Wednesday, May 23, 2018

One Year Anniversary at Hemingway Rum Company

The Plant
     One year ago this week, I started a new career as a rum maker at the Hemingway Rum Company. fermentations and the effects of the barrels finishing the rum.  It is hard to believe that a year has gone by already.  It has been a real education for me learning some of the intricacies of rum making, running a still setting

Setting First Fermentation
The Original Rum Crew
     We were given a very unique pot still to work with and learning how to make it work efficiently and still getting a quality clean product from it has been a lot of fun.   We have had a lot of help from Ron Call a 30 year veterans of spirit making.   Carlton Grooms, Shawn Martin and myself  were the original rum crew, but with the departure of Carlton Grooms, Mark Straiton has become the third member of the crew.   Together we have learned what it takes to properly ferment molasses, the proper user of yeasts and additives to the wash in order to get a solid
Our Unique Pot Still
flavorful wash.

     Learning how to strip the wash  to remove the solids and other components before refining the output into rum.  How to separate the Heads and foreshots from the hearts and tails to end up with a full flavored medium viscosity white rum.

Solera Barrel Rack
     Finally proofing the rum down to put into the barrels to rest before it is later added to the blend and bottled for sale in our showroom.   It has been a great year and I am proud to have been a part of the operation for the past year.  Good luck to the entire operation as it heads into its second year.