Edward Hamilton
06-13-2007, 12:56 PM
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Elvis, the distiller, and Ben - marketing and sales, at Celebration Distillation (http://neworleansrum.com/) in New Orleans. I was immediately struck by the welcome smiles from everyone at this microdistillery before I even introduced myself.
Over the last 14 years there have been a lot of label changes at Celebration so I wasn't surprised to see a new label, but there are three new labels, but that's just the beginning of the story. Elvis, who used to make craft beers, has changed the distillation process to produce a better, more consistent product. After about a three day fermentation process, the wash is distilled to about 35% alcohol in what is essentially a single pot still. This distillate is collected and then redistilled in a second pot still which is fitted with a short column designed to produce ethanol at up to about 187 proof.
After distillation, the fresh rum is carbon-filtered and then aged in used whisky barrels. There are three Old New Orleans rums (http://www.neworleansrum.com/ourproducts.shtml) being bottled today including a Cajun spiced rum with a hint of hot spice.
I'll be back in New Orleans next month and will have more about Celebration then.
Over the last 14 years there have been a lot of label changes at Celebration so I wasn't surprised to see a new label, but there are three new labels, but that's just the beginning of the story. Elvis, who used to make craft beers, has changed the distillation process to produce a better, more consistent product. After about a three day fermentation process, the wash is distilled to about 35% alcohol in what is essentially a single pot still. This distillate is collected and then redistilled in a second pot still which is fitted with a short column designed to produce ethanol at up to about 187 proof.
After distillation, the fresh rum is carbon-filtered and then aged in used whisky barrels. There are three Old New Orleans rums (http://www.neworleansrum.com/ourproducts.shtml) being bottled today including a Cajun spiced rum with a hint of hot spice.
I'll be back in New Orleans next month and will have more about Celebration then.