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 rum

The crown jewels of Main Rum's collection over the years

How exactly Main Rum's mysterious "infinity casks" are created

Pushing the limits of aging

How to know when a cask is ready for sale

How Main Rum collectively assesses casks

The rum world's most distinctive flavor profiles

And 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.php

There 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-s4isg

We'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 years

Angostura's involvement with Bacardi in the 1980s

Why pot stills have yet to catch on at Angostura, despite a few attempts

What changed in rum over the course of his four decades of making it

Added sugar in Angostura rum

Which blends Angostura did and did not add Caroni rum to

The career path of a master distiller

And 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 Dakabend

The Krassel family's unique approach to muck pits and high ester experimentation

The vast range of profiles they can create thanks to their custom column still, pot stills, and dry and humid aging environments

The challenges of harvesting cane and fermenting on the side of a mountain

The making of Alambique Serrano's initial blends

The unique design of the Krassel still, which Isidoro's grandfather invented

A surprise reveal of their new 70% ABV rum, Cartier 30

And 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 maturation

How 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 failed

How they work through disagreements as co-founders

What it's like selling rum deep in the heart of bourbon country

How different types of casks — from ex-fortified wine barrels to ex-whiskey barrels — react to the wild temperature swings in their aging warehouse

Matching the right type of cask to the right rum

How the independent bottler landscape has changed since they got started in 2017

And 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 types

Check out Rolling Fork's website and online store here

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.

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=36qPUvfw5vY

Be 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 rum

The evolution of the distillery's sugarcane farming operation

How much help Puerto Rico's craft distilleries receive from the government's rum tax cover over relative to the big distilleries on the island

Ideas for leveling the playing field in Puerto Rican rum

Working with legends in rum like Frank Ward and Luis Planas

Learning to make pot still rum on an island where no one used pot stills

Deciding on bottling ABV

The broader craft rum scene in Puerto Rico

The perils of finding distribution outside the island

Upcoming blends and releases from San Juan Artisan Distillers

And 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.