Historic Beenleigh Rum Distillery Has Been Opened to Visitors

     Beenleigh Rum, owned by Bickford's Group,  is Australia's oldest rum and its distillery.   The Bickford's Group spokesman, Chris Illman, said visitor reactions to tours of the distillery, that officially started December 2, 2015, have been "nothing but positive".    "Consumers are looking to understand how to make great spirits.   This provides the opportunity to change how people view rum in this country." 

  The Queensland heritage register-listed Beenleigh Rum Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in Australia and is a rare survivor of Australia's early sugar industry. It commenced operations in 1884 and was the legal successor to a floating moonshine still, the SS Walrus, which drifted between cane plantations evading police in the early 19th century.

     The Distillery was original built on the banks of the Albert River"   The story of farmers who dabbled in this game of making rum."   Between 1981 and 2005 a museum featuring displays on the history of sugar and rum production in the Beenleigh area was open at the distillery.    The stills, vats and photos were relocated to the historic village at Beenleigh.    Queensland heritage register-listed Beenleigh Rum Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in Australia and is a rare survivor of Australia's Australia's oldest rum distillery has opened its doors to visitors for the first time since the 1980s.early sugar industry.    It commenced operations in 1884 and was the legal successor to a floating moonshine still, the SS Walrus, which drifted between cane plantations evading police in the early 19th century.   Between 1981 and 2005 a museum featuring displays on the history of sugar and rum production in the Beenleigh area was open at the distillery.    The stills, vats and photos were relocated to the Beenleigh Historical Village.  

     “The distillery has faced many challenges in its time, including being completely swept away in the 1887 Albert River flood, with the now iconic red building being built in the 1890's.    "It's the oldest continuously operated distillery in the Australia.  The story of this venerable distillery continues to be told to future generations," Chris Illman , Bickford Group Spokesman, said.

Gavin Butler

     On top of public tours of the distillery, Gavin Butler, manager and mixologist, said, "We can share with them the history of when the property was founded to the current day." "We'll take them to distillery and show them how we make the rum, as well as the great barrel room where we finish the rum.   "Visitors can also taste the products in the visitor’s center."

     Chris Illman said the number of tourists visiting South East Queensland is promising for the distillery.   "Four million people travel to Brisbane and the Gold Coast each year, both from interstate and internationally," Mr Illman said.  "Beenleigh is right in the middle so there is a huge opportunity for 200,000 people to visit annually.   "We're at such a close proximity to those hubs; it's a huge opportunity for local business to leverage off that."   Logan Mayor, Pam Parker, who has been a strong advocate for greater tourism in Logan, said the distillery showcased the region's history.   "It is wonderful to see history honored in this way," "I have no doubt tourists will embrace this trip down memory lane,” Mayor Parker said in her statement.

To book a tour of the Beenleigh Rum Distillery or for more information contact Gavin Butler at gavin.butler@beenleighrum.com.au.

Read More at http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/historic-and-iconic-rum-distillery-open-to-tourists-20151202-gldt9t.html

What is Killing Sugarcane Workers Across Central America?

     There has been a lot of talk about the sugarcane field workers contracting serious kidney diseases.  Kristina Wolf came up with this article from The Guardian in El Salvador.  This is an article that looks into the problem, to which they have not found what exactly causes it, but it is killing tens of thousands  sugarcane field workers throughout Central America.

Chronic kidney disease has killed tens of thousands of young men and is becoming more deadly. But nobody knows exactly what it is, or what to do about it

     It is stage five they fear the most. Stage five is the mysterious sickness in its deadliest form. "I'm entering stage five," Edilberto Mendez tells me as his wife looks on fretfully. I'm in their small home on the floodplains of Lempa River, in the dank sugar-lands of rural El Salvador, where they live in a community with about 150 other families. "How many others in the village have died of this?" I ask.   "Three close friends, just last year," says Edilberto. His wife interrupts, counting out on her fingers. "And my nephew, my brother, and Ramon, Carlos, Pablo…" She pauses. "I know three Pablos who have died of this."

     Edilberto's kidneys are beginning to fail. It means dialysis. "This is what they've told me," he says with a defensive shrug. "But I'm still walking around. I've seen many people have dialysis. As soon as they try it, they die. I don't want it." Edilberto has his wife to support, his deaf-mute 27-year-old son, and his six-year-old granddaughter.   "If you don't have dialysis you'll die," I say. "And then what will happen to your family?"   "They will be homeless."   Behind him, Edilberto's wife has started to cry. Holding a tissue to her face, she weeps: "He's the only one I have."   "Of those you know who have already died of the disease," I ask, "how many have worked in the sugar fields?"   "All of them."

    It goes by many names, but around here they call it "the malady of the sugar cane". It's a quiet epidemic that has been preying on Central America for at least 20 years, killing impoverished landworkers in their tens of thousands across Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala. And it is becoming ever more deadly. Between 2005 and 2009, incidents in El Salvador rose by 26%. By 2011 the chronic kidney disease (CKD) that is killing Edilberto had become the country's second-biggest killer of men.

     That year the health minister, María Isabel Rodríguez, made a dramatic appeal to the international community for help, telling them: "It is wasting away our populations." But nobody knows what to do about it, because nobody knows what exactly it is. In the wealthier west, CKD is largely caused by hypertension or diabetes, but most of the victims here have neither. And it attacks the kidneys in an unusual way. Rather than damaging the filtering system, as in ordinary CKD, this disease seems to have an impact on the tubules – the part of the kidney where the composition of the urine is determined. At the moment, the only scientific consensus is that it's real, and unexplained. I have travelled to El Salvador to investigate the mystery of the malady.

     Since its discovery, a near-silence has cocooned the disease – a situation that has benefited the industry that so many victims work for. Profitable and vast, Central America's sugar-cane industry supplies 23% of the US's raw sugar imports. In 2011 the EU imported El Salvadorian sugar worth more than €4.7m: it is the country's second-biggest export.   The companies themselves say they are not to blame.    Nicaragua Sugar Estates, one of Central America's largest plantations, has conducted internal studies, and one in 2001 pointed to "strenuous labor with exposure to high environmental temperatures without an adequate hydration program" as an important factor. Still, in December spokesman Ariel

Granera told the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity: "We're convinced that we have nothing to do with kidney disease. Our productive practices do not generate and are not causal factors for CKD."

     But an increasing number of researchers in the US now believe the CKD is being caused by heat stress and dehydration – that the laborers are, in effect, working themselves to death. A standard day for an El Salvadorian sugar worker lasts between four and five hours, with double shifts during the summer planting season, when temperatures top out at 40C.

Read More at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/14/kidney-disease-killing-sugar-cane-workers-central-america

Martin Cate

     Martin Cate, Owner of Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco, has said this about the situation on his Facebook page.   "Some of you will have seen Bobby Heugel's post by now about Flor de Cana rum. I had glanced at the Guardian article from earlier this year but didn't pay a lot of attention to it, then saw the Vice story. Having now taken the time to read both, as well as some of the medical journal reports, I think the decision to remove Flor De Cana from our shelves is warranted and reasonable. I would feel much better if both ISA/Pellas Group would make more efforts to improve the health and safety of their workers- and that those efforts are corroborated by the workers themselves and verified by independent media and NGOs."

    I feel like this is a serious industry that has the potential of harming the rum industry and needs some serious attention by all of the facets of the sugar industry.  Sugar is big industry and its products are very wide ranging.  The industry as a whole needs to become deeply involved in finding a solution to the problem. 

     

Mixing With "Diet Mixers" will Get You "Buzzed" Sooner Than High Calorie Mixes

     White Rum and diet cola is a favorite drink for many bar customers, but those that partake in the diet mixer will have up to 18% higher blood alcohol content than those who mix with higher calorie mixes.   This doesn’t just mean you are “blowing higher”, your blood alcohol content is actually higher.

     “A study to be published in a forthcoming issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found that using diet soda as a mixer can dramatically increase breath-alcohol content (BAC) without increasing your awareness of being impaired.”

     Research into the impact of mixers on breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) showed that those who drink white rum mixed with diet cola had higher BrAC than those who drink the same amount of rum mixed with regular cola.  

     Test subjects that consumed alcohol with low-calorie mixers had nearly a fifth more alcohol on their breath than their high-calorie counterparts, an article published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence said.   It referred to a previous study showing that as much as an 18% higher BrAC level was detected with carbonated diet soda compared to calorific soda.   The study suggests that alcohol is more readily absorbed into the blood stream with low-calorie mixers than with high-calorie mixers.  

     Consumers often try to limit the calorie intake of their alcoholic drinks by using diet mixers.  Those concerned about the speed with which they become intoxicated could rethink their choice of mixer based on the findings.

     “Alcohol contains calories and consumers often limit added calories to alcohol the use of low calorie mixers,” the study, led by Dr Amy Stamates of Northern Kentucky University, said.   However, evidence from her’s and others’ research suggests that “mixing alcohol with diet beverages results in higher breath and blood alcohol concentrations (BrAC) when compared with the same dose of alcohol mixed with a sweetened mixer”.

You can read more on the subject at http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/06/diet-soda-mixers-can-lead-to-quicker-intoxication/

Luxury Rum Showing Signs of a Slowdown as US Growth Stalls

     Luxury rum growth may have passed its peak as new figures forecast a severe slowdown over the next five years.   Year-on-year global growth in the value of luxury rum will drop to 34% in 2015 to 2020, down from 81% for the previous five years, according to a Euromonitor report on luxury spirits. A key driver of the slowdown will be the US, which will see growth fall to 7% from 84% in 2010-2015. The UK, another core rum market, will drop to 6% from 10%.

     Rum has been at the center of attention for several spirits companies over the past few years.   Appleton Estate Rum has shown a significant growth under the ownership Gruppo Camparin since its take over in 2009.       An August report indicated that rum had increased its premium and ultra premium sales from 4.2m cases in 2009 to 6.7m cases in 2014. 

 

     Rum has had a reputation of being fragmented , spending much of it efforts on local and trying to maintain its party reputation.   Today the producers of the higher end rums like Diplomatico, Plantation, Havana Club and Bacardi,  to name a few are creating an awareness of their premium and ultra premium products.   The goal is to introduce the public to a sipping mystique, creating a new group of customers that look at rum higher end expressions much like they do at whiskey and scotch’s top expressions.

        Last Summer Bacardi launched a new range of sipping rums called Single Cane Estate Rums, describing them as the "new single malt" of the category.

      The slowdown is not just in the rum category,  but throughout the most of the high end spirits.   It will be really important to the industry to keep on top of what is happening as far as the sales of high end spirits and specifically rum as the next 4 or 5 years goes.

Read more at http://www.just-drinks.com/news/luxury-rum-heads-for-slowdown-as-us-growth-stalls-figures_id118806.aspx

The Overseas Highway

     I started working on this idea a month or so ago, but with some changes happening and just really busy getting my world in order to start my new adventures, this kind of got put on the back burner. Today is a really rainy day here in Key and a freezing cold 74 damp degrees outside, perfect to get back out on the aft deck rum lab and work on a new cocktail.

     I'm not much for mixers, so I like to work with things like wine, liqueurs, and fresh fruits to create these new cocktails.  Today's idea is working with a very nice rum from Peru called Cartavio XO and a extra dry and a sweet Vermouth.  This makes a nice befor or after dinner cocktail or just one to sit on the patio with and just sip and enjoy.



The Overseas Highway

• 1 oz. Cartavio XO
• 1 oz. Gallo Extra Dry Vermouth
• 1 oz. Gallo Sweet Vermouth
• 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
• Twist of Lemon

Place all of the ingredients except the lemon peel into a shaker filled with ice.  Shake until fully chilled and strain over fresh ice in a tumbler.  Garnish with the twist of lemon and serve.


     

Seeing the Tree for the Forest

     So many times you wander through the woods, but you don't see the trees or look up them to see what they are really about.  Take some time to sit at the base of a tree and look up and see the way et reaches for the sunlight and the blue of the skies.  I t is beautiful and enlightening vision.  ;o)

Repeal Day 2015

     We bring this day up every year, and how many of us really know what happened.  I know that I was surprised when I found out what the amendments really said and that initially there was no change until the states made the use, sale or transportation of "intoxicating" beverages legal.

     First of all lets look at the "origin of prohibition", the 18th Amendment, then the 21st Amendment that "ended Prohibition".es is hereby repealed.

THE 18TH AMENDMENT

RATIFIED JANUARY 16, 1919

SECTION 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

THE 21ST AMENDMENT

RATIFIED DECEMBER 5, 1933

SECTION 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

SECTION 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

The Signs Come Down on December 3, 1933

     On February 20, 1933 Congress proposed the 21st Amendment.  Then on April 10th, 1933 Michigan became the first to ratify the amendment and on December 5, 1933 Ohio,Pennsylvania and Utah were the last three to ratify the amendment giving it the 36 states necessary to complete the ratification and making it a part of the Constitution of the United States.

     Freedom to use, manufacture, sell or transport intoxicating beverages wasn't here yet. The second section bans the importation of alcohol in violation of state or territorial law. This has been interpreted to give states essentially absolute control over intoxicating beverages.   Many of the states still remained "dry" long after its ratification. The state of Mississippi was the last to allow the sale of intoxicating beverages.  Even today the states delegate the authority over alcohol granted to them by the 21st Amendment to their municipalities or counties (or both), which has led to many lawsuits over First Amendment rights when local governments have tried to revoke liquor licences and permits.  

The Party Began on this day in 1933

     Many of the Post-Prohibition laws and distribution system are still in effect today in most states and making it difficult for brands of liquor to reach the entire market here in the United States and even harder for spirits that are produced outside of the United States and her Territories. 

     Today is definitily a day of celebration for Americans that enjoy a cocktail or 15 in the case of Ernest Hemingway and others I'm sure.   Enjoy your day and celebrate in an appropriate and responsible way, Cheers!!!!  ;o)

Diageo Importing Offshoot Of Foreign Rum, Mapp Confirms, DOJ Investigation is Underway

Governor Kenneth Mapp

     Diageo USVI has been importing "what appears to be some offshoot of rum from some foreign source," Governor Kenneth Mapp confirmed while speaking on talk radio AM 1000 with Liston Davis yesterday morning. Mr. Mapp had begun to say that the rum was coming from Guatemala, but he immediately rephrased his statement.   The Consortium first reported on what has now turned into a major investigation into Diageo, which sources within the Department of Justice told the publication could have far-reaching implications, and that "all hell could break loose."

     Between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on Monday, November 9, Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, along with DOJ officials descended on the Gordon A. Finch Molasses Pier located on the south shore of this island and west of Tropical Shipping, to take samples from 12 tanks of what was supposed to be molasses used to produce rum at Diageo USVI's Captain Morgan Rum Distillery. DOJ and DLCA officials also took samples from two separate shipments at Diageo's rum distillery, located at the Renaissance Park development here.

     

Diageo's St. Croix Facility

In 2008 the GVI subsidized Diageo's move to the island, totaling an estimated $2.7 billion over 30 years. Some of the subsidies include: a new $165 million distillery, "market support payments" to keep prices low for molasses, 35 percent of what Diageo spends on advertising, a 90 percent income tax break, exemption from property taxes, environmental mitigation supports, and 47.5 percent of all tax revenue collected on Captain Morgan rum. By one estimate, Diageo's net cost to produce rum is zero, according to Tax Foundation, a leading independent tax policy research organization. The 30-year agreement received Senate ratification on July 9, 2008, with a 10-5 vote.    However, the rum-cover over funds are supposed to be for rum produced in the territory; not imported from elsewhere and reshipped out as if the products were made here.

On the talk show yesterday, Mr. Mapp said he sees nothing in the Diageo contract that allows it to receive subsidies on anything else but molasses.   "I don't see anything in the Diageo contract that permits the government to subsidize the import of foreign rum as a mixing source to rum that are to be made on the island of St. Croix for export to the U.S. market," the governor said. "The government has agreed to subsidize molasses."   Mr. Mapp said he read Diageo's response that said that the rum producer had spoken about a new distilling process using sugar cane intermediate with the governor, and that Mr. Mapp had given Diageo clearance. The governor, however, disputed those claims.   

"The good thing about operating and communicating with a government is running down the hill by my house, but you can't do that" when dealing with the government, Mr. Mapp said.

The  governor said Diageo sent a letter advising him that it had acquired some customers who were interested in buying bulk rum. And in its quest to meet its contractual obligations of selling 9 million proof gallons of rum on the U.S. mainland - Diageo is roughly 2 million gallons shy of that amount - the company sought the governor's assurance that the tax of the bulk rum would remain equivalent to that of the bottled product, which currently stands at $13.25 per gallon. Mr. Mapp said he agreed to that; but fixed tax prices and bulk rum have nothing to do with subsidies being paid by the government on a product that is not molasses.

"Diageo did not advise me, nor did it seek my permission, to bring in any deviation of foreign rum into the Virgin Islands and then attempt to mix it and call it some deviation of the natural rum of the Virgin Islands, and sell it under some label," Mr. Mapp said. "And so that issue is under investigation by the appropriate authorities and we will get to the bottom of that."

Read More at http://viconsortium.com/?s=Diageo+Importing+Offshoot+Of+Foreign+Rum%2C+Mapp+Confirms%2C+DOJ+Investigation+Underway 

Rum Punch for the Winter Time

     Winter time is perfect for a different kind of Rum Punch.  It is the time when the punch warms you like a shot of brandy.   The Winter Punch has a warmth of the liquor and the flavor of a fruity punch with a little bit of sweetness that lets you know that you have a punch and not a just a dry cocktail.

Bahama Bob Winter Punch

Ingredients

·         2 oz.  Siesta Key Spiced Rum

·         1/2  oz.  Agave Nectar

·         1  oz.  Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

·         1/2  lime, squeezed

·         1/2 lemon, squeezed

·         Splash of Club Soda

Method

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a tumbler filled with fresh ice , garnish with a cherry and lime wheel, and enjoy.

How Important is the Water in Rum and Cocktail Making?

     It is interesting how much attention we put on the ingredients that go into your favorite rum, but none of my friends talk very often about the preparation of the water that is added to the spirit to bring it down to 80 proof.   I hear conversations that tell of the great work of the blenders , distillers, all about the barrels and the special ingredients that go into a bottle of rum.  How often have you heard about the process that the water is put through before it is added to your rum?

     "Water sources, and their unique and distinctive attributes, have a huge impact on the specific flavors and qualities of rums from around the world."

Osmosis Water Purifying Equipment

     In the Caribbean, a large portion of the water is gotten from the oceans and purified through an osmosis process.    Most of the flavor of aged rums comes from the barrels that they are aged in, but clear expressions get their flavor from the still.   When you add water to a clear expression the attributes of the water become a very important factor in the final product's flavor.  Water quality and purity is even more important, clear and unaged rums, for instance, doesn’t these helpers through the process to produce a desirable flavor profile.


     How about the quality of the water around the bar?    Water quality in everything from the ice to the water that flows from the spigot can affect the quality of your cocktails.  Ice is the real "biggy" in this area, if the water used to make the ice is tainted the cocktail flavor will also be tainted.    This "ice program" is a critical part of the bar.  Filtering the water that is fed into the ice maker is only the beginning.    Anybody who has ever had an at-home batch of ice go bad because, who knows what was put along side the ice in the freezer.  Controlling the flavor of ice itself is important,  what is stored in or around the ice bin can make or break a cocktail.

     Water may rarely talked about, but it is one of the make you or break you elements of the rum and cocktail industry.  Don't ever overlook the water it could be your downfall.  ;o)

Another Fun Rat Key Taster's Association Get Together.

     It just seems to bet better and better, The quality of the rums and friends that we share it with.   This week was no different.   With 10 of us out there, we had a great selection of rum and people that really enjoy it.   We had two friends from Houston join us this week, Brian and Karen Yates are serious rum enthusiast and were thrilled to be invited to the island.  They were joined by the rest of the regulars, Carl, Don, Patty, Randy, Bob, Mike and Sam, all got to enjoy sharing the rum event with us.

     We were treated to a great group of rums
from Columbia, Bahamas, Japan, Trinidad, and Venezuela.   We all enjoyed the variety of rums that  were presented this week at the tasting and were really surprised at the differences in the rums from all of these different places.

     It was a pleasure to have guests from Houston to come and enjoy the rums with us.  We are receiving guests from all over the country each week and rums from all over the world.  This is what makes the Rat Key Tasting Association such a fun thing to be involved in.   Producers are sending their products from all over the world for us to enjoy on Mondays and to give our feedback as to their qualities and  how the expressions are perceived by the group.


     If you have a rum expression that you would like for the group of ru specialists to taste and tell the world about, you can send it to:




Bahama Bob Leonard
5555 College Road
Key West, FL 33040

     We will be happy to share it with out rum people and let you know how we enjoyed it.   We can also send you an evaluation by the four of the International Rum Judges that attend each week.  This is a great platform to have your rum tasted and presented to our following of rum lovers.  ;o)

Along With US - Cuba Detente Comes a Battle Over Trademarks

     The long standing battle over the Havana Club trademark is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are cigar, restaurant and American coffee just to name a few that are close of the same names. Despite the United States' 53-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, companies from both countries have continued registering trademarks and patents in the other.   Since 1966 about 1,500 U.S. businesses have filed nearly 6,000 trademarks in Cuba, including renewals, according to data from Saegis, the online trademark database from Thomson Reuters.   I found this article to be quite enlightening as to how the 50 plus year gap in communication has caused some very serious issues that need to be resolved.

     When Julio Manzini decided two years ago to name his small restaurant McDonald's after the famous fast-food chain (MCD.N), he had no idea it could cause any trouble. He has since been frightened into removing the name.   "I don't even know what McDonald's tastes like, I just thought the name was striking, like Shakira or something," he said at the lunch counter of what used to be "Cafeteria La McDonald's Camagueyana" in the Cuban city of Camaguey, about 300 miles (500 km) east of Havana.This month, Manzini stripped "McDonald's" and the famous golden arches from his handcrafted sign as a precaution after he claimed his establishment was visited by a lawyer sent by the company.   The place is now simply called "Cafeteria La Camagueyana."

     His counterfeit McDonald's illustrates a potential battlefront between Cuba and the United States over trademark and intellectual property rights as Cuba's economy opens up to more private enterprise and closer ties with the United States.   The two countries restored diplomatic relations this year after half a century of Cold War hostility and are now working to improve ties. Trademark and intellectual property issues will be on the negotiating table, both sides have said.

     Both have grievances. The United States has denied Cuban companies the same trademark protection enjoyed by brands from everywhere else, forcing marquee names such as Havana Club rum and Cohiba cigars into long, expensive court battles.

Read More at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/26/us-cuba-usa-trademarks-idUSKBN0TE2EJ20151126#IhYDAsDXsLQRZTeF.97

The Day the Sky Caught Fire

     The day the sky caught fire,  the late afternoons looking west from the dock.  Life on the boat brings you views that a lot of people never get the opportunity to enjoy.  This is one of the late afternoons when the clouds and the sun worked together for an incredible view to come home to.

Westerhall 10XO Premium Rum

     One of the highlights of the Caribbean Rum and Beer Festival in St. Maartens was the Westerhall Distillery booth.   Westerhall is a legendary distillery from Grenada that has been producing top quality rums since the 1700's.  They have a long history of making fine rums at their historic distillery.

     Westerhall's 10XO is a ten year old premium rum that has already earned it status with a Gold Medal at the Caribbean Rum and Beer Festival  earlier this month.   This beautiful mahogany colored rum catches your eye immediately and when you open the bottle and the aromas start to catch you nose, you know that you are going to be in love with it once.

     Westerhall 10XO greets you with a taste of  caramel and smoky oak initially with a sweetness of honey, vanilla later joined by a combination of spices that you would expect from a rum that originates in the spice islands.   This is a rum slowly that finishes dry with a lingering flavor mocha and spice that fades at the end.

     Keep your eyes open in your favorite liquor store or cocktail lounge for this one.  Don't let it get away from you without tasting it.   ;o)

Black Friday: Great Day to Change it Around to a Black Rum Friday

     If you are as tired of the mega merchandising media blitz bombarding you with their get something for nothing rantings.  I've got a better idea, lets all stay home and create a great new "Black Rum Day" concoction.

     Why don't you follow suit with me and head into the special place where you create your cocktails and put on that thinking cap and make something new using a black rum.  This should be very fun and the rewards are consumed for a real fun afternoon.

     There are a lot of choices from the very sweet like Cruzan Black Strap abd Gossling Black Seal; the spiced Blacks from Captain Morgan and Kraken; British Navy Rums like Pusser's and Smith and Cross.   Many are available at your local liquor store and perfect for making you "Black Friday" a whole lot more enjoyable rather that banging heads with millions of shoppers in over crowded stores.

     You might want to give this idea try if you are not getting any inspirations standing infront of the bar.

Black Friday Relief

• 1 1/2 oz. Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum
• 1 oz. Siesta Key Toasted Coconut Rum
• 2 oz. Half and Half
• 2 dashes of Fee Brothers Old Fashion Bitters

Place all ingredients into a shaker and shake until chilled and strain into an Old Fashion glass or a twelve oz. tumbler filled with fresh ice.  Garnish with a lemon wedge.

    Avoid the Black Friday mess if you can, but if you can't, enjoy the relief when you get home.  ;o)