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You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In the latest chapter in our Rumcast Guides series, we turn our eyes to Guyana and the legendary style of Demerara rum. As one of the world's most distinct, essential rum categories, this episode has been a long time coming. Whether you're new to the rums of Demerara Distillers Ltd. or a seasoned enjoyer, there's something in here for everyone.

You can watch the video version of this episode here.

In Part 1, we set the stage by going over the factors that make Guyana's rums so unique, along with a brief timeline of rum production and a deep dive into the country's lone remaining distillery and its collection of historic stills.

Part 2 will follow next week (with a focus on DDL's influence on modern rum, the additives question, and the Demerara Rum GI), so stay tuned!

We consulted a good amount of sources for this episode, which you can peruse below:

The Lone Caner's "The Age of Velier's Demeraras" Series

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

A number of Cocktail Wonk pieces:

Demerara Distillers Ltd. Pt. 1 and Pt. 2

Q&A with Shaun Caleb

Q&A with Komal Samaroo

Q&A with Sharon Sue-Hang

The Demerara Rum GI

Demerara Distillers Annual Shareholder Reports

El Dorado Official Website

Our own interview with Shaun Caleb

Du Rhum interview with Luca Gargano

Barrel Aged Thought's epic Demerara piece

Velier's catalog of DDL releases

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

We're back with another chapter in our series of blind rum reviews — this time with two rums we've both had before, including one we just reviewed in a bonus episode for you a few weeks back!

We begin with that very rum: Roaming Road's 17-Year Spain Rum. See how close we came to identifying a rum we both just argued over within the last month (and how not knowing its identity impacted our enjoyment of it).

Next, we move to a rum we briefly sampled during our visit to The Black Parrot in London in January: Dead Reckoning's "The Black Pit." It's a blend of Port Mourant, Versailles, and Enmore still rums from Demerara Distillers Ltd. that features a rather unique cask finish.

A big thank you to Patreon member Jordan from DC for supplying these mystery samples to both of us. Believe it or not, he actually sent these well before we independently tried and reviewed Roaming Road's Spain Rum. So it was a happy accident, not an evil trick!

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we sat down with Mike Gilmore, founder of Roaming Road Spirits, to go behind the scenes at one of the newest independent rum bottlers in the U.S.

Roaming Road first got on our radar last year when they came out of the gate hot with an impressive slate of initial rum releases that included a memorable <>H Hampden rum, among others. With Roaming Road's second wave of releases now out (which we tasted through on a recent bonus episode), we figured now was the right time to get their full story.

We chatted with Mike about:

His journey from liquor store owner to rum bottler

Why he thinks store barrel picks have gotten worse in recent years

Why he travels thousands of miles to sample casks in person (rather than receiving samples by mail)

His tasting process

What he looks for in a great rum

How he ended up bottling a 17-year-old rum from Spain (and details on where it came from)

The impact of cask finishes

And much more!

You can learn more about Roaming Road on their website.

This episode was sponsored by the Key West Rum Fest. You can get more info on their website.

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

It's finally time — we're revealing which rum we will be releasing for the Rumcast Single Cask Project (and our release date goal)!

This is the cask we ultimately purchased from Main Rum Company following our in-person visit, where we sampled over 20 casks that originated from all over the world. We covered many of those casks in our previous Cask Project episode that took you inside our Main Rum visit.

This episode was sponsored by the Key West Rum Fest. You can get more info on their website.

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we sat down with Oliver Chilton, the head blender at Black Tot Rum, to nerd out on all things blending—from their recently reformulated flagship blend, to their new solera blend, to their annual master blender's reserve releases, and beyond.

We also got into a lot of in-the-works rum projects that we didn't know were coming down the pike. All of which are interesting.

Oliver was a great hang and we learned a lot. We think you will too. You'll hear about:

The rum Oliver was desperate to add to their Finest Caribbean blend (and why)

How Oliver went from working at The Whisky Exchange to becoming a rum and whisky blender

Their distillery project (and whether we might see rum coming from it)

The coolest rare rums Oliver has had the chance to work with

Misconceptions about sherry cask and solera maturation

How solera casks different from typical ex-sherry casks used in aging rum

Possible future releases

And much more!

You can get all the details on Black Tot’s blends at their website.

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we attempted a new mid-year exercise — picking 10 bottles each we think are the most talked about / anticipated releases of the year among rum enthusiasts, including bottles that have already hit shelves and some that are still on their way.

The goal was not only to create a snapshot of what's popular with rum enthusiasts in 2025, but also to give you a handy list of bottles you may want to add to your list to try if you haven't already.

After you've had a listen, send us an email or drop a comment on social to let us know — which releases are you most excited about this year? Which ones did we miss? We'd love to know!

We've included the full lists below, so stop scrolling here if you want to be surprised!

**Spoilers Below**

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John's Top 10 List:

10. Holmes Cay Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel - Single Origin Edition #4

9. Black Tot Finest Caribbean (New Blend)

8. Dead Reckoning Vanuatu 83 Islands

7. Raising Glasses Full Circle Blend

6. Bedford Park Westerhall Grenada 27-Year

5. Alambique Serrano - Alambique de Cobre

4. Habitation Velier Hampden PM Spirits / Prestige-Ledroit Blend

3. Roaming Road Belize 18-Year

2. Renaissance Clouded Leopard

1. Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Series #1: Pico Canoa

Will's Top 10 List:

10. Black Tot Historic Solera Blend

9. Hampden 1753

8. Foursquare Exceptional Cask Selection: Mandamus

7. Papalin Jamaica High Ester

6. Renaissance Clouded Leopard

5. Mhoba Rum: The Shaldon

4. Bristol Classic Rum Jamaica DOK 2009

3. Hampden The Maverick

2. Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Series #1: Pico Canoa

1. El Dorado High Ester Blend #2: PM/DHE

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we sat down with the founder and distiller behind one of the most interesting rum projects in the U.S. right now, Robyn Smith of rum et al., a chemical engineering PhD turned rum distiller.

The premise behind Rum Et Al is simple but fascinating. Robyn started with a foundational, always-available rum she named Baseline. She's since released batches in which she introduces a "variable" to the Baseline recipe, such as dunder. This allows you to taste the exact differences that the variable brings to the flavor profile when tasted side by side. If you're a rum geek, it's a really cool tasting experience.

During the episode, we discussed:

How she went from chemical engineering PhD to rum distiller

Her experience in R&D for Lost Spirits Distillery

How rum et al. came to be

All the nerdy rum production details

The joys and challenges of being a one-woman operation

Congeners vs. esters

How ester measurements translate to flavor profile

What we might see from her next

And much more!

Be sure to check out her YouTube channel, This Blog's Neat! These videos about her rum et al. releases are a great place to start:

How Baseline Was Made

How Variable (Dunderclap) Was Made

How Variable (Tailspin) Was Made

Have you had a chance to try Robyn's rum? What stood out to you in the conversation? Let us know via email ([email protected]) or social!

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Sometimes we get in the mood to do something a little crazy, and this episode is one of those times.

After the debut of the latest musical number from John Gulla (don't miss this one), we spend 60 minutes putting a big dent in our backlog of rum samples by tasting and sharing rapidfire thoughts on 10 interesting rums each, for a total of 20.

We set a timer for two minutes and 30 seconds for each sample, leaving ourselves some extra time at the end to discuss our favorites, what we learned from the exercise, and more.

From recent releases like Papalin Jamaica High Ester Blend, to classics like Rhum Bielle Blanc, to up-and-coming producers like Taiwan's Renaissance Distillery and Australia's Mt. Uncle Distillery (including an Australian agave cask finish??), to recently closed distilleries like Japan's Nine Leaves, to soon-to-be-released rums that we saved as surprises — the range is wide and vast, just like the category of rum and John's vocal range.

You can check out the complete list of rums below, or just dive right into the episode!

After you've listened, let us know — have you tried any of these rums? If so, what did you think of them?

Cheers!

Complete List of Rums Sampled:

Oxbow Rhum Louisiane 2022 Harvest (United States)

Uruapan Cana Cristalina Single Agricola (Mexico)

Below the Salt L'Ardois JaQ (Nova Scotia)

Velier Nine Leaves 2023 Last Drops (Japan)

Botran Rare Blend - Italian Wine Cask (Guatemala)

Grander Toasted Oak Small Batch (Panama)

Rum & Cane - Asia Pacific XO (Fiji / Indonesia Blend)

Mt. Uncle Iridium X (Australia)

Crooked Island Rum - Waterman (Jamaica / Dominican Republic Blend)

Mt. Uncle Iridium X Agave Cask Edition (Australia)

Dràm Mòr Single Cask - Secret Distillery 7-Year (Mauritius)

Foursquare Magisterium (Barbados)

Rhum Bielle Blanc (Marie Galante, Guadeloupe)

Papalin Jamaica High Ester (Jamaica)

Renaissance 2018 Pedro Ximenez Sherry Cask (Taiwan)

Raising Glasses Full Circle Blend (8 Countries)

4 Surprise Rums (3 of which haven't been released yet)

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

If you keep up with rum releases it's been pretty hard to ignore the arrival of Alambique Serrano's Vida Nativa series — 5 limited release bottles from the Oaxacan cane juice rum producer that feature a wide range of interesting cask types, different stills, and distinct flavor profiles (watermelon cucumber water?).

In this episode, we tasted through 4 out of the 5 bottles, plus the new 3-year blend that's designed to be their first always available release. Along the way we debated our favorites, discussed a possible early favorite rum of the year, revealed John's secret connection to a beloved pop music icon, and much more.

We cover the specs of each release during the show, but if you'd like to follow along, the Alambique Serrano website has all the details here.

Have a listen and let us know what you think of these rums if you've been able to taste them!

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.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we invited Grander founder Dan DeHart on the show to break down the making of an atypical new unaged rum called Cane Harvest. Unlike the vast majority of rums that come out of Panama, this rum is made of 100% heavy column rum that typically only serves as a blending component with lighter-bodied rums. It's a fascinating glimpse at a type of rum we don't often get to experience on its own.

You can watch the video version of this episode here.

We talked to Dan about:

How an idea to recreate the defunct Caña Brava rum led to this much different rum

The source of the rum (hint: it's not from Las Cabras, the distillery where Grander has sourced all of its other rums to date)

What makes this heavy style of column still rum different

Whether we'll see an aged version of this rum

How Grander has evolved over the last 5 years

Most successful and most unsuccessful secondary maturations

And much more!