In this eye-opening conversation and rum tasting with Kō Hana Rum General Manager Kyle Reutner, some of the topics we discuss include:

 

• How Kō Hana Rum started as a passion project dedicated to Hawaiian heirloom cane varietals, spreading from a small lot to several hundred acres of cane farmed at several locations on Oahu.
• What heirloom cane even means - from its pivotal role in the polynesian diaspora to the advent of commodity sugar farming, to recent efforts to resurrect a nearly lost cultural staple crop.
• Then we get into the tasting. Boy do we taste. We sample four white (i.e un-aged) agricole-style rums from Kō Hana, all with different flavor qualities and origin stories.
• Along the way, we talk about Hawaiian terroir, the primacy of plants in the species-naming agenda of native polynesians, how Kō Hana has diversified its offerings using the only cacao grown in the United States, and much, much more.

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