Cayman's Connoisseur of Fine Rums

Notes and musings from The Rare Rum Bar and Lounge, Upstairs restaurant, Kaibo, in Grand Cayman.

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Rum vs Whisky: The debate.

There’s something cheekily liberating about the world of rum. It’s the outlaw, the tropical renegade of the spirits world, thumbing its nose at the formality of its barrel-aged brethren. Whisky might wear the suit and tie, but rum’s the bloke in flip-flops, grinning, rum cocktail in hand, as he tells you he called in sick to get out on the boat. And Alfie Solomons of Peaky Blinders fame said it best: “Rum’s for fun and f***ing, innit?”

Let’s be clear—this isn’t an attack on whisky. Whisky is the patriarch of the drinks cabinet. It’s the measured pour in a dark wood-paneled office while you negotiate mergers or contemplate the meaning of life. Whisky is your stern, overachieving older sibling who went to Oxford and still lectures you on asset diversification over Christmas dinner.Rum? Rum is the cousin who shows up unannounced, wearing sunglasses indoors, with a mischievous grin and a tale that starts, “You’ll never believe what happened in Havana…”

Rum doesn’t take itself too seriously. While whisky aficionados debate peat levels and the precise number of years something has been nestled in a sherry cask, rum drinkers are busy inventing the next daiquiri variation. Rum’s roots are in revolution, rebellion, and a good time. It’s a spirit that was born on sun-drenched shores, not somber Scottish moors. To bring the analogy home: whisky is the Ritz Carlton, Rum is Kaibo.

Upstairs at Kaibo gets this energy. It’s why, on Wednesdays and Sundays we’re bringing our Rare Rum Bar Canape & Cocktail nights. Forget stiff whisky flights this is about creative cocktails, exquisite pairings, and the sheer joy of rum in all its playful, tropical glory. Whisky tastes like boardrooms, cigars, and inherited wealth. Rum? Rum tastes like hammock naps, bonfires on the beach, and that one time you accidentally wound up in a limbo contest at the Kaibo Barefoot beach BBQ. It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s smoky it’s a carnival for your taste buds.

Let’s be honest, does a dram of whisky make you want to jump on a boat in a white linen suit, to zip across flat waters to Upstairs at Kaibo? Rum does that.

Whisky’s history is about perfectionism. Rum’s history is about piracy, rebellion, and doing what you damn well please. The entire industry once ran on smuggling and swashbuckling. Even today, a bottle of rum feels like a link to a secret history of rogues and risk-takers. Whisky can keep its Royal Warrants; rum’s patron saint is Blackbeard. Now, I’m not saying whisky is boring. It has its place. A good whisky can make you feel like you’ve cracked the code to adulthood, like you’ve got it all figured out. But rum? Rum reminds you that sometimes it’s okay not to have it all figured out. It’s okay to let loose, laugh loudly, and dance barefoot under the stars.

Back to Alfie Solomans, who said Whisky is for business. But rum? That’s for the bits of life worth living. Drink responsibly, but for heaven’s sake, don’t sip rum like you’re calculating EBITDA margins. And if you’re looking to live a little, jump on the water taxi, join us Upstairs at Kaibo, rum in hand, adventure in heart and let’s toast to the last bus home. Cheers!

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The Angels’ Share

What do you buy the man who has everything? Well almost everything, I still keep looking at Ferraris on eBay.

This was the question Mrs. Connoisseur put to me recently, as my birthday loomed. Knowing the Ferrari was a long shot, I responded with the usual “A nice pair of socks will do thanks my love”. Bless her cottons, when on the big day I unwrapped a 1 liter finely hand-crafted used American oak bourbon barrel. She’d come up with the perfect gift that I had been unable to envision. This barrel was ripe and ready for aging rum. Game on. The thoughts of taking some poor excuse of a rum and aging it into one of the finest sipping rums known to man, had me dreaming of the consequential fleet of Ferraris, parked neatly in front of my established aging facility, stocked and stacked with barrels floor to ceiling. Just visualize the Far Niente forecourt, with ferraris and coconut palms as far as the eye can see.

Well done.

As reality set in, I began my research on aging, and after a quick internet search, I did what any self-respecting man would do, ditched the instructions, and winged it. Straight down to the liquor store, I picked up a 1.75 liter of Appleton Estate. Why? Well I believe Appleton to be one of the most true expressions of Rum, no messing about. Just quality rum, aged and bottled. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Joy Spence does a bad job, at Appleton quite the opposite. As my old chef Dad told me, if you start out with shit ingredients, you will probably end up with a shit dish. Taking these words, I opted to take Appleton’s quality and improve upon it.

And so the fun began. As it turns out, aging rum can’t quite be described as fun. It falls more into the category of watching paint dry. Or waiting for the lottery to deliver. After soaking my new barrel in fresh distilled water for 24 hours, this expanded the dry wood of the barrel, and stopped any leaks. Then I filled her full of Appleton and that was that. Feeling quite pleased with myself that I had managed to master the rum aging process, it was about time I entered into some real research, and poured a nice slug of Eldorado 15yr. I sat back and waited for the magic to start.

As you can probably image, that magic takes time. I suppose that’s why it’s called ageing. Unlike my attitude toward my own ageing, I was keenly eager to see this project ripen. After two weeks, my first taste test. You would not believe what I found. This deep golden liquid tasted just like…… well, Appleton. Not even a tiny taste adjustment. The only change was the amount in the barrel. At least 10% of the barrel had gone! At first, I thought the 17-year old boy had been tucking in. He ain’t no angel, and I don’t like sharing, but the Angels’ Share had taken a bloody big sip out of my barrel.

So, what is the Angels’ Share you ask? The rum folklore goes, the Angels take their cut from every barrel of distilled spirits. It may be a little, or it may be a lot, depending on the environment, but the Angels will not be ignored. In the simplest of terms, the Angels’ Share is the amount of distilled spirits lost to evaporation, from the barrel or cask, into the air, as the rum ages. Wood is a porous material, that expands and contracts with the seasons. This same expansion and contraction happens with wooden barrels, as their precious cargo magically matures inside. The amount the Angels take each year varies widely based on barrel size, time, environmental conditions and even the location within the warehouse. Although mine was located in the kitchen, and I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.

No blog is complete without a reference to size, and that it does matter. You might assume the larger the barrel, the faster the evaporation rate. In fact, it’s the opposite; the smaller the barrel, the faster the evaporation rate, because there’s more liquid by volume in touch with the wood. This is in touch with the air, which draws the Angels’ Share out of the barrel.

And the bit about Location, Location, Location? One year of aging in a warm and humid climate like the Caribbean is completely different than one year in a climate like the Isle of Islay. Scottish distillers are allowed to write off 2% of their production volume each year to the Angels’ Share. When it comes to Caribbean Rum, their Angels’ Share may average closer to 10%, and could be as high as 16% in the first year. It’s thirsty work in Caribbean heaven, apparently. With Caribbean recording average summer highs of around 98°F compared to 66°F in Scotland, the levels of evaporation and aging rate are greatly accelerated. If two exact barrels of liquid were placed in Scotland and the Caribbean at the same time, the barrel in Scotland would have to remain there for around three years to equal just one year in the Caribbean.

And so back to rum aging. There is no clear method to predicting how much the Angels will drink from your barrel, but be warned, if you teenage kids read this, they will have the best excuse for raiding your booze. The little devils.

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Fabulous free-thinking rum education for enthusiastic eccentrics. 

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Looking forward to seeing you at Hemingways’ birthday celebration “Sip and Scribble” Book here: https://www.simpleerb.com/1696/kaibo-upstairs/time/?d=2018-07-21%2000:00&c=2

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A Comprehensive List Of Ernest Hemingway's Favorite Drinks

“I drink to make other people more interesting.”

We will be celebrating Ernest Hemingway’s birthday on Friday July 21st. Hope you can join us!

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Bacardi and Cuba fight for rights to Havana Club label - BBC News

Rum-maker Bacardi calls for US authorities to reverse a decision granting the Cuban government rights to the Havana Club label.

I’m a lover not a fighter. But I however agree Havana Club is worth fighting for. Here is a snippet of the story so far. 

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In your youth, your mom took you to the store so you could grab one of those “World’s Greatest Dad” mugs for the old man’s Father’s Day gift. Nothing special about that, really. Except that, in your father’s case, it was true. So you’d best step it up now. With the Upstairs’ Father’s Day Lunch, with lots of choice, from rare roasted wahoo to Angus beef striplion to dark chocolate pavé. And an entire cabinet of rare rum to work through. This is, against all odds, a gift you could and should get your father for next Sunday. 

Next Sunday, next Sunday. Just wanted to really hammer that home. check out the details 

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HIP FLASKS FOR HIP DADS

Dad’s done a lot for his family.

So go ahead, show a whole year’s worth of appreciation by giving him another tie.

Or – and this is probably better – don’t do that.

Instead, visit Kaibo Upstairs for Father’s Day Lunch; because Upstairs we’ve got what he wants this year. Rum. In a hip flask. For keeps. ‘Dad-oration” of this magnitude can leave one famished and thirsty, so the smart move is leave the cooking and cocktails to us.

more info: Hip Flasks for Hip Dads - http://mailchi.mp/bd92914855e3/kaibo-restaurant-beach-bar-marina

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My good friend Shane - the talented singer/songwriter of ‘Hi-Tide’ duo fame -pulled up to Kaibo Beach the other day, bringing with him a bottle of rum. Turns out the rum was a gift for for me; a fine quality in any friendship I always say. As friends should, we opened the bottle and poured ourselves a glass each, dug our toes into the sand, and watched the boats pull in and out of the dock. Shane’s a true island guy. He’s in tune with the ebb and the flow of island life, quite literally, and metaphorically. Sharing a rum with Shane on the beach was probably the highlight of my otherwise average day.

Island Company rum is fairly new to the market. Positioning itself as “Simply the Smoothest”, I could not agree more; the offering is quite slick. The front of the label promises the delights of ‘five times distilled’, ‘zero carbs’ and ‘gluten free’. The back of the label goes bolder by promising ‘an exceptionally clean aged rum that has never existed before...Welcome to Paradise’. Maybe it was the rum; maybe it was that I needed a pause in my day; maybe it was Shane; it doesn't matter. This rum offers to fulfil the common dream that mankind shares - the belief that someday we will all get away to the beach, where we will soak up rays, and sip boat drinks while the sun sets. On that premise, it certainly delivered.

Appearance: blonde, light yellow straw

Aroma: delicate citrus and bamboo wood

Taste: clean and dry, intense vanilla, caramel, hints of black pepper spice. Slight sweetness of muscavado sugar

After taste: lingering cracked black pepper, vanilla essence

Suggested sipping environment: On the beach, poured over ice cubes of local coconut water, shared with a good friend.

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Meet the creator of Monkey 47 Gin

So we don't ofter veer away from fine rum, but in certain cocktails, Gin is King. Meet Alexander Stein, creator of Monkey 47, one of our favourite gin brands.   https://www.diffordsguide.com/people/74807/brand-owner/alexander-stein

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A Date with Zaya Gran Reserva

Country:Trinidad & TobagoAge: 12 Years 

It’s that time of year when everyone is discussing what to do on February 14th. Personally, I have little time for the occasion itself, which, in my opinion, belongs and should remain within the confines of the Hallmark card store. Never-the-less, I do subscribe to the romantic notion of a chance to wine and dine with an exotic foreigner. and so, this is how I decided upon spending an evening with the alluring ‘Zaya’.

Zaya can be classified as a dark rum. Yet, this is a fairly meaningless term other than describe colour. Young rums can be coloured with caramel, and even flavourings may be added. But not Zaya. Zaya is a rum of substance, and whilst one should generally avoid the topic of ‘age’ one one’s first date, Zaya has most certainly benefitted from the effects of ageing gracefully in an oak cask.

 Maya has a mixed-nationality background. Currently owned by Infinium Spirits, this rum brand was originally distilled and aged in Guatemala, but in 2008, Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala entered into a distribution arrangement with the Diageo spirits conglomerate which elevated some local brands such as Zacapa Rum, but which left other Guatemalan brands like Zaya without a similar arrangement. Because the Zaya brand was gaining a lot of momentum as a luxury sipping rum, the manufacture of Zaya was moved to Trinidad and Tobago where it is now produced by Trinidad Distillers Ltd.

Maturation: Zaya Gran Reserva is apparently constructed from a secret recipe (in other words a blend) of several well aged rums to meet a specific taste profile which is very similar to (but not the same as) the original Guatemalan rum. All of the rums in the Zaya blend are aged for a minimum of 12 years in small oak casks. 

Tasting: Zaya is a color of dark walnut with rich coppery highlights. The initial aroma is complex with deep rich vanilla, oak spice and pipe tobacco, sweet caramel linger in the back of the noise with accents of dry fruit and banana peel. In the mouth the vanilla is the first and front runner shadowing the almond and baking spices, cinnamon and nutmeg that are forced to take a back seat to the vanilla. 

In summary, Zaya is exotic, high-end, with a fine finish. Certainly the sort of date that ends up more memorable than a Hallmark card. Happy Valentine’s.

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Rare Rum Supper Club presents "Dinner with The Diplomat" with special guest delegates from Ron Diplomatico.

Join us and explore the unusual world of the Rare Rum SupperClub for yourself. Cocktails will be served, and you may reap the realisation of the wider world of rare and fine rum.

Friday, 13th January 2017 Sunset traverse by boat 6pm Cocktails 6.45pm. Supper 7pm

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Ron Diplomatico, one of my favourites is the 12 year Reserva Exclusiva, which I have mentioned before. But I have never lined them up and tried the range of rums from Ron Diplomatico in one seating.

This Friday I will be graced with the presence of the delegate from Ron Diplomatico, who is visiting the Upstairs Rare Rum Bar and Lounge from Venezuela. We are going to open all the Diplomatico rums in our cabinet, and taste them side by side, accompanied by several good dishes too.

Whilst that is still a few days away, I’ll just refresh the palate, to remind me of The Diplomatico Exclusiva Reserva. The aromas coming from the glass are rich and luxurious. There is a good dose of caramel with rounded hints of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and walnuts. The rum displays a nice soft oil on the sides of the glass when tilted indicating that the rum has a  long finish as well.

In the mouth all the scents and smells from the nosing come through. There is a nice underlying nuttiness of walnuts and hazelnuts, some sweet caramel and  delicious baking spices of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar. As the glass breathes, the richness of the rum builds with even more brown sugar and cinnamon with butter. 

Ron Zacapa 23 años has many similar components although in my view, the Diplomatico Exclusiva is slightly more rich.

On Friday we will be tasting the 8 year Reserva, 12 year Reserva Exclusiva, Single Vintage 2000 and the Ambassador.

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What is the future of Champagne?

I don't normally drink anything other than a fine rum. But when I do, I drink a good champagne. And I don't mean the big branded names you hear thrown around the clubs.

Big bottles, supermodels and a price tag that will make your eyes water: Champagne has a certain attitude attached to its straw-coloured bubbles that ensure it is sold around the world as a luxury product and a statement of celebration and wealth. There’s a reason the phrase ‘poppin’ bottles’ and names such as Moët, Cristal and Dom Pérignon are thrown about in songs as frequently as scantily clad dancers shake their derrières.

But of course champagne is still a wine and for those of us not at the club or worried about it staining our silks (just in case you don’t follow everything LL Cool J says, that’s a rap reference) the taste is far more important than the branding.

There’s a grower revolution going on, and this is the future of champagne. 

Champagne has always been one of the most solid, reliable wines across the entire world. Despite its northern climate, frosts and sporadic warm summers Moët tastes like Moët each time you grab a bottle, as does Bollinger, Taittinger, Laurent Perrier, the list goes on. No other wine region even comes close for consistency, and no other region has such prolific brands which ring out across the world just as spirits do. The only way champagne brands can achieve such a notion as a brand is to blend. These Champenois make their wine in the same way master blenders working in rum (and whiskey) make their spirits – with reserve stock, constantly adjusting which vintages come together to create the champagnes we know and love. While this may seem strange in a world where wine changes by the year, the Champagne region is one of the only places able to do this because it has a built up a stock of reserve wines and has had years to develop distinct styles.

The question today is where can the region go from its current perception of money and clubs, rap lyrics and luxury; above all demand. Because times are changing and the world has fallen in love with the concepts of provenance, craft and small-batch. It’s here that champagne’s story gets interesting. Although the appellation is currently under review, champagne’s future will never be to grow the amount of production.

“Champagne currently produces 312 million bottles per year, which is only 12% of sparkling wine production in the world,” says Francoise Peretti, spokesperson for the Bureau du Champagne. 

So, the future of Champagne will never be in volume. 

With such a limited amount of land in which to grow the grapes to make champagne, you’d think the big houses would own it all, but for some reason they barely own any vineyards. Instead smaller growers sell their grapes on.  Not everyone likes working in this way of course, and so growers began to make their own artisan champagnes. 

“Small producers are interesting, affordable and increasingly the darlings of sommeliers,” says Tom Harrow, wine director for Honest Grapes. “The problem is what we like intrinsically, what captures modern interest, is to know the name of the farmer that reared our beef. But in Champagne, there is nothing craft about big brand champagnes.”

“Big Champagne erases such diversity through the art of blending, which blurs distinctions in the interest of turning out products that are as identical from one year to the next as canned soda,” writes Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay in Secrets of the Sommeliers. “Among other mass-production practises that compromise fine-wine standards are extreme chemical and mechanical manipulation of wines in the cellars, irresponsible agricultural practises, and yields aimed at quantity over quality.”

Artisan or ‘Grower’ champagnes are the farmers who toil in their vineyards to make a limited number of bottles which they live, breathe and die by on whether we like the wine. There’s passion aplenty and it often translates into incredible champagne. 

So why would we buy big brand champagnes at all?

The big brands don’t really need our help to help them promote their products after all. But many consumers still want that recognisable label. However, we recognise grower producers are like artisans, they touch every step of the way of making a Champagne and I believe you can taste the attention to detail and their personal passion in them.

So, should we move away from ‘big champagne’ altogether? “Without big brands champagne wouldn’t be where it is today,” says Dawn Davies, Master of Wine and buyer for the Whisky Exchange. “I love grower champagnes, we have one of the biggest lists, but I understand that we have to have the big guys too. Sustainable viticulture is being driven by the CIVC (Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne) and houses such as Bollinger and Pol Roger are producing amazing quality in this way. You can’t blanket the big brands and say they are destroying everything, it’s totally naive.”

As a result,  at Kaibo, we have decided to promote small brand growers, by sourcing wines from single vineyard, small family producers, organic, hand harvesting, natural environment and people who look after nature. A ‘House’ grower champagne makes a lot of sense to have in our venues Upstairs and Kaibo Beach. However there is room for both on our bottle list, and it’s important for guests who insist on a branded bottle to get what they came for.

Ultimately, champagne is slowly evolving, and it’s progression towards sustainable farming is exciting for everyone who enjoys the regions beautiful bubbles. It is fair to note, it will always be a marker of celebration, and it’s unlikely to get away from its luxury, club image either, and we look forward to popping corks next time you visit us at Kaibo.

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Tonight's the Night

I will be concocting, communing and circumnavigating the rum world (figuratively speaking; I am a hopeless sailor after all) at tonight's SupperClub at Upstairs restaurant.

#RareRumSupperClub

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Lessons for the budding Rare Rum Buff: Part 1

So i decided there are enough of you whom i would consider a fellow fanatic of the fine spirit to share some basic techniques of rum appreciation, broken into parts.. We will begin with the practical methodology of tasting.

How To Taste your Tipple

There are several peculiar differences between a spirits tasting and a wine tasting. The first is how one actually tastes, and it’s important not to look odd, vigorously swirling the liquid in your glass with exquisite irrelevance to release aromas as if it were wine; you simply don’t want to agitate spirits so much. If you vigorously swirl a rare rum, all you’re going to get is a face full and some peculiar looks from your fellow fanatics. Instead, delicately twirl the glass, allowing the liquor to coat its sides. Next, begin with a tiny sip that clears the palate. Follow up with a larger sip to coat the mouth. Fine spirits should have a long, pleasant, lingering finish, so there is every reason to retain the delightful liquid in your mouth. The key is: Don’t spit. You’re not a camel for heavens sake. 

Keep posted, for Part 2 next week.

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KRAKEN Black Spiced Rum

Kraken Black Spiced Rum is a Caribbean 94 proof black rum. It is distributed in the United States by Proximo Spirits, and named after the mythical giant squid-like sea monster. It has been rumoured that a large shipment of dark, spiced rum was once taken down by a Kraken in the Caribbean Sea and the resulting rum barrels drifted far and wide. This exotic rum has been named in The Kraken's honour and is made from naturally sweet molasses from sugar cane grown naturally on Virgin Island riverbanks. The distilleries are in Trinidad and Tobago. Aged in barrel for 24 months to impart classic dark rum flavours of cinnamon, ginger and clove. I love the packaging, but this rum has more than great branding. It is a fine product, and one of the few spiced rums I would allow in my cabinet.