Craft Distillers in the US

[Edward Hamilton]

I just left the American Distilling Institute (http://www.distilling.com) conference in Indiana which was attended by over 100 enthusiastic craft distillers, suppliers and media as well as a few industry heavy weights who explained some of the magic that goes into every bottle of rum. This year's conference was focused on Rum. The first spirit distilled in America was rum and though I doubt production will ever rival that of the 1770s, there are a number of new rums coming to the market which are worthy of your time. Prichard's Crystal Rum (http://ministryofrum.com/rumdetails.php?r=600) is a very fine example of an American blackstrap molasses rum which rivals some of the best white rums from the Caribbean. There were also rums from Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan and a few New England.

[Rumfellow]

Prichard's Crystal Rum is nothing short of fantastic. We can all credit Phil for single-handedly raising the bar on a well made daiquiri.

[Scottes]

I guess I just don't get Prichard's Crystal. It smelled (mildly) like ethanol, and tasted like water. Really, there was barely any taste to it. Over ice it tasted like tap water, and mixed with ginger ale it simply disappeared - I could not taste anything besides ginger ale.

I'll easily state that it's one of the smoothest rums I've had - especially for a unaged rum. That part was unbelievable.

I guess maybe that I want a rum to taste like rum.

[bcarney]

I just left the American Distilling Institute (http://www.distilling.com) conference in Indiana which was attended by over 100 enthusiastic craft distillers, suppliers and media as well as a few industry heavy weights who explained some of the magic that goes into every bottle of rum. This year's conference was focused on Rum. The first spirit distilled in America was rum and though I doubt production will ever rival that of the 1770s, there are a number of new rums coming to the market which are worthy of your time. Prichard's Crystal Rum (http://ministryofrum.com/rumdetails.php?r=600) is a very fine example of an American blackstrap molasses rum which rivals some of the best white rums from the Caribbean. There were also rums from Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan and a few New England.

Hi Ed. Do you happen to recall the name of the rum from Michigan? I live here and don't know of any for sale. I do know that the legislature changed the laws regarding "tastings" so that small-scale distillers could offer small samples at their distilleries (much like the wine makers do), but I thought that was primarily targeted for a vodka maker that happens to be in Michigan's northern wine-making region.

We grow a lot of sugar beets in the Bay City area, but obviously anything made from that can't be considered rum since it's not sugar cane. I also suspect that it can't be made into anything drinkable...if it could, I'd bet someone would have already done so by now.

[Edward Hamilton]

There were a few distillers at the conference, I'm going to have to do some looking for a rum distillery. I might have been mistaken that a Michigan distiller was making rum, I hope to have a better response this week.

[Berbician]

Hi Ed. Do you happen to recall the name of the rum from Michigan? I live here and don't know of any for sale. I do know that the legislature changed the laws regarding "tastings" so that small-scale distillers could offer small samples at their distilleries (much like the wine makers do), but I thought that was primarily targeted for a vodka maker that happens to be in Michigan's northern wine-making region.

We grow a lot of sugar beets in the Bay City area, but obviously anything made from that can't be considered rum since it's not sugar cane. I also suspect that it can't be made into anything drinkable...if it could, I'd bet someone would have already done so by now.

During World War II, vodka was made from sugar beet in Poland.

[The Scribe]

Vodka could be made from fermented boot juice (the mixture of sweat and other moisture you get in just about any boot at the end of a long day of wearing them, though I'm thinking specifically of dinghy trapeze or hiking boots where you get this wonderful milky white colouration which smells even worse than it sounds) if you like (and can get sugars out of it). Rum must be made from the product of sugarcane. We could even argue that rum, as opposed to rhum agricole and cachaca, is the distillate of fermented cane-molasses.
Cheers. - S

[Edward Hamilton]

We could even argue that rum, as opposed to rhum agricole and cachaca, is the distillate of fermented cane-molasses.
Cheers. - S

And according to the folks that make rum, you'd be wrong. While rhum agricole and cachaзa can only be made from fresh sugar cane juice, rum can be made from fresh sugar cane juice, syrup or molasses.

[RumBarPhilly]

Vodka could be made from fermented boot juice (the mixture of sweat and other moisture you get in just about any boot at the end of a long day of wearing them, though I'm thinking specifically of dinghy trapeze or hiking boots where you get this wonderful milky white colouration which smells even worse than it sounds)

First we've had Black Strap rums, now we've got Boot Strap vodkas!

I'm just wondering how much sugars are present in this foot sweat. Perhaps we need these trapeze artisits to have a heavy diet of sweets!

[Edward Hamilton]

There were a few distillers at the conference, I'm going to have to do some looking for a rum distillery. I might have been mistaken that a Michigan distiller was making rum, I hope to have a better response this week.

After checking with a few folks, there isn't any commercially made rum in Michigan yet. There are a couple of small distillers and there are more applications for Distillation Permits waiting to be granted. So you'll have to wait for Michigan rum. The conference was a showcase for small distillers where they compared notes and a lot of development products.

It can easily take a couple of years to develop, distill and bring a new product to the market. Unlike some lesser clear spirits, Rum wasn't made in a day.