The Rumcast

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!

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 [email protected] 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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.