The Rumcast

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 countrie...

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,...

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,...

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...

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...

In this episode, we checked in with a relatively new rum distillery in Scotland that's already received some impressive praise in its early history—Ninefold Distillery! Owner and distiller Kit Carruthers took us through the journey of starting a rum distillery from scratch at Dormont Estate, a 450-year-old estate in the south of Scotland. We discussed: The current landscape of rum production in Sc...

In this episode, we're checking the final (for now!) Barbados rum distillery off our list with an interview with the owner of St. Nicholas Abbey, Larry Warren. Unlike the three much larger scale rum distilleries in Barbados (Mount Gay, Foursquare, and WIRD), St. Nicholas Abbey focuses entirely on small batch production that includes everything from growing the sugarcane to bottling the rum. ...

In this episode, we're continuing what we started with The Rumcast Guide to Jamaican Rum by hopping over to a typically less familiar locale when it comes to sugarcane spirits: Mexico. Mexico has a relatively unique rum landscape that includes everything from small, family-run farm-to-bottle operations that have been producing fresh sugarcane juice-based spirits for generations, to larger scale op...

In this episode, we sat down with a veteran of the independent rum bottler world, John Barrett, owner of Bristol Classic Rum. The UK outfit has been sourcing, aging, and releasing rums since the '90s, giving John a rare perspective on how the category has evolved over the past few decades and where it's going next. He's been to all your favorite distilleries, he was among the first to purchase rem...

In this episode, we sat down with Steffen Mayer, who spent the last five years writing the ultimate book on Caroni ( Caroni: 100% Trinidad Rum ). Caroni, of course, is the legendary Trinidad distillery that closed around 2003, leaving behind a cache of aged rum that subsequently became some of the most sought-after rum in the world after bottlers like Velier built up its legend. And that's before...

In this episode, we're doing something new—a distillery-by-distillery guide to a single rum-producing country. And what better place to start than Jamaica? After a quick overview of the Jamaican rum category, we take a closer look at the rums of: Appleton Estate New Yarmouth Estate Worthy Park Estate Hampden Estate Clarendon Distillers Long Pond Distillery In addition to offering some background a...

In this episode, we caught up Peter Holland, the man behind The Floating Rum Shack , Foursquare's UK brand ambassador, and general rum guy for That Boutique-y Rum Company . Peter has been writing and educating on rum since 2008, giving him a unique perspective on a ton of rum-related topics. We chatted about: Rum's evolution since 2008 Developing new releases for That Boutique-y Rum Company Spread...

In this episode, we caught up with Kate Perry and Johann Jobello of La Maison & Velier to learn about Arhumatic—a French brand that's quite different from anything else in the LM&V portfolio. Arhumatic specializes in rhum arrangé, a traditional preparation of rum in islands with French ties like Réunion, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. Rhum arrangé involves macerating rum (either rhum agricole...

In this episode, we sat down with Don Q's new master blender Liza Cordero and maestra ronera Silvia Santiago to dive deep into an iconic distillery of Puerto Rican rum. Although Liza only recently became master blender, she's worked at the distillery for nearly two decades, and Silvia has been there for 48 years. There's an absolute wealth of knowledge between the two of them, so we hit a bunch of...

In this episode, we challenged each other to build our own personal budget home rum bars featuring 5 rums under $30.  But wait! There were more stipulations! Each rum had to be from a different country, at least one rum had to be unaged, and at least one rum had to be made from cane juice. We laugh, we argue, we come to agreements to disagree. Listen in and let us know what your picks would b...

In this episode, we welcomed Carsten Vlierboom of E&A Scheer back to the show to discuss the single cask side of the business—The Main Rum Company. If you've ever enjoyed an exceptional independently bottled release, there's a good chance it was sourced from Main Rum. We dug into not only what they have in their aging warehouses, but what actually goes into managing such a large selection of r...

In this episode, we look back at the top 6 things we’ve learned about rum after recording 50 episodes of The Rumcast! Plus, we kick off the show with a special announcement—we’re launching a Rumcast Patreon so we can start doing more fun things with the Rumcast community and make the show even better! To join the community and support the show, go to: patreon.com/therumcast THANK YOU to everyone f...

In this episode, we chat with Jacklyn Broomes (Agricultural Manager) and Maggie Campbell (Estate Rum Manager) about all things agriculture and sustainability at Mount Gay (along with a few hints at what to expect from the estate rum program in the future). Topics covered include: How Jackie and Maggie both ended up working at Mount Gay (and a closer look at each of their roles) The vision behind M...

In this episode, we go head to head trying to construct the perfect rum flights in three different categories: Caribbean rums for beginners, Caribbean rums for intermediate rum drinkers, and non-Caribbean rums. Along the way, we discuss and debate what makes a good flight, the pains of our toughest cuts from each category, and more. Relevant Links: Check out Will’s article on Cheramie Rum (mention...

In this episode, we talked to Mitch Wilson of Black Tot Rum about the brand’s origins in British Navy rum, moving beyond the blends of the past, their unique approach to rum blending, and much more! Topics discussed include: How to define navy rum or navy style rum in the first place Misconceptions and myths about navy rum The making of Black Tot’s blends The importance of transparency in rum blen...

In this episode, we talked to Justin Boseley, founder of Dead Reckoning Rum, one of the first (if not the only) independent bottlers in Australia. Justin has also imported rum into Australia for over a decade through his company La Rumbla Imports. Between the two roles, he’s had a front row seat to the evolution of rum in Australia in recent years, where everything to the imported products availab...

After revisiting the past in episode 44, we look to what the future holds for rum in 2022! Each of us looked into our non-existent crystal balls and made three rum-related predictions we believe will come true this year. Tune in for highly scientific prognostications on release trends, transparency, and even rum names.

Somehow it’s already time for our second annual year in review! As per tradition established one year ago, we take a look back at our favorite rums and podcast moments of the past year. Grab one of your favorite drams from 2021 and look back on the year with us as we discuss: Our personal favorite rums this year in the following categories… Unaged rum Aged rum (4 years or less and over 4 years) “N...

In this episode, Richard Seale takes us through the story behind the new high ester rum from Foursquare, and the larger vision for the Barbados distillery’s journey into cane juice rum production. We discuss: Where the idea to make a high ester rum at Foursquare came from The production process used to make the rum (and why he chose to make it a blend of molasses-based rum fermented with cultured...

In this episode, Stephen Shellenberger takes us on a deep dive into Boston Apothecary, his rum and spirits-focused blog that has become one of the largest digital repositories of historic research on rum production. We discuss: The origin story of Boston Apothecary The historical significance of Rafael Arroyo, and why Stephen is so fascinated with his work What’s the deal with “rum oil,” the aroma...