The Rumcast

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.

🗳️ 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.

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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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.

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 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 [email protected] 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.

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 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.

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"