The Rumcast

Note: We need your help to make the most of this episode! Go to rumcast.com/vote after listening to help determine the winner of this year's Fantasy Rum Draft. Thank you!Want to watch the video version of this episode? Head to YouTube and subscribe: https://youtu.be/ZMT9r_GXk0wFor the third year in a row, we're back with our annual Rumcast Fantasy Rum Draft. In this annual competition, we compete head-to-head to “draft” rums from the selection of a single online liquor store for 10 different rum categories. The goal? To create the superior “desert island” rum bar.Also, for the first time ever, we welcomed a guest to the competition! Arminder Randhawa from The Rum Revival joined us to duke it out for fantasy rum bar supremacy.Have a listen, and then head to rumcast.com/vote to help us determine the winner!As always, we'd love to hear what thoughts or questions this episode brought to mind for you. Shoot us an email or join us in Patreon for access to the Rumcast Discord community.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: Watch this episode on YouTube for video of the whole interview!In this episode, we sat down with Nicolas Palazzi, the founder of PM Spirits. As a self-proclaimed "provider of geeky spirits" PM is an importer/distributor known for supplying the US with many sought-after rum releases thanks to relationships with brands like La Maison & Velier, Père Labat, Alambique Serrano, and many more.It was a fascinating conversation that touched on everything from visiting rum locales like Marie-Galante and Hampden Estate to the challenges of growing the rum category. We discussed:Nicolas's journey from working as an engineer in France to becoming a spirits importer in BrooklynBlending rums at Hampden for an upcoming collaboration with Habitation VelierThe magic of Marie-Galante rumGrowing the Mexican rum categoryHow Alambique Serrano has gotten so much early attentionAuthenticity in spiritsLessons from 10+ years bringing obscure spirits into the US marketWhat he looks for when evaluating a spirits producerWhy he will forever be known as Captain Cognac (despite John's attempts at new nicknames)And much more!Check out the PM Spirits website here.As always, we'd love to hear what thoughts or questions this episode brought to mind for you. Shoot us an email or join us in Patreon for access to the Rumcast Discord community.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.

Want to see video of this episode? Click here to watch on YouTube and subscribe to our channel!In this edition of our Semi-Blind Reviews series, we blind taste Rhum JM Fumée Volcanique (not to be confused with Rhum JM Terroir Volcanique), followed by the other two bottles in the distillery's new Atelier series — Jardin Fruité and Épices Créoles.These are all modestly priced, lightly aged rhum agricoles that bring something new to the table for Rhum JM.Have a watch and let us know what you think of these rums!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: Watch this episode on YouTube for video of the whole interview!In this episode, after a quick look at some of our favorite reactions to the Best Designed Bottles episode, we get the behind-the-scenes story of one of the year's most unique rum releases — the Holmes Cay Infinity Cask bottle.This bottle features a blend of exceedingly rare rums from 13 distilleries (five of which are no longer in operation). From 47-year-old Port Mourant, to 47-year-old rhum agricole from the closed Gardel distillery, to Caroni rums, to Hampden, Long Pond, and much more, it's a blend that began all the way back in 2003 as part of the Main Rum Company's infinity cask program — their own special blends of retained rum samples from some of their best casks.Holmes Cay founder Eric Kaye took us through the whole backstory, including:How the opportunity to bring this rum to market came aboutThe decision to release it in both 700ml and 200ml bottlesWhy is it $1,500? Is any rum actually worth that much? Is this just taking us into bourbon territory?What the rum actually tastes likeHow they unexpectedly lost a significant amount of the rumThe packaging headaches that go into designing a custom boxThe differences between this cask and Main Rum's other infinity casksSome exciting upcoming Mhoba and Savanna releasesAnd much more!We'd love to hear your thoughts on this release. Have a listen and leave a comment or hop into the Discord to let us know what you think!You can get more details on this rum on the Holmes Cay website.As mentioned in the intro, here are some of the worthwhile articles on eco-friendly packaging:Rumporter: Should We Do Away with the Glass Bottle?IWSC: Sustainable Spirits PackagingGlass Hallmark: How Is the Glass Industry Delivering on Lighter Weight Glass Packaging?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: Watch this episode on YouTube to see all the bottles we discuss!In this episode we have something completely different — rather than talking about the rum in the bottle, we're talking about the bottle itself!We each selected our five current favorite bottle designs, considering a range of factors like bottle aesthetics, functionality, label design, stopper, and much more.As you may know, our tastes differ quite a bit, so things got spicy along the way.Let us know — what are your favorite bottle designs out there right now? What did we get right and wrong? Send us an email at host@rumcast.com or a comment on social to share your takes!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 John Hsu and Lorri Kern to learn all about their bold approach to bottling rum as the relatively new independent bottler Raising Glasses. This year alone, they've released rums from the Netherlands, Madeira, Ecuador, and other unexpected locales, which is all part of their willingness to try things other rum brands aren't doing.It was a great conversation that features multiple Rumcast firsts, including the first ever Rapid Fire Revenge Round (John and Lorri turned the tables and questioned us), the debut of an original song about rum (listen to the end for this one), and also a new segment in the intro where we take you inside the Rumcast Innovation Lab™.Additionally, we cover topics like:Standouts from John and Lorri's recent trip to The Whisky Exchange's Rum Show in LondonThe promise of the UK rum sceneRaising Glasses' "white whale" distillery they're trying to source a barrel fromThe pros and cons of their signature 375ml bottlesTheir philosophy when it comes to bottling rumBehind the scenes of their legendary April Fool's release, AtmôspheréThe future of Raising GlassesAdventures in board gamingAnd much more!Like we mentioned earlier, you'll want to listen all the way to the end of this one for a special musical ode to an icon of the rum world.Check out Raising Glasses on 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.

Want to see video of this episode? Check it out on YouTube and subscribe to our channel! We're back with another bite-sized episode in our Semi-Blind Rum Reviews series. This time, John braved the challenge of blind-tasting and attempting to identify Roulaison Overproof, a pot-distilled, molasses-based rum from Roulaison Distilling out of Louisiana. Along the way, we both share our overall thoughts on the rum as John tries to uncover its identity.Have a listen and let us know what you think of this rum!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: See the end of this episode description for the Hurricane Beryl aid links we mention in the intro.In this episode we revisited one of rum's iconic institutions from a totally different perspective from our previous episode (from over 2 years ago!) on it. We're talking, of course, about The Main Rum Company — keepers of E&A Scheer's boutique single cask program, and possibly the most extensive collection of single cask rum (excluding distilleries) in the world. You know all those great single cask releases from independent bottlers? A huge number of them came from Main Rum.To guide us through this deep dive, we spoke with Main Rum's Senior Cask Expert (what a cool title) Ian Hoyles. Ian spoke with us about:The art of matching the right cask to the right rumThe crown jewels of Main Rum's collection over the yearsHow exactly Main Rum's mysterious "infinity casks" are createdPushing the limits of agingHow to know when a cask is ready for saleHow Main Rum collectively assesses casksThe rum world's most distinctive flavor profilesAnd much more!Go here to check out The Main Rum Company’s website.***Hurricane Beryl Relief***As we mentioned in the intro, we reached out to friends in the Caribbean and were told that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) does impactful relief work across the region. They have set up a bank account for Beryl relief that you can find on their website here: https://www.cdema.org/index.phpThere is also an organization called Airlink that is coordinating with the CDEMA to bring relief supplies to the region. There are ways to donate online here: https://airlinkflight.org/responses/hurricane-beryl/John's colleagues at the university spoke highly of CORE, an organization they are currently working with that is bringing aid to the Caribbean as well: https://www.coreresponse.org/hurricane-beryl/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.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.

Want to see video of this episode? Check it out on YouTube and subscribe to our channel! https://youtu.be/8b99b-s4isgWe're back with another episode in our Semi-Blind Reviews series — this time with a rum sourced from a region that came up quite a bit in our 100th episode a few months back: Ghana!From Down Island Spirits, this is a 4-year-old pot still cane juice rum sourced from Ghana's MIM Distillery. John shares his thoughts knowing full well what the rum is and Will shares his thoughts while having no knowledge of it other than its color in the glass.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 John Georges, former master distiller of Angostura Rum / Trinidad Distillers Ltd. to discuss his 40+ year career in rum, all things Angostura, and much more.This episode is sponsored by Nossa Cachaça — Get 10% off any order at NossaCachaca.com with promo code RUMCAST.We discussed:The evolution of rum-making at Angostura over the yearsAngostura's involvement with Bacardi in the 1980sWhy pot stills have yet to catch on at Angostura, despite a few attemptsWhat changed in rum over the course of his four decades of making itAdded sugar in Angostura rumWhich blends Angostura did and did not add Caroni rum toThe career path of a master distillerAnd much 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 chatted with Jason Paul Cox and Isidoro Krassel Jr. of Alambique Serrano and Cañada Rum — two exciting projects featuring cane juice rum from Mexico. Jason is the founder of the brands and Isidoro is one of the four brothers from a family that has been producing aguardiente de caña in Oaxaca's mountainous cloud forest for over 100 years.This episode is sponsored by Nossa Cachaça — Get 10% off any order at NossaCachaca.com with promo code RUMCAST.These are truly fascinating rum projects and we had a blast learning more about them. We discuss:What makes this rum different from other Oaxacan producers like Paranubes and DakabendThe Krassel family's unique approach to muck pits and high ester experimentationThe vast range of profiles they can create thanks to their custom column still, pot stills, and dry and humid aging environmentsThe challenges of harvesting cane and fermenting on the side of a mountainThe making of Alambique Serrano's initial blendsThe unique design of the Krassel still, which Isidoro's grandfather inventedA surprise reveal of their new 70% ABV rum, Cartier 30And much more!Also, a few links to stuff mentioned in the episode:Alambique Serrano website: https://www.alambiqueserrano.com/Cañada Rum website: https://www.cloudforestrum.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.

This episode is sponsored by Nossa Cachaça — Get 10% off any order at NossaCachaca.com with promo code RUMCAST.In this episode, we talked to Turner Wathen and Jordan Morris, the co-founders of Rolling Fork Rum, and went DEEP on everything the Kentucky-based independent bottler has learned about secondary maturation (and more) since getting started in 2017. We discussed:Rolling Fork's focus on utilizing an array of ex-bourbon and ex-whiskey casks for secondary maturationHow much of a difference do different types of ex-whiskey casks REALLY make on a spirit that is primarily already aged in ex-bourbon casks?Why they just launched a rum blend designed for cocktails after their first cocktail rum failedHow they work through disagreements as co-foundersWhat it's like selling rum deep in the heart of bourbon countryHow different types of casks — from ex-fortified wine barrels to ex-whiskey barrels — react to the wild temperature swings in their aging warehouseMatching the right type of cask to the right rumHow the independent bottler landscape has changed since they got started in 2017And a whole lot more!A few links to stuff mentioned in the episode:Check out The Rum Revival's blind tasting of Rolling Fork rums finished in five different cask typesCheck out Rolling Fork's website and online store hereP.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 with another episode in our Semi-Blind Rum Reviews series. This time, we swapped roles with Will as the blind taster and John as the rum selector. It turned out to be a quite rare rum — English Harbour 1981, a 25-year-old rum from Antigua Distillery Limited, bottled all the way back in 2006!You can also view the video version of this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36qPUvfw5vYBe sure to subscribe to us there as well for more video content!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 this episode, we reached DEEP into the backs of our cabinets and pulled out a selection of rums we had long overlooked, neglected, or even forgotten about in our bars to see how our thoughts have evolved (or IF they have at all).The rules were simple: it just had to be a bottle we hadn't tasted in at least two years.Along the way, we discuss everything from market correcting Myers's Original Dark to John discovering (re-discovering?) one of the three best rums he's tried all year to packaging debates and more. It was a fun time, and we hope this inspires you to have your own back-of-the-cabinet adventure!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 talked to Pepe Álvarez, founder of San Juan Artisan Distillers, the only Puerto Rican distillery making pot still rum from fresh sugarcane juice in a true farm-to-bottle setting.You may recall we featured Pepe as one of three interviewees in an episode back in 2021, but we wanted to bring him back for a solo interview so we could take a deeper dive into what we both think is a super interesting distillery making great rum.It was also a chance to speak more broadly about the new wave of craft rum distilleries that have launched in Puerto Rico over the past decade or so, opening an exciting new chapter for the island's rum industry.We discussed:Creating a new, unconventional style of Puerto Rican rumThe evolution of the distillery's sugarcane farming operationHow much help Puerto Rico's craft distilleries receive from the government's rum tax cover over relative to the big distilleries on the islandIdeas for leveling the playing field in Puerto Rican rumWorking with legends in rum like Frank Ward and Luis PlanasLearning to make pot still rum on an island where no one used pot stillsDeciding on bottling ABVThe broader craft rum scene in Puerto RicoThe perils of finding distribution outside the islandUpcoming blends and releases from San Juan Artisan DistillersAnd much more!Oh, and John decided to replace the rapid fire segment???You can check out San Juan Artisan Distillers' website here: https://sanjuanartisandistillers.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.