ROGUE SPIRITS and HERRADURA TEQUILAS

Renowned for their beers and ales, this quality company out of Newport, Oregon is putting its distillery license to good use with a unique lineup of quality artinisal rums. I tried a selection of their products about a year ago, so I had to refresh my memory and taste them all over again – wow, what a lovely task! The bottles are tall and rectangular clear glass, with a ‘rogue’ or pirate on the front and a brief biography on the back. Starting with Hawaiian sugar cane, Champagne yeast, and the superior local water, these rums are pot-still spirits with charcoal filtering and then aged in oak, so they have the expected complexities to seek out and enjoy.

The WHITE RUM has a pleasant nose of spun sugar, white grape and rising bread. A soft brisk entry leads to a semi-dry light-to medium-bodied palate with butter cream and peppery spice flavors. Upon tasting, a pleasant burn does not hide the dairy/butter notes, followed quickly by a warm pepper entrance which is not too overwhelming. The palate and tongue coat is good, with a vanilla and black pepper exit. I like this rum in cocktails featuring ginger ale and ginger beer, along with citrus fruit, apple, or cranberry juices.

The HAZELNUT SPICE RUM is a very unique gold rum. The nose is redolent with hazelnut; toast and warm citrus spice notes are in the back. The taste is warm and yeasty, with a GREAT roasted nuts beginning, true vanilla flavor, a bit of oak, and a gentle spice back note joining a nice texture and rich palate coat. A nice pepper ending completes the experience. This is fine to sip just as it is, due to its quality. I have had a lot of fun experimenting with this rum’s mixology capabilities; again, ginger ale or apple juice lead the way. For lovers of decadent cocktails and roasted nuts, I combined the Hazelnut Spice Rum with Castries Peanut Rum Cream (out of St. Lucia) and a bit of vanilla rum into a shaker with cube ice for 15 vigorous seconds, then filtered into a martini glass rimmed with graham cracker crumbs. Peanut Butter Cream Pie – indulgent!

The DARK RUM is a lovely gentle amber in color. Its nose is oaky, with sweet spice and toasted sugar. The front taste is warm spice again, with nuts and fermented fruit. The mouth feel and palate is good, not thin at all. This rum finishes with spice and pepper. A great mixing rum. It works well with cola, pina coladas, mai tais, or tropical fruit juices.

Check out this distillery at their website: www.roguespirits.com They do a lot of great marketing, and support a ton of events.