Flor de Caña Rum: Benefiting From Nicaragua's Most Active Volcano

Over 125 years ago in 1890, Francisco Alfredo Pellas built the first distillery of what was to become Flor de Caña at the San Antonio Sugar Mill in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua.  Its location at the base of the most active in Nicaragua (San Cristobal volcano) provides a multitude of favorable conditions to creating a  fine aged rum. It starts with the rich volcanic soil where the sugar cane benefits from the warm, hydrated, and vitamin-rich soil  which also is naturally protected from insect predators and erosion.  Second, the distillery is able to use enriched volcanic water in distillation that not only contains a bit of calcium, magnesium and sulfate but is also filtered from impurities by the volcanic rock. And finally the hot volcanic climate exposes the small (180 liter) white oak barrels to varying levels of heat during the again process. 

I recently purchased two versions of their rum, the Flor de Cana 12 Year ($34) and the Flor de Cana 7 Year Gran Reserva ($18). As expected the 12 Year is much more integrated with a honeyed nuts and caramel aroma, sweet almonds and buttery vanilla in the middle, and finishing with a toffee and lingering smokiness. On the other hand the 7 Year had a more dispersed profile and more petrol but many of the same characteristics including more tropical notes. So pick your price point.

Visiting Palmetto Moonshine's Myrtle Beach Facility

It is a popular concept for craft beverage makers to open satellite tasting rooms in popular tourist destinations with one of these being Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Recently Duplin Winery opened a facility in North Myrtle following the success of Palmetto Moonshine three years ago south of town. Brothers Trey and Bryan Boggs have been instrumental in the growing craft spirits market by first crafting the Palmetto State's first legal moonshine and then by leveraging the larger seashore tourism market to expand distribution.

The distillery's spirits are still produced in their original Anderson location, but the original still is now a water fountain in Myrtle. A $5 tasting fee provides samples of their White Lightning Moonshine, four flavored shines, and the Palmetto Whiskey ($35, 88.3 Proof). Starting with the whiskey, it was a pleasant surprise, with combinations of spice, caramel, vanilla, and finishing with a slight burn. This complexity starts with the mash bill of 21% rye and 51% corn and malted barley with additional flavors from aging less than two years in new French oak. The unique bottle honors the South Carolina Dispensary, a state controlled monopoly on liquor sales in South Carolina which operated from 1893-1915. The Dispensary employed glass makers and craftsmen that created bottles unique to the Palmetto State and what many consider to be works of art. The bottles being produced from 1893-1900 featured an embossed palmetto tree with crossed logs under the base of the trunk. A nice addition to the bar or a gift.

The various moonshines were also tasty, starting with the flagship Palmetto Moonshine White Lightning ($29, 105 proof). The Palmetto Moonshine is an "un-aged corn whiskey made from a recipe handed down from generations of moonshiners and produced using our custom copper still built by a 5th generation moonshiner". It is smooth even at this high alcohol level with traces of sweet corn. The flavored shines are all $29 and cut to 45 proof with local fruit juices. The Peach and Strawberry were our favorites as the Blackberry and Apple were too jammy and sweet for our tastes.I'd much rather return home with one of these than a lousy T-shirt. Cheers and as always theCompass Craft Beverage Finder will guide you to these destinations.

Spirits Review: Mount Gay XO Reserve Cask Rum

I've been on a rum kick since Spring Break and have continued my sipping with the Mount Gay XO Reserve Cask Rum ($45, 86 proof). Each bottle of Mount Gary rum is labelled "Est. 1703" which is rather self explanatory and makes the distillery the oldest existing brand of rum in the world. Makes sense considering that rum most likely originated in Barbadians and called "Kill-Devil". The distillery is currently majority owned by Rémy Cointreau and is named for Sir John Gay Alleyne, a trusted friend of John Sober, who purchased the Mount Gilboa Plantation/Distilleries in 1747".

Spirits labelled XO refers to Extra Old and this rum is a blend of 8 to 15 year old spirits distilled from molasses. The rum starts with a nutty, vanilla, and honey aroma that continues into the palate where it becomes a bit chewy and spicy. It finishes with a progressive burn where it's initially completely smooth, but the burn slowly materializes to showcase the 86 proof. Enjoy neat or over ice. Cheers.

Salute American Vodka - Your USA Certified™ Spirit

If you are looking for a patriotic and smooth vodka this Memorial Day weekend or for the upcoming 4th of July then start searching for Salute American Vodka. The native spirit is not only distilled and bottled in Rochester New York using Midwestern corn and wheat, but the "signature red, white, and blue 750ml bottles (modeled after World War II standard issue GI canteens) are manufactured in New Jersey". In fact the label contains the USA Certified™ seal where the parent company passed an audit and certification process that proved that all product assembly and American labor comply with all U.S. safety standards and labor laws.

In addition, one dollar from every bottle is donated to charities supporting active and retired military personnel. "Patrons have the opportunity to localize the dollar by nominating resident heroes to receive support in their communities through the company’s program Salute American Heroes. In 2017, the company aims to impact five different veterans through donations to charities that support those veterans’ pursuit of the American dream. Salute American Vodka has an award-winning taste with an honorable social mission".

But what about the vodka? The spirit is distilled four times then cut to 80 proof. It is clean with a sweeter profile that thickly coats the palate and finishes very smoothly. Easy drinking neat, but who drinks vodka straight? Instead, cocktails are your best bet and Salute offers a range of drink recipes such as an Apple Cider Cocktail or Salute Raspberry Lemonade.

Now, I received this bottle as a sample and currently Salute American Vodka is only available in the Northeast. But the company is quickly lining up distributors in other states and hopes to have the vodka available in the Mid-Atlantic very soon. Cheers and happy Memorial Day.

Spirits Review: Tenure Vodka

This 1.75 liter bottle Tenure Vodka was recently on sale at my local ABC store for $25. At the rate we go through vodka, why not give it a try. The Tenure is a Polish wheat vodka and a member of the Sazerac Company portfolio. That's about all the information I could find on it's background, although the label mentions a seven step distillation process - whatever that means. The vodka isn't bad, a little petrol while neat, but with a clean and honey flavored character. A drop of water and ice definitely dampens the alcohol and makes for a smoother sipper. Can't beat that price for an everyday vodka - particularly for mixing.

Rum Review: Bowman Pioneer Spirit Colonial Era Dark Small Batch Caribbean Rum

I'm a big fan of the A. Smith Bowman Distillery Pioneer Spirit bourbons, so when I saw the Pioneer Spirit Colonial Era Dark Small Batch Caribbean Rum for sale at $25 750ml, I grabbed a bottle. The rum was distilled from molasses and barrel aged in the Caribbean by a small distiller. The rum was then imported and bottled in Bowman's Fredericksburg, Virginia distillery. This is one instance where I agree with the official tasting notes: coconut and vanilla followed by sweet molasses, honey and brown sugar. The finish is relatively smooth neat and that's how I recommend sipping. Adding ice or a drop of water definitely mellows the alcohol and adds nut flavors but the finish becomes quite weak. Overall, a decent rum.

"During the late 17th century, imported rum became exceedingly popular in Colonial America. Early estimates of rum consumption in those colonies suggested every settler drank an average of three imperial gallons of rum each year. To support this demand, a substantial trade was developed between the Caribbean and the American Colonies. This trade of sugar, slaves, molasses and rum was quite profitable. The Sugar Act in 1764 disrupted this trade and may have helped cause the American Revolution. Nevertheless, the popularity of rum continued. This Dark Imported Rum commemorates George Bowman and other early American Colonists".

Spirits Review: Copper Barrel Distillery Moonshine Using Cane and Grain

During our annual summer trip to Ocracoke I try to bring home a couple North Carolina spirits available at the island's ABC store. One was the Troy & Sons Platinum Corn Whiskey  and the other was the Copper Barrel Distillery White Lightning Moonshine - available in a 375 ml bottle ($14). This distillery is in Wilksboro, situated half way between Boone and Winston-Salem, which they refer to as the "Moonshine Capital of America". Master Distiller Buck Nance has developed a recipe for this whiskey that is quite unique; it's not just 100% corn, but includes locally grown rye and corn as well as cane sugar. The water source is the Crystalline-Rock Aquifer. The result is a very interested 'shine, complex in flavor, with a low to medium burn. The rye provides a little spice and the corn and cane a sweet profile to dampen the 96 proof. Can't wait to visit during my next wine trip to the Yadkin Valley or Merlefest. Cheers.

Spirits Review: Troy & Sons Platinum Corn Whiskey

Asheville North Carolina is rapidly becoming a major player in the craft brewery scene, but it also includes a few distilleries - which is not surprising considering it's Appalachian location. One of these is Asheville Distilling Company and their Troy & Sons brand. In 2008, owner Troy Ball started researching local moonshine recipes both in person and through the North Carolina State Archives. Her goal was to recreate the "keeper" moonshines - smooth with little to no burn. Once perfecting her recipe she opened the distillery in 2011 with the brand name incorporating her three sons: Marshall, Coulton, and Luke.

The Troy & Sons Platinum ($32) is 100% corn whiskey uniquely made with Crooked Creek Corn, an open-pollinated heirloom white corn, that is grown locally in the mountains of Western North Carolina. In fact, the corn was first farmed by earlier generations of the same family in the late 1700’s. After testing, it was recognized as an heirloom variety thought to be lost in the mid 1800's. As expected of a "keeper" moonshine, this whiskey is very smooth and starts with lightly toasted caramel which persists alongside stone fruits and Christmas spices. Very complex. And very appealing.

Spirits Review: Lunazul Reposado Tequila

I needed an inexpensive tequila for a party and choose the Lunazul Reposado ($21) - 100% Blue Agave. Being a reposado, the tequila rested between two and twelve months in oak. In this case used bourbon barrels. Lunazul was founded by Francisco Beckmann, a seventh generation descendent of Jose Antonio de Cuervo. In 1992 he sold his stake in the family dynasty but kept his share of agave fields in order to start Tierra de Agaves estate and the Lunazul (Blue Moon) label. Today the distillery is controlled by his son Jorge who grew up working all phases of the operation - from harvest to distillation. The master distiller is Francisco Quijano who's distillation philosophy is to keep things simple. The Lunazul Reposado has a light flavor profile; oily texture with some vanilla and caramel with a smoky burn. This is a very serviceable tequila, at the price, a perfect mixer and if tasting straight go neat or just a drop of water. Over ice gets too diluted. Cheers.

Spirits Review: Midnight Moon Moonshine Cherry Shine

I generally avoid flavored spirits, but last week I was drawn to the Midnight Moon Moonshine section at the local ABC store and decided to try their Cherry Shine ($24). Perhaps it was memories of sipping Hungarian Bonbon meggy likőr. The spirit is produced by North Carolina's Piedmont Distillers, Inc. and according to their website "is inspired by Junior Johnson’s legendary moonshine recipe". As a reminder, Johnson was a moonshine and NASCAR legend who transitioned from running moonshine to auto racing. In between her served time for his illegal activities but was eventually pardoned by President Reagan. In 2007 Johnson became part owner of Piedmont Distillers with founder Joe Michalek.

Piedmont distills in traditional copper pot stills and the base spirit for the Midnight Moonshine Cherry is made from a corn mash cut to 100 proof with filtered water. The only flavoring comes from real cherries added to the mason jar.  This is a strong whiskey, not necessarily hot, but nevertheless strong at 50% alcohol. There's a little heat on the nose but the sour cherries ease the heat on the palate  providing a tart and slightly sweet profile. And it's pleasantly sweet and tart, not syrupy. All in all it's rather addicting -- particularly the soaked cherries. 

Spirits Review: Tim Smith's Climax Moonshine

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Discovery Channel's Moonshiners series and have followed Tim Smith's quest to transition from outlaw to lawful distiller. Well, I finally procured a bottle of his Tim Smith's Climax Moonshine ($35, 45%). The whiskey is made at Belmont Farm Distillery, "the First Craft Distillery of American Whiskey in the United States" - located in Culpeper Virginia. The mash bill is a secret but includes corn, rye and barley malt and is distilled using Belmont's historic copper still. The whiskey is hot, so be prepared for a burn, but not a straight alcohol burn. Instead, there's a roundness of creamed corn that envelopes the mouth and throat and that richness continues downwards. Climax Moonshine isn't necessarily a harsh whiskey, it just packs a wallop. Cheers.

Tasting an Expanded Spirits Portfolio at Mt. Defiance Distillery

The Middleburg AVA is a popular destination in Virginia wine country and a couple years ago Mt. Defiance Cidery augmented the area wine offerings with craft cider. Soon afterwards the distillery section of the operation came online providing visitors an opportunity to sample classic spirits. And in past year Mt. Defiance Distillery has expanded their portfolio to now include three Rum offerings, Apple Brandy & Liqueur, Cassis, and Absinthe.

Because of the screwy Virginia ABC regulations, cider is sampled in Mt. Defiance's tasting room and the spirits nearer to the distillery. Visitors are allowed four one ounce pours of spirits per day. The distillery, like others in the Commonwealth, provide a range of cocktails so visitors aren't forced to sample neat. However, neat was my preference and so between two of us we chose the Amber Rum, Dark Rum, Apple Liqueur, Cassis, and Absinthe.

According to Distiller Peter Ahlf, previously the Amber and Dark rums were both aged for 6 - 8 months in small (15 gal) used rye barrels.  The difference is that Ahlf adds caramelized sugar to the Dark Rum just before bottling. Check your bottle label because Batch 12 was aged for 14 months in a 55 gallon used bourbon barrel and Batch 13 was a blend of 12 and previous methods. I don't know which version I sampled but the Dark Rum does have a pronounced honey-caramel profile when compared to the Amber - which is very smooth with a lighter honey accent. Both are very nice, but I preferred the lighter Amber style.

The Apple Liqueur is produced using a mash of sweet cider with crushed apples which is mixed with their Apple Brandy and additional sugar for sweetening. (The Brandy is produced by aging distilled hard cider and hen cutting to 80 proof). Thus, the liqueur is lower in alcohol at 50 proof / 25% alcohol and a bit on the sweeter side.

Cassis is a liqueur made from blackcurrants and Mt. Defiance's version is excellent. Ahlf says that his goal was to emphasize the liqueur's bright fruit flavor over sweetness and he succeeded. There's no syrupy or gritty sugar texture and the blackcurrant flavors are prevalent. Ahlf also mentioned that beet sugar worked much better than cane sugar as a sweetener. Interesting. 

The final spirit we sampled was the much anticipated Absinthe as Mt. Defiance utilizes the traditional brouilleur (water dripper) and sugar cube to prepare the spirit. They also use traditional ingredients such as Virginia grown Grand Wormwood, Lemon Balm and Hyssop; Aniseed from Andalucía, Spain; and Fennel Doux from Provence, France.  In general I'm not a great fan of Anise based spirits, but this Absinthe was rock solid - not overly liquorish - but relatively smooth. I was pleasantly surprised on this one.

To help navigate to Mt. Defiance or any of the Middleburg area wineries check out theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App. Cheers.

Another Corn Vodka, Virginia's Belmont Farm Kopper Kettle Vodka

Virginia's Belmont Farm Distillery is the country's oldest craft whiskey distillery, founded by Chuck and Jeanette Miller in the late 1980’s. Their Virginia Lightening was the first craft spirit I ever tasted and lately the distillery and Miller have become more famous as the distiller of Tim Smith's Climax Moonshine. Not mentioned in the Discovery Channel Moonshiners series is that Belmont Farm is also producing a corn vodka, the Kopper Kettle Vodka ($20) - Single Estate Grain to Glass. Like their other spirits, the corn is grown directly on the estate and then fermented and distilled on site using a copper pot manufactured in 1933. Like the Prairie Organic Vodka, this vodka is distilled to taste but then filtered through a secret filtration system. Sipping neat, the vodka has a slight, but noticeable burn and the sweet corn flavors are muted. However, by simply adding a few drops of water, the alcohol is pushed down and the vodka displays a new vibrancy with the corn flavors exerting control. For a cocktail, the distillery recommends Sex on the Farm, a recipe containing 1.5 oz Vodka, 1/2 oz Peach Schnapps (or Catoctin Creek Peach Brandy), 2 oz Cranberry Juice, and 2 oz Orange Juice. Combine, add ice, shake, and garnish with an Orange wedge and cherry. Cheers.

The Versatility of Corn: Prairie Organic Vodka

Quite naturally corn is generally associated with moonshine (corn whiskey) and Bourbon since the mash bill is either 100% corn for moonshine or a minimum of 51% for Bourbon. But last week I sampled my first corn vodka, the Prairie Organic Vodka ($22)  - produced using certified organic #2 yellow corn and distilled to taste by Phillips Distilling Company.  This Minnesota distillery sources the corn from three local family farms: Sather Organic Farms, Olson Organics, and Little Big Man Organic Farms. The website details how these operations practice organic farming by creating a 25 foot buffer crop and then using birds and bats to combat insects.  The corn is then distilled to taste in Benson, Minnesota. Distilling to taste is similar to barrel blending in the sense that the goal is to create a consistent flavor profile and each corn batch differs based on climate, soil, etc. Interestingly, the spent corncobs are converted into bio-gas to power the stills. After distillation the vodka is transferred to Princeton, Minnesota and bottled by Ed Phillips and Sons - a fifth generation and family-operated distilled spirits company.

The final spirit has a familiar flavor profile as corn whiskey with that sweet corn flavor but the Prairie Organic Vodka plows deeper with a creamy texture and zero burn. The vodka is mighty fine neat, but will most likely be used in a cocktail. The distillery recommends the Prairie Organic Bootlegger using 1 ½ oz Prairie Organic Vodka, ½ oz lime cordial, and 3 fresh mint leaves. Shake and strain into a glass with ice. Top with soda water. Cheers.


What is Vodka? The U.S. Government definition of vodka reads as follows:
Sec. 5.22 The standards of identity.
Standards of identity for the several classes and types of distilled spirits set forth in this section shall be as follows (see also Sec. 5.35, class and type):
(a) Class 1: neutral spirits or alcohol. “Neutral spirits” or “alcohol” are distilled spirits produced from any material at or above 190[deg] proof, and, if bottled, bottled at not less than 80[deg] proof.
(1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.