According to the American Distilling Institute, there are about 150 "craft distilleries" in the United States. Compared to the many thousands of moonshiners who once existed during Prohibition, but who still exist in the form of hobbyists this is a relatively tiny number. The difference...
They are legal.
Most represent well heeled dilettantes who always wanted to open a fashion boutique. Or maybe a distillery. I'd guess that most are driven by a combination of love and enthusiasm, a sense of entrepreneurship, and a fervent hope to create the "next big thing". Where does Montanya fall?
I have no idea.
The operation is run by a couple, Brice and Karen Hoskins. They were both well traveled lovers of rum. Karen was a graphic designer and Brice ran a small company named Sledworks where he designed and built custom made sleds. Later they hired a young attorney to act as head distiller, and a young visual designer to act as a Gal Friday and Tasting Room Manager.
All held together by the love of rum of its founder couple.
BTW, Karen's first introduction to rum was in her foreign travels where she came upon Old Monk - a rum I revere and have praised for its honest authenticity as an exotically spiced and very popular rum in India, a huge market. If Karen loves Old Monk, I love Karen (sorry Brice), and am willing to give their boutique dream rum a chance.
The Montanya promo material makes much of the Colorado mountain location of the mini-distillery with its single copper alembic pot still. If you never made a drop of rum, the still itself is a work of art that is fully capable of producing extremely flavorful spirits. They promote the notion of pure mountain water and high altitude aging with cold nights and warmer days that lays the foundation for their claim of accelerated aging.
In a more humorous vein, they make much of the lack of fruit flies, bats and slaves in Colorado in a measured swipe at the Caribbean and of course at the Bacardi bat. Now as a Floridian, I think anybody north of West Palm Beach must be an indentured servant.
They make two products - a light and a dark rum - both relatively fresh products that are aged for a mere six to eight weeks. As a boutique operation this is one of the great challenges. The much larger Caribbean distilleries and also the distillers of fine single malt whiskeys have untold sums of money tied up in cooperage and in product that must age for many years before being sold. This means very deep pockets - in short supply for a mini-distillery.
Accordingly, most craft distillers are forced to specialize in new, fresh product, and can only hope to put a little bit aside for a later special release (like Phil Prichard's special reserve, which is awesome by the way). The use of special, hard-to-find or unusual raw materials and the use of a labor and skill intensive pot still are the other compensations.
By doing so, a craft distiller may create a younger product that demonstrates unique character. Let's consider Brice and Karen:
They begin with "Hawaiian sugar cane" and the usual yeast. I'd be curious as to what yeast they have chosen as this is a key decision for creating desired flavors. They also make much of their use of carmelized honey (which they make) rather than the usual commercial caramel coloring, a process they acquired from a culinary school friend who taught them how to do so using an "induction burner", a high frequency electromagnetic "burner" (similar to a microwave cooker).
Karen was quoted in a local paper "It creates a beautiful, hard-candy-like product and it's adds this flavor that is so much more interesting to us than straight molasses caramel". I don't doubt that, but I did wonder how what is really a natural flavoring material can be used without labeling the product as flavored.
I sent an email, and got this reply from her:
If true, this would be a breakthrough in the world of caramel coloring.(My comments/questions in italics)...
The TTB (the feds) allows up to 2.5% of rum to be caramel or other flavors and colors, within certain parameters, without having to put anything on the label. If you see "spiced rum" or "flavored rum", it means that more than 2.5% of the total volume is other flavors.
We add far less than the 2.5% of caramelized honey that is allowed by law.
>How is it that your carmelized honey can also add apparently sweet and honeylike flavors?
Honey, being the nectar of hundreds of different varieties of flowers, has incredible complexity and a sweetness that is very different from that of sugar.
>I can only imagine that it is actually carmelized to only a light or medium brown, rich candy caramel.
Not true - we caramelize it until it is almost black and it forms a hard candy when cooled on a baker's silicone sheet. Then we add water and bring it back to a boil in order to keep it from solidifying. It is still somewhat sweet at that point, though nowhere near as sweet as regular honey.
Almost all the coloring used in spririts is E150a, and really quite bitter. Fortunately, only a trace amount is needed for the legal use of coloring. In whiskey the typical amount used is about 0.01% (per Ian Wisnewski) - a tiny amount indeed that is truly indiscernable to the drinker. Considering the bitterness of true caramel coloring this is a good thing. That Montanya can pull this off without triggering TTB consideration as a flavoring is remarkable.
You're waiting for it, aren't you?
But you're not gonna get it. For now I'm choosing to take this distiller claim at face value and actually taste the product soon. I do have high hopes for I have the highest regard for craft distillers in general, and for Montanya's use of expensive and traditional alembic pot distilling using quality ingredients. Other craft distillers like Charbay, Sgt. Classick and Siesta Key, among others, have achieved remarkable results producing extremely interesting young rums with surprising character.
Inasmuch as the Montanya products are not available here (we normally buy all of our reviewed rums), I accepted their offer to send me the light and dark for reviewing.
Stay tuned...
