The Rumcast Will Hoekenga and John Gulla

In this episode, we sat down with Steve Jefferson, co-founder and CEO of Kuleana Rum Works, a distillery on Hawaii's Big Island that's putting their own spin on fresh cane juice rum. From growing their own heirloom Hawaiian sugarcane to sourcing and blending rums from around the world, they have a unique approach that's resulting in some pretty damn good rum. We chatted about:

Going from sailing around the Caribbean to starting a rum distillery in Hawaii

Working with a 30+ year veteran of Martinique rhum agricole on Kuleana's production process

The big gamble Steve made to acquire the 45 acres that became Kuleana's farm

Nerdy production and still design details

The current state of their aging program

How they plan to utilize the 35 varieties of heirloom Hawaiian sugarcane

Their relationship with Ko Hana on Oahu

Why Kuleana sources and blends rums from around the world in addition to distilling their own

Their connection to High West Whiskey

Their crowdsourced funding campaign

And more!

Plus, at the beginning, some rambling thoughts on John's travels in Italy, amaro, chasing the solar eclipse, and the impact of minor ABV differences.

You can check out Kuleana's website here (which also has a link to their funding campaign): https://kuleanarum.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.

With John on vacation, I flew solo on this episode to welcome Ben Inglis, distillery manager and co-founder of The Islay Rum Company, to the show to get the full story on his unique approach to Scottish rum.

If you listened to our Guide to UK Rum episode, you'll remember that John and I rated both of the Islay Rum Company rums we tried quite favorably, so we'd been hoping to talk to Ben ever since. We discussed:

How Ben convinced the Vintage Malt Whisky Company to back his vision of Islay's first rum distillery instead of building a Scotch whisky distillery

Scottish Gaelic pronunciations

The pressure that comes with putting the word "Islay" on a bottle of rum

Contending with the island's flavor profile expectations

Building out the distillery in a historic lemonade factory

Why getting a custom made double retort pot still was a must

Crafting their initial flavor profile

Experiments with long fermentation, native bacteria, yeasts, and more

Balancing inspiration with originality

What's aging right now? And when can we taste it??

And a whole lot more!

You can learn more about The Islay Rum Company here: https://www.islayrum.com/

Check out our episode on the wider UK rum scene here: https://www.rumcast.com/episodes/uk-rum-guide

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 week, we’re introducing a new episode format — the Semi-Blind Rum Review!

In these reviews, one of us will know the identity of the rum being reviewed and one of us will be going in with no information about the rum whatsoever, besides its color in the glass.

Our goal is to hopefully provide an unbiased and fun look at new(ish) rums you might be curious about. We'll also be publishing video versions to YouTube.

In this episode, we reviewed:

Shakara 12-Year Thailand Rum (the new release from La Maison & Velier)

ABV: 45.7%

Molasses

Column Distillation

Price: Around $50-60

Transcontinental Rum Line High Seas

ABV: 45%

Blend: Tropically aged Panama rum, unaged Jamaican rum, unaged grand arome rum from Martinique

Price: Around $30-40

As always, would love your thoughts on this episode format, and any takes you have on the rums!

Cheers!

This episode is sponsored by Wonk Press — Get 10% off Modern Caribbean Rum by Matt Pietrek and Carrie Smith at WonkPress.com now through March 30 with promo code RUMCAST. Plus, Matt and Carrie will sign your book at no additional cost!

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 explore the impressive start of possibly the only independent rum bottler in Canada, Bira Rum. Founder Karl Mudzamba took us inside his journey from Zimbabwe, to playing professional rugby in New Zealand, to starting Bira in his current home of Vancouver, BC. Bira has hit the ground running with unadulterated, cask strength releases from Fiji and South Africa, with much more to come.

Along the way, fellow resident of Canada Ivar de Laat of Rum Revelations hopped on the call with us to chime in on the state of rum in Canada, from the options available to rum enthusiasts to the intriguing rums coming out of Canadian distilleries in recent years.

We discuss:

Karl’s rum origin story

The nuances of the Canadian rum market versus other parts of the world

Up and coming Canadian rum distilleries (yes — they exist!)

The all-night Bira ritual of Zimbabwe’s Shona people

Early lessons in launching a rum brand in Canada

How Karl landed on Fiji and South Africa for his initial bottlings

The quest for geeky unaged Fijian rum

Do sugary rums help introduce rum to more people?

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) as one of the world’s chief rum villains

What’s next for Bira

And much more!

To learn more about Bira Rum, check out their website at https://www.birarum.com/

Also, be sure to check out Ivar's website Rum Revelations at https://www.rumrevelations.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.

In this episode, we're back with a fresh entry in our Rumcast Guides series — and this time we're taking on the rums of the United Kingdom!

Over the last 12 years or so, the UK has seen an explosion of domestic rum distilleries, with the number now reaching over 25 (and counting). We set out to taste a wide selection of these rums to get a sense of the emerging category's characteristics, standout bottles, and notable distilleries, encountering everything from straightforward crowdpleasers, to long fermentation, dunder-charged flavor bombs, to unique profiles we hadn't encountered before.

Following an overview of the category, the episode is divided into four flights that cover nine different distilleries and 16 different rums:

(13:45) Flight #1 - Unaged Lower Proof Rums:

Ninefold Pure Single Rum (46%) (pot still, molasses, 3-4 day fermentation)

Sugar House White Rum (43%) (hybrid pot/column, molasses, 7-day fermentation)

Outlier Distilling Hoolie Manx White Rum (41%) (pot still, molasses, 10-14 day fermentation)

Scratch Faithful British Rum (42%) (pot still, molasses, around 14-day fermentation, use fresh and aged dunder)

Islay Rum Distillery Geal 2022 Inaugural Release (45%) (double retort pot still, molasses, 7+ day fermentation)

Retribution White Rum (44%) (pot still, molasses)

(59:19) Flight #2 - Aged Lower Proof Rums:

J. Gow Revenge Rum (43%) (pot still, molasses, aged 3 years in ex-bourbon and virgin oak, a blend of their HD and DS marks)

J. Gow Fading Light Chestnut Cask (43%) (pot still, molasses, aged in chestnut cask over 12 months, 14-day fermentation)

Ninefold Cask Aged Pure Single Rum (45%) (pot still, molasses, aged at least 1.5 years in American oak)

Matugga Golden Rum (42%) (NAS, pot still, molasses, 7-day fermentation, ex-bourbon casks)

(1:33:41) Flight #3 - Unaged Higher Proof Rums:

J. Gow Culverin TC Marque (50%) (Pot and column, molasses, 5-day fermentation)

J. Gow Wild Yeast Series #2 Kveik 2022 (62%) (molasses, double batch fermented for 7 days and 9 days with a triple blend of Hornindal Kveik, traditional Norwegian farmhouse yeast)

Islay Rum Distillery Ùine Mhòr (55%) (double retort pot still, molasses, long fermentations ranging from 4-6 weeks featuring the use of matured dunder, native bacteria, and two commercial yeast strains)

DropWorks Funk Drop Rum (63%) (double retort pot still, "sugar cane honey," 7-day fermentation featuring their "wild trinity" yeast, dunder, and addition of muck during distillation)

(2:08:13) Flight #4 - Aged Higher Proof Rums:

J. Gow Hidden Depths Vol. 2 2017 (51.2%) (cask strength, molasses, aged 5 years in ex bere whisky/OWC oak cask)

Ninefold 3 Year Old Single Pot Still TWE Exclusive (62.2%) (cask strength, molasses, aged 3 years in ex-bourbon from Woodford Reserve)

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 free bonus episode, we're releasing global rum ambassador and Equiano co-founder Ian Burrell's full interview from our 100th episode, which was full of interesting nuggets about the development of Equiano, rum education, where we can expect to see exciting new rums come from over the next several years, and much more! 

Also, we try to guess our way through a mystery sample provided by Rumcast Patron Kyle in DC, only to fail spectacularly.

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.