The Rum Daddy

These rums are made in Mendocino, Northern California by the Karakasevic family, distillers for over twelve generations. Produced by pot stills, these rums elicit the immediate response of hand-crafted quality spirits. The cane syrups used for fermentation, as opposed to molasses, are a proprietary blend from the Caribbean and Hawaii.

The TROPICAL ISLANDS CANE RUM is a wonderful white rum with unique and desirable clarity and depth. The nose of this rum initially presents leafy cane and botanical notes. If you think you’re picking up agave, you’re not alone! Initial taste releases gently toasted sugar and cacao notes, with a soft molasses palate coat and cacao finish. Very crisp and sophisticated.

The TAHITIAN VANILLA RUM is triple-distilled and infused with whole Tahitian vanilla beans. Not sickly sweet, but rather sophisticated and complex. Vanilla bean pods and leafy notes greet the nose with a gentle bathing of scents. The initial taste presents a marriage of vanilla with botanical and leafy flavors, finishing cleanly with molasses and cacao.

I played with these rums for two solid weeks. Their flexibility in mixology was outstanding! Martinis with a quality fruit juice/nectar base were superb. Gimlets were great; cocktails and Collins using sparkling soda or tonic water were equally pleasurable. The Tropical Islands Cane Rum was wonderful with tonic and lime, or seltzer, lime, and agave syrup. These rums cry out for their qualities to shine through thoughtful applications, not just buried in a sugary concoction.

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Berkshire Mountain Distilleries
‘Think globally. Drink locally.’ That’s the succinct business statement for the distillery’s founder and Master Distiller, Chris Weld. His Berkshire Mountain Distillers is a producer of spirits located in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. Their distillery utilizes many local farm products when possible, and they create their own spirits blends.

The Berkshire Mountain Distillers’ Ragged Mountain Rum is a pot still rum produced in small batches. Casked as an overproof, they age in Kentucky bourbon oak barrels, and use a famous local historic pure-water spring for their blending water when they bottle.
This rum is designed as a sipping rum. Ragged Mountain has a very nice golden amber color. The nose is wonderfully redolent of quality molasses without being overpowering. Yeast, bread, and butter notes flow through on a vaporous trail. The front taste is oaky and burnt sugar, with a light palate coat and an initial gentle warmth. The finish is crisp, with the oak maintained throughout. A small splash of water or an ice chip opens this rum up, with leafy and light vegetal notes making their appearance. A very, very nice rum; kudos to Chris Weld!

If it’s mixology you’re after, try this rum in an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, or with tonic and lime. Sparkling soda brings out some amazing butter and dairy notes, which shine! All worked very well, and provide impressive, quality results.

Currently, Ragged Mountain Rum is available in Massachusetts and Connecticut. They are soon expanding into New York, followed by the rest of New England. This is not the limit of their plans, so more states may soon be able to sample this great product. You can contact them as follows:

Cockspur Rums

Ask anyone in the Caribbean where rum got its start in the region, and everyone has their own patriotic favorites. Barbados can certainly lay its claim, and back it up with a long history of production. Cockspur Rums are produced by Hanschell Inniss Ltd., and they do a superb job.

COCKSPUR FINE RUM has a very nice nose of vanilla, nutmeg, cherry, cream and mango. The palate picks up ginger, honey, citrus, and a bit of nice oak. This rum mixes great, and is really nice on the rocks (or just one ‘rock’) as the ice opens this rum up in a most enjoyable way.

The COCKSPUR 12 YEAR RUM is a superior product, easily comparable to the finer Jamaican rums. The nose is oaky but not overwhelming, with a sophisticated blend of spices, leather, dried fruits, potpourri, and pepper. The palate is greeted with gentle but definitive spices, orange peel, banana, and a toffee note in the middle and the end. Wow! Straight up or just a chip of ice, this rum is best savored slowly as you would any premium spirit worthy of single-minded attention.

April, 2008

Maui Rum

Hawaii’s sugar cane finds a great final destination in bottles of Maui Rums. Haleakala Distillers (www.haleakaladistillers.com or www.mauirum.biz ) hand craft a super lineup of rums. I have tried them all as a judge in competitions, and presented them in tastings as well.

The MAUI PLATINUM RUM is clear with a buttery nose fronting the expected gentle, grassy, sweet notes of the sugar cane. The flavor is closer to a good cachaca than a typical bland rum found here in the USA; sugar and dairy notes combine with herbal and grassy tones. A very good mixer.

The MAUI DARK RUM has a gentle, soft nose of brown sugar and dairy with a lighter cane back note. The taste is of molasses and herbs with a light, dry finish. Very good mixer for Rum & Cola, a Mai Tai or a Painkiller. For you mixologists out there: it makes a great floater on top of that special boat drink.

The MAUI GOLD RUM has an outstanding butter/dairy nose – creamy, rich, smooth, with a slight burnt sugar finish. The color is burnished bronze. The taste is surprisingly subtle yet well-produced. Whiskey notes shine throughout. The aging of this rum is nicely done. It is enjoyable with a bit of ice, or also with soda/tonic water (your choice). It is an excellent mixer, but don’t hide this rum under a frozen drink – it’s too good!!!!!

The MAUI GOLD RESERVE elevates the Gold Rum to higher sophistication with a more mature, complex nose and palate. The whiskey notes shine through but do not overwhelm. I prefer it with a touch of water or a chip of ice – the complexity really comes out that way. On a hot day, two ice cubes and a splash of soda water makes a superb ending to the day.

BRADDAH KIMO’S DA BOMB 155 PROOF EXTREME RUM I cannot say enough good things about this rum, starting with the name and ending with the quality. Normally, I am not a huge fan of overproof rums. This rum shows that you can invest effort into quality products regardless of category, with real success. This rum is truly ‘Da Bomb’, at 155 proof. The nose? Superb for an overproof: amazingly gentle, with spun sugar, caramel and buttery notes. The taste? WOW!!!! You get a flavor glimpse of the nose notes before a warm vaporous explosion fills your mouth and finishes still warm with a bit of toasted sugar. It’s a ride, folks. Not medicinal or industrial like so many overproofs, this rum is what Caribbean expats miss about their home island when they drink rum somewhere else. This is a mixer that obviously must be respected due to its proof, yet adds quality and desirable flavor to the boat drink of your choice and not just a ‘kick’. No wonder that the 2007 American Distillers Institute awarded a Gold Medal in its Rum Competition for this spirit. Congrats, Braddah Kimo!

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