (and a Rumcast average ranking). We edited in a reveal of each rum so that you will know which rum we are talking about as we taste it.

You can find the spreadsheet with our scores and the reveal of each rum here (spoiler alert!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pJ--B3oDKMu4pXVkHF7uBEwgyXFfC_gMN1AXnXHwEMc/edit?usp=sharing

These rums represent one of the most common gateways to Barbados rum, Foursquare, and even the rum category itself for so many people. It was a blast to go through them, and we came away with a bunch of surprises.

P.S. If you’d like to watch a video version of this episode, it’s already available for our Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/therumcast.

In this episode, we caught up with Ben Jones (director of North America for Spiribam) to catch up on all things related to Spiribam's portfolio of rum brands/distilleries, like Rhum J.M, Rhum Clément, St. Lucia Distillers, and their latest acquisition — Saint-Maurice Distillery in French Guiana, makers of La Belle Cabresse and other brands.

We chatted with Ben about:

New and upcoming releases from J.M and Clément (including several off-the-wall cask finishes)

How involved he/Spiribam are with product development and feedback at each distillery

The cool story behind the making of Chairman's Reserve Legacy, which we've often lauded as a great value rum

What the future of sugarcane cultivation (and cane juice rum production) looks like at St. Lucia Distillers

Why Rhum J.M VO is being replaced by Terroir Volcanique

An update on high ester production at St. Lucia Distillers

The growing market for cane juice spirits from around the world and how that impacts the rhum agricole category

What to expect from Spiribam's acquisition of Saint-Maurice in French Guiana

The future of Spiribam's Mauritian rum brand, Arcane

And more!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Hey Rumcasters, we’re making one of this month’s bonus episodes (typically exclusive to patrons) free for all!

This past week, Appleton formally announced the coming special release of the long-awaited Appleton 17-Year Legend rum, which they've billed as a "faithful recreation" of the legendary J. Wray & Nephew 17-Year rum used in Trader Vic's first ever mai tai.

The reactions from the rum enthusiast community have been strong, to say the least. In fact, we struggled to think of any other recent limited release that sparked this level of reaction in rum enthusiast circles.

With that in mind, we recorded this episode to talk through our thoughts on the rum itself, why the rum community got so excited about it, why there seems to be so much frustration with the release, whether the release of these 1,500 bottles could be done in a better way, and the perils of limited releases in general.

If you'd like to get more episodes like this every month, just head on over to patreon.com/therumcast!

Relevant Links:

Forbes Article: "Rum's Holy Grail: Appleton Recreates the Rum Used in the First Mai Tai"

Rum Wonk: "Appleton Estate's "Legend" 17-Year Rum: What We Know"

In this episode, we sat down with Calbert Francis, global export manager for Antigua Distillery Ltd. to talk all things English Harbour Rum. 

Antigua Distillery Ltd. is interesting, as it doesn't fit neatly into the English/Spanish/French categorizations (and is a great example of why they're flawed categories in the first place). While some might expect it to be "English" style, there isn't a pot still to be found at the distillery—everything is 100% column (and the column is quite unique).

We chatted with Calbert about:

Antigua Distillery's Portuguese origins and the unique backstory behind the distillery (which dates back to the 1930s)

The birth of the English Harbour brand (and why it almost didn't get off the ground)

The distillery's unconventional modified column still (and what makes it different from other column stills)

The potential return of English Harbour's 25-year release

Experiments with high-congener rum production and atypical maturation that led to some of the distillery's most memorable limited releases

Carnival culture in Antigua

The difference in the local market and export markets' rum tastes

The evolution of English Harbour's cask finish releases

The additives question

What the distillery is planning for its 90th anniversary

And more!

Photo Credit: Prayitno Photography

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with co-founder Elisandro Gonzalez Molina to learn all about Dakabend Rum — an aguardiente de caña made in the Sierra Norte region of Oaxaca in Mexico. We discussed:

The journey Elisandro and his cousin, Edgar Gonzalez Ramirez, took from building their own mezcal palenque and brand (Mezcal Tosba) over the last 20+ years to getting into rum production

The culture of aguardiente de caña and sugarcane in his region of Oaxaca

Dakabend's unique production process (which includes a continuous fermentation that never stops during harvest season)

The wider category of Mexican rum (and what the future might look like)

The history of sugarcane in Oaxaca

How the presence of Mezcal Tosba and Dakabend has impacted his hometown, San Cristóbal Lachirioag

The story behind the name Dakabend

Early experiments in aging Dakabend and what their aging program might look like going forward

And much more!

If you want to learn more about Dakabend and Elisandro, check out these links:

The 2014 episode of NPR's Planet Money that featured the story of Mezcal Tosba 

Mezcal Review's article about their trip to San Cristóbal Lachirioag (which has some info on Dakabend in addition to Mezcal Tosba)

The Dakabend website 

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we asked ourselves an interesting question: what gaps currently exist in rum brands' lineups that we'd love to see them fill?

We each privately constructed our own list and then revealed and debated our wish list rums in real time.

Have a listen and let us know — which of these rums would you most like (or NOT like) to see in the market? What ideas do you have for rums that should exist (but don't right now)? Send us an email at host@rumcast.com and let us know!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

At long last, we sit down to interview Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, decoder of the Zombie and scores of other classic tiki cocktails, author of books like Sippin' Safari and Potions of the Caribbean, owner of Latitude 29, and purveyor of multiple rum blends via his collaboration with Ed Hamilton. A true icon of the rum world!

We covered a lot of ground in our conversation, including:

His techniques for getting bartenders to reveal the secrets to classic recipes like the Zombie

The long lost rums of yore he wishes brands would revive

What's missing from modern rums

Exploring the shelves of legendary rum collector Stephen Rembsberg

The more recently available styles of rum he's particularly interested in

The pursuit of rums circa 2000

The making of the rum blends he created with Ed Hamilton

What it's like to build out a rum menu for a bar

The perfect taglines for rum cocktails

Which long lost recipes he's still pursuing

And much more!

Check out Jeff’s website here: https://beachbumberry.com/index.html

Check out Jeff’s books here: https://beachbumberry.com/publications.html

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Streeter, founder of Down Island Spirits — a brand that's part of the new wave of American independent bottlers hitting the rum scene over the last few years. We talk through all aspects of starting a rum brand (and sourcing great rum), including:

The hardest parts of becoming an independent bottler

Down Island's process for selecting what to bottle

How he arrived at Down Island's inaugural four selections

Sourcing from brokers versus directly from distilleries

The story behind Down Island's two newest releases from Brazil and Martinique

The style of Brazil's Epris Distillery

The unique effect of aging rum in amburana casks

His love of St. James Distillery

Overlooked amazing rum travel destinations

Getting into the rum importing business

What types of releases we can expect to see in the future

And much more!

You can learn more about Down Island at their website: https://www.downislandspirits.com/

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the dog days of summer are officially here. And if you're like us, that means it's the perfect time of the year for tasty rum cocktails that don't require much effort to make. So with that in mind, we picked out a handful of our favorite "lazy" recipes we've been experimenting with lately and walked each other through making them.

Some are variations on classics, some are riffs on recipes from talented bartenders, and some are just, well...their own kind of thing altogether. But they all have one thing in common—they're simple enough for cocktail amateurs like us to (usually) not screw them up.

Recipes are included below.

Give 'em a whirl and email host@rumcast.com to let us know what you think!

This episode is sponsored by independent bottler Raising Glasses. To check out (and order) their latest releases, visit their website: https://raisingglasses.com/

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Recipes

Corn and Oil with a Twist:

2 oz aged Barbados rum (43-46% ABV recommended)

1/2 oz JTD Velvet Falernum (or a touch less if you want it less sweet)

Hefty dropperful of Bittermens 'Elemakule Tiki bitters

Combine everything in a glass over ice and stir.

Not a Ti' Punch:

1.5 - 2 oz blanc Agricole or cane juice rum

A dash or two of Angostura bitters

One small ice cube

Combine first two ingredients in a Glencairn. Add the small ice cube and swish it around a bit.

Hat tip to Colton Weinstein of Liba Spirits for this idea.

Willis's Punch:

1oz Wray & Nephew Overproof or Rum Fire

2 oz pineapple juice

1/4 oz simple syrup (optional, but I think it helps)

Fever Tree Ginger Beer

Combine first three ingredients over ice. Top with ginger beer. Give it a stir.

This is a riff on Shannon Mustipher's Miss Ting cocktail. 

Might-Be:

2 oz lightly aged/filtered rum like Havana Club 3 or Bacardi Heritage

Owen’s grapefruit lime soda (3/4 cup)

Dash grapefruit bitters (Fee's)

Barspoon or two of 1:1 simple syrup

Sprig of fresh mint 

Muddle mint with simple syrup. Add ice, rum, and bitters. Top with grapefruit lime soda.

Angry Daiquiri:

2 oz Havana Club 3 (or similar)

3/4 oz fresh sour orange (naranja agria) juice 

1/2 oz simple syrup (1.5-1 semi-rich)

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

At long last, we speak to our first rum producer from Réunion Island! In this episode, we welcomed Marie Ferrand (Cellar Master) and Yann Auberval (Director of Marketing) to take us inside Isautier Distillery's traditions of both cane juice and molasses-based rums. We discuss:

The differences between the rhum agricoles of the Caribbean and Réunion

Why Isautier has long focused on both rhum agricole and rhum traditionnel (molasses-based rum)

The approach to aging that contributes to the rum's unique profile

How the recent partnership with La Maison & Velier came about

The differences between the LM&V bottlings and Isautier's typical releases

Marie's philosophy on rum blending

A walkthrough of their production process (and some experiments they're currently working on)

The story behind Rhum Charrette — the best-selling rum on Réunion that features distillate from all of the island's distilleries

And much more!

You can learn more about Isautier on their website: https://www.isautier.com/en/

This episode is sponsored by independent bottler Raising Glasses. To check out (and order) their latest releases, visit their website.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

🗳️ Note: After you listen, go to rumcast.com/vote to help us determine the winner! 🗳️

It's here! After a year of trash talk, victory laps, and hardcore preparation, the second annual Rumcast Fantasy Rum Draft has arrived.

In this annual competition, we compete head-to-head to “draft” rums from the selection of a single online liquor store for 11 different rum categories. The goal? To create the superior “desert island” rum bar.

Now, we need you to determine which of us did the best job.

Have a listen, and then head to rumcast.com/vote to help us determine the winner!

We "drafted" rums for the following categories from a selection of 300+ rums currently available at Hi-Time Wine Cellars:

Unaged

Lightly Aged (1-4 Years)

Aged (5-14 Years)

Long Aged (15+ Years)

Cane Juice Unaged

Cane Juice Aged (Any Length)

Multi-Country Blend

Non-Caribbean

Overproof

100% Column

100% Pot

After you listen, head to rumcast.com/vote to access the complete list of picks, along with a link to our Fantasy Rum Draft Command Center if you'd like to have a look.

This episode is sponsored by independent bottler Raising Glasses. To check out (and order) their latest releases, visit their website.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Thanks again to all who listened and voted in our Second Annual Rumcast Fantasy Rum Draft — we reveal this year's champion at the top of this new episode!

After revealing the champion (and a bit of gloating from one of us), we get to our latest experiment: investing 6 inexpensive rums we normally would either overlook or outright reject to see if we could find some diamonds in the rough!

We each selected 3 rums under ~$20 that we had either never tried or couldn't remember trying and then put them through a series of tasting to see if we could find any pleasant surprises along the way.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we sat down with Jason Zeno of Porchjam Distillery / Cheramie Rum to take us inside one of the most interesting up-and-coming American rum distilleries out there right now. Located in New Orleans, they're making a significant volume of fresh cane juice rum that's beginning to trickle its way into several markets across the U.S., and have some exciting aged releases coming up as well. We talked to Zeno about:

How he went from making whiskey for Beam-Suntory to making cane juice rum in Louisiana

Their long journey to finding a source of fresh cane juice

The perils of trucking fresh cane juice in from two hours away

The upcoming harvest season

Their multi-faceted approach to aging

Why they make 3 different types of cane juice rum

The broader landscape of Louisiana rum

The status of a regional designation for Louisiana rum

Winning over more drinkers for cane juice rum

Pearl Jam, somehow

And much more!

If you want to learn more about Cheramie, you can check out the interview Will did with Zeno back in 2021 for deeper details into their production process.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

For this episode, we asked our patrons to send in their top rum-related questions — and they delivered! We share our thoughts on:

What is presently the most underappreciated rum-producing country?

What rums do you always keep in stock?

What is your go-to daily drinker? (Go-to rum and go-to cocktail)

Now that you have been into rum for a while, have your buying habits changed?

If each of you were an independent bottler with no limit on cost, what is the one distillery you would want to pick a barrel from, and why?

If you could resurrect one now defunct rum, or now defunct distillery, which would it be and why?

How do you handle the questions like "I don't like rum, convince me", or "I drink Captain Morgan, what should I try next"? How do you recommend rum to tequila, gin, bourbon, and scotch people?

Can American rum go toe to toe with rum from other countries?

What developments do you hope to see over the next decade in U.S. rum distilleries located in sugarcane producing states?

What are some rum events on your bucket lists? And what rum events have you gone to that you do and, just as importantly, don't recommend to the community?

What is a way someone new to rum can learn about what is going on in the rum industry, new rums coming out, etc?

What is the weirdest, but most accurate, descriptor you've ever picked up when nosing/tasting a rum?

We plan to get to all of the remaining questions in a Mailbag Volume 2 bonus episode that will release later this month.

Episode Links:

Here is the GoFundMe for Daniel Regueira's (co-founder and distiller at Chicago Cane Cooperative) motorcycle injury recovery mentioned during the intro: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-daniels-motorcycle-injury-recovery

The Rumcast Guide to American Rum

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we have a freewheeling conversation on a topic we've wanted to delve into for a long time — molasses production and the role it plays in rum! 

Maggie Campbell (Estate Manager at Mount Gay) and Zan Kong (Commercial Manager of Spirits at Worthy Park) lent their expertise and sterling personalities to guide us through the ins and outs of the sticky liquid that goes into making the overwhelming majority of the world's rum. 

Of course, we also discuss the new Mount Gay and Worthy Park releases that have been making the news recently — Mount Gay's first single estate rum and Worthy Park's new overproof expression.

Zan and Maggie both have firsthand experience working at distilleries that have their own sugar mills, which is quite uncommon in the world of modern rum production. This allowed them to guide us through a number of fascinating topics, including:

The incredible amount of work that goes into molasses and sugar production — and the unique skillsets it requires

The differences between all the various molasses descriptors we often see, from Grade A to Grade C to blackstrap to high test, and beyond

Worthy Park's decision to integrate cane juice into their rum-making process

The making of Mount Gay's new sugar mill (and what it allows them to do)

The concern level for the quality of modern mass-market molasses

Does "single origin" molasses make a difference?

How different types of molasses impact flavor in rum

And much more!

This episode is sponsored by independent bottler Raising Glasses. To check out (and order) their latest releases, visit their website.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we got a full report of all the exciting happenings and new bottles showcased at UK RumFest, Whisky Live Paris, and other events across Europe from Chris Hassan Francke, owner of one of Washington, DC's premier spots for rum, The Green Zone. Chris took us deep into the rum festival scene in Europe from the perspective of both a rum fan and bar owner. We discussed:

First impressions of new releases like the El Dorado High Ester Blend, Worthy Park Overproof, Foursquare's second edition of LFT, and more

Other standout bottles from all events

The differences between these events and typical rum festivals in the U.S.

Noticeable absences from UK RumFest

His impressions of the many UK-made rums showcased at the event

UK RumFest vs. Whisky Live Paris — which is better for rum geeks?

Tasting Bacardi from 1905

The types of rum he most wishes existed for his bar

The new 100% rum bar concept he's working on in DC

The underground Richard Seale t-shirt economy

And much more!

Whether you're interested in upcoming releases, which rum events to attend, or designing a rum bar, there's a little something for everyone in this interview.

And as we mentioned in the intro, send an email to host@rumcast.com to let us know what some of your favorite rums of 2023 have been!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

This episode is sponsored by Wonk Press — Get 10% off Modern Caribbean Rum by Matt Pietrek and Carrie Smith now through December 10 with promo code RUMCAST. Plus, Matt and Carrie will sign your book at no additional cost!

In this episode, we set out to answer a surprisingly interesting question — which 80 proof rums are the best values? Which ones punch above their weight? Which ones should we not ignore just because they're 80 proof?

We selected a group of 10 popular aged molasses-based rums we had on hand and pitted them against each other in a head-to-head tasting bracket.

While it would be impossible to fit ALL the worthy 80 proof rums into one episode, we tried to select 10 that represent popular, widely available options around the world. And we're open to doing additional brackets with other 80 proof rums (or other types of rum) if you like this episode!

While we often pine for higher proof options, the reality is that 80 proof will likely remain the most common option for standard releases for the foreseeable future, so why not figure out which ones offer the best sipping experience for the money?

This turned out to be a really fun exercise that delivered several unexpected winners and losers along the way. At the end, there could only be one champion.

Here is the link to the article on 80 proof spirits mentioned in the introduction: https://vinepair.com/articles/80-proof-liquor-spirits-history/

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

In this episode, we went deep on the eight marks of Jamaica's Hampden Estate and the making of the recently released 8 Marks Collection with Peppie Grant (Tour Manager at Hampden), Daniele Biondi (Export Manager at La Maison & Velier), and Howard McCalla (Production Manager at Hampden).

Speaking with people from both Hampden and La Maison & Velier allowed us to get the full story behind the 8 Marks Collection, from the rum itself to how the release came together in the first place. We discussed:

How the idea for the 8 Marks Collection came about

Challenges in creating a unique product like this

The best ways to taste through Hampden's marks

How to approach blending marks together

Why higher ester level does not automatically make a rum more complex

What exactly is cane juice vinegar?

Whether certain marks are only made on certain stills or not

Hampden's rumored 3,000 (or even 7,000!) ester level rums

Why Jamaica limits ester levels in rum

The perils of the "high ester" descriptor

The upcoming aged version of the 8 Marks Collection

Hampden's future

And much more!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Happy holidays and New Year (in advance), everyone!

In our fourth annual Year in Review episode we take a look back at our favorite rums of the year in the following categories:

Unaged molasses rum

Unaged cane juice rum

Aged rum (5 years or less)

Aged rum (Over 5 years)

“New to me” rum

Best value rum

Most surprising rum

Overall rum

Plus, we each throw in picks for Distillery of the Year, along with another round of "Am I the a**hole for not liking this rum?"

Have a listen, and let us know your favorites in these categories from the past year! Also, what did we miss? What were we too high or low on? We'd love to hear your takes.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Per tradition, we're back with our predictions for what will happen in the world of rum in 2024 — from trends, to releases, to new projects, and beyond. 

In the spirit of accountability, we also take a look back at last year's predictions for 2023 and grade how close each one came.

Have a listen and send us an email at host@rumcast.com to let us know your predictions for the new year!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Without further delay, we're super excited to share our 100th episode of The Rumcast with you!

As we've hinted, this episode is special to us, and was really a labor of love. Rather than going with the typical format, we invited a dozen past guests to return for individual interviews where we looked back at how rum has evolved since 2019 (when we started working on the show), and where they think rum is headed over the next 5 years or so. You'll hear from:

Kate Perry of La Maison and Velier

Zan Kong of Worthy Park

Eric Kaye of Holmes Cay

Ian Burrell, the global rum ambassador and Equiano co-founder

Margaret Monplaisir of St. Lucia Distillers and the new WIRSPA chairperson

Lance Surujbally of TheLoneCaner.com

Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, the legendary author and owner of Latitude 29

Craig Nicholson of Worthy Park

Ed Hamilton of Hamilton rum

Carsten Vlierboom of E&A Scheer

Steve Magarry of the new Sydney Rum Distillery (formerly of Beenleigh)

Maggie Campbell of Mount Gay

We assembled highlights from those individual interviews into an episode that takes us through the major themes that came up, such as:

The emergence of "new" rum regions around the world (and which ones we'll be seeing more of)

The long-term prospects of all these emerging distilleries

The good and bad sides of premiumization, and whether rum can avoid the latter

New GIs we're likely to see in the future

The future of bulk rum sales and independent bottlings

What the acquisition of E&A Scheer means

And so much more that it would be impossible to list it all! 

We'd love to know what you think of the episode and what your takeaways and thoughts are — so please shoot us an email at host@rumcast.com and let us know.

And seriously — a huge THANK YOU to everyone for listening!

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

This episode is sponsored by Wonk Press — Get 10% off Modern Caribbean Rum by Matt Pietrek and Carrie Smith now through February 11 with promo code RUMCAST. Plus, Matt and Carrie will sign your book at no additional cost!

Music Credits for this Episode:

“On the Delta” by John Patitucci

“W. A. Mozart, Symphony No.38 in D major” by A Far Cry

“Cover Charge” by TrackTribe

“Djansa” by The Mini Vandals featuring Mamadou Koita and Lasso

“Momo Do” by The Mini Vandals featuring Mamadou Koita and Lasso

“Ratatouille’s Kitchen” by Carmen Maria and Edu Espinal

“Sleepy West” by JHS Pedals