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Happy holidays and New Year (in advance), everyone!

In our fifth (!) annual Year in Review episode we take a look back at our favorite rums of the year in the following categories:

Unaged molasses rum

Unaged cane juice rum

Aged rum (5 years or less)

Aged rum (Over 5 years)

“New to me” rum

Best value rum

Most surprising rum

Overall rum

Plus, we each throw in picks for Distillery of the Year and Bottler of the Year, along with another round of "Am I the a**hole for being lower on this rum?" and another classic rum-themed holiday tune from John Gulla.

Have a listen, and let us know your favorites in these categories from the past year! Also, what did we miss? What were we too high or low on? We'd love to hear your takes.

The List (Spoilers Ahead!)

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Unaged Rum (Molasses):

Will: Pelée’s Fury Martinique Grand Arôme Rum from Raising Glasses

John: Pelée’s Fury Martinique Grand Arôme Rum from Raising Glasses

Unaged Rum (Cane Juice):

Will: Alambique Serrano — Cartier 30

John: Alambique Serrano — Cartier 30

Aged Rum (5 Years or Less):

Will: Hampden Estate Great House 2024

John: Ghana 2020 from Down Island Spirits

Aged Rum (Over 5 Years):

Will: Fiji 2012 Flag Series Rum from La Maison & Velier

John: Cambodia 2016 Flag Series Rum from La Maison & Velier

“New to Me” Rum:

Will: O Reizinho Limited Edition White Rum

John: The category of UK Rum

Value Rum:

Will: Shakara 12-Year

John: Shakara 12-Year

Most Surprising Rum:

Will: Unaged Rum from Line 44 Distillery

John: Ten To One Five Origin Select

“Am I the A**hole?" Rum:

Will: El Dorado High Ester Blend

John: El Dorado High Ester Blend

Overall Rum:

Will: Alambique Serrano Blend #3: Matadiablo

John: Fiji 2012 Flag Series Rum from La Maison & Velier

Distillery of the Year:

Will: Krassel Family Distillery (Alambique Serrano / Cañada)

John: Krassel Family Distillery (Alambique Serrano / Cañada)

Bottler of the Year:

Will: Raising Glasses

John: La Maison & Velier

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We're back with another entry in our semi-blind reviews series — but yet again with a twist! In this mystery sample edition, both of us have no idea what the identity of this rum is as we review it. Along the way, we offer our best guesses as to the rum's origin and key characteristics.

This time, it's a 13-year-old rhum agricole from Isautier Distillery in Réunion Island bottled by Swell de Spirits.

Rum specs:

Bottler: Swell de Spirits

Origin: Réunion Island

Distillery: Isautier

Base material: Cane juice

Distillation: Column

Age: 13 years

Cask: Ex-Cognac

ABV: 59.4%

A special thank you to Rumcast patron Ben for providing the mystery sample.

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In this episode, we went inside a brand new distillery in a rarely explored rum origin of the Caribbean — Dominica (not the Dominican Republic). Rosalie Bay Distilling is a unique operation that is producing rum from sugarcane juice supplied by 80+ local farmers, and contributing 100% of its profits toward conservation efforts that protect sea turtles, coral reef, whales, and more.

We got to sit down with Kernean George (head distiller), Marcella Harris (conservationist and board member of Dominica Sea Turtle Conservation Organization), and Brett Steigerwaldt (distillery advisor and head distiller at Lyon Rum) to learn about Rosalie Bay from a variety of angles, including:

How a chance encounter at a Maryland rum distillery sparked Rosalie Bay Distilling

A brief history of rum production in Dominica, and why it differs from neighboring islands Martinique and Guadeloupe

Kernean's journey from not drinking rum to becoming a head rum distiller

How Rosalie Bay developed its style of cane juice rum

What it's like to source cane from 80+ local farmers

The unique terroir of Dominica

The dangers to sea turtles, coral reef, and sperm whales — and how the distillery funds efforts to protect them

And much more!

Links to things mentioned during the episode:

You can order bottles of Rosalie Bay via Raising Glasses (it's also currently available in Massachusetts retail stores)

Rosalie Bay's website

Oceans Forward's website

The Last Turtle documentary (available on YouTube)

National Geographic's Secrets of the Whales docuseries (episode 4 features Dominica's sperm whales)

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In this return to our Rumcast Guides series, we dive into Portugal's twist on agricole rum — Madeira!

Madeira has been producing amazing cane juice rums for a very long time, but has only started becoming more well known in the broader rum world in recent years. So there's no better time than now to explore it!

We take you through:

A brief history of rum production and sugarcane cultivation in Madeira

Their distinctive rules for rum production

How their mythical "Chamber of Tasters" tasting panels for approving authentic Rums da Madeira work

A look at each of the current Madeira rum distilleries

Tastings of several Madeira rums from O Reizinho, Engenhos do Norte, Vinha Alta, and Engenho Novo

On-the-ground reporting from a Rumcast correspondent who recently visited Madeira

The reveal of a "Madeira Mystery" blind tasting

And more!

Related links:

The official Rum da Madeira website

Madeira Rum certification process PDF

Madeira Rum organoleptic requirements PDF

Our episode 55 interview with Peter Holland

Our episode 73 interview with Richard Nicholson

Secret Rum Bar's Madeira Rum series

Fat Rum Pirate's Calheta rum review

P.S.Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

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Check out the Rumcast Patreon community for more bonus content like this!

In this free edition of our monthly bonus Patreon episode, we taste through three highly anticipated new rums in La Maison & Velier's Flag Series:

Cambodia 2016: an 8-year-old pot still rum from Samai Distillery (48.7% ABV)

Jamaica 2015: a 9-year-old pot still rum from Worthy Park (60.4% ABV)

Fiji 2012: a 12-year-old pot still rum from South Pacific Distilleries (64.5% ABV)

Tune in for some background on Cambodian rum, our thoughts on each rum, some reflections on the Flag Series as a whole, a digression on Bob Dylan, and more!

Note: These samples were provided to us free of charge, and with no promise of a review or episode like this.

Have you tried any of these yet? Is there one you're particularly interested in? Shoot us an email or comment and let us know!

P.S.Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Want to see video of this episode? Click here to watch on YouTube and subscribe to our channel!

We're back with our semi-blind reviews series — but with a twist!

In this mystery sample edition, both of us have no idea what the identity of this rum is before diving in headfirst for a review. Along the way, we offer our best guesses as to the rum's origin and key characteristics.

This time, it's a 20-year-old rum from Trinidad Distillers Limited bottled by Compagnie Des Indes. Tune in to see how close we get!

A special thank you to Rumcast patron Ben for providing the mystery sample.

Have a listen and let us know what you think of this rum!

P.S.Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

Want to watch the video version of this episode? Head to YouTube to watch and subscribe.

Big news: we're buying a cask and branding, bottling, labeling, and releasing our own single cask rum! Throughout this process, we'll be taking you along on the journey as we conceptualize the rum, travel to the Main Rum Company in Liverpool to find the perfect cask, and do all the other stuff that goes into a first-time release.

In this episode, we tackle our first creative challenge — coming up with a name for the brand / release! We discuss themes we'd like the name to capture, things we'd like to avoid, and then share ideas for names that we've brainstormed separately — including the bad, the ugly, and the...possibly OK?

Have a listen and shoot us an email (host@rumcast.com), comment, or message with your thoughts, ideas, or things you'd like us to throughout the process.

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

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In this episode, we're excited to take you inside a very new emerging rum locale — Sicily, the Italian island where Distilleria Alma is bringing back sugarcane cultivation. Since 2021, Hugo Gallardo and his co-founders have been crafting cane juice rum from multiple varietals and bottling it under the label Mater Rum.

We were lucky to try multiple bottlings of Mater and can confirm that it's worthy of your interest not just because of its interesting origin, but also because it tastes pretty damn good. So obviously we had to get the full story from Hugo!

We discussed:

The long history of sugarcane in Sicily (and why it disappeared)

How the distillery almost ended up in the Philippines

The ongoing evolution of Mater's production process

The differences between the yellow cane and purple cane rums

Rumors of additional Sicilian rum projects from heavy hitters of the rum world

Sicily's unique environment and culture

What kinds of Mater releases we may see in the future

Bringing Mater to the U.S.

And much more!

Check out Distilleria Alma's website for more info on Mater Rum.

Relevant links to the Jamaica Rum GI discussion in the intro:

The Gleaner: New GI rum rules bar aging outside of Jamaica

Rum Wonk: Jamaica's Rum GI Changes - Overview and Analysis

Rum Revelations: Jamaica GI Rumblings with a French Twist

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.