The Rumcast

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 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 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 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 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.

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

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

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!

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