The importance of storytelling – Lost Spirits Navy Style Rum

I frequently make new and unusual cocktails for guests at my house. Something I’ve come to enjoy is telling a story about every drink I make. Maybe it’s the unusual spirit I’ve just acquired, perhaps an unusual combination of ingredients, or a tale of how a particular bottle came to reside in my bar. My wife and I occasionally do cocktail-themed dinner parties – friends know them as “Rumpocalypse”, and every drink gets a few minutes about its background and why I chose it. Telling people about what they’ve got in front of them creates a personal connection and often emboldens them to share their thoughts about the drink, which is helpful for me in knowing how to craft an even better experience for them.

Likewise, I use slow times at bars to connect with the bartenders, asking “Is there anything interesting you’re working on?” This often yields something off-menu and that the bartender is eager to talk about. When the drink arrives I ask them to tell me a story about it. Done at the right time, e.g not during a slammed Saturday night, you’ll often have an experience you otherwise might miss.

Recently, a story that grabbed me and which I enjoy sharing, is rum from Lost Spirits Distillery. Currently there are two iterations, both “Navy style”, at 55% and 68% ABV. The story of these rums is great for several reasons. First, they have a strong, dark, forceful flavor, very much in the Jamaican style with a ton of “esters”, which are a chemical compound that provides all sorts of flavors. In the case of Jamaican style rums, I find these esters to have a pleasant, fruit-like flavor like plum, raisin or banana.  The Lost Spirits rums are a dark red hue. You can easily imagine a pirate drinking it in the 1700s.

Next, although the flavor of these rums screams Jamaican or someplace else deep in the Caribbean, they’re actually made in Monterey, California, not far from where I grew up and went to college. I frequently drove through the farm fields in the region, and never once saw sugar cane, so the thought of a rum distillery there seems a bit alien, but very cool. These days many distilleries don’t grow their own sugar cane, and instead import molasses from elsewhere. What gives Lost Spirits an edge here is that they use baking grade molasses, which has more sugars than molasses that’s been refined more times to extract as much sucrose as possible.

Finally, and most importantly, the Lost Spirits story appeals to me because of science! While rum aficionados have come to expect that a deep flavorful rum needs to spend many years in the barrel, Lost Spirits uses deep knowledge of the chemical processes in play during fermentation, distillation and aging to focus and concentrate the flavor producing process.

A couple of examples:  During the fermentation process, distiller Bryan Davis deprives the yeast of nitrogen, thereby weakening the cell walls and stressing the yeast. Quoting him: “…properly managed the yeast can produce as many short chained esters as the first few years in a cask.” As for barrel aging, Bryan optimizes his cask preparation to get the goodness of long barrel aging in a shorter period of time. Again quoting: “We use a controlled charring process incorporating heat, flame, and even special frequencies of light to break the compounds we want out fast.” The full description of all the science (highly entertaining for a wonk like me) can be found here.

To my taste and sensibilities, the most natural comparison to the 55% ABV version is Smith & Cross. They have similar alcohol contents (55% vs 57%). The Lost Spirits is darker, with less fruit on the nose and palate than the Smith & Cross. In place of the fruit, I taste more of the molasses. The best simple description I have for the Lost Spirits taste is somewhere between Smith & Cross and Lemon Hart 151. There are several well-written reviews out there with more tasting notes, including here and here.

Although I can ease into sipping the Lost Spirits with its high alcoholic content, I prefer to use it in relatively simple drinks where its unique flavor elements stand out, rather than a multi-rum tiki concoction.  It certainly works well in tiki, but for something this special and relatively rare, I make sure to enjoy every drop to the fullest.

I’ve read that Lost Spirits Distillery has another style of rum on the way, this one being Polynesian inspired. Given my experience with the Navy Style, I’m grabbing as much of the Polynesian expression as I can as soon as it’s available!

My go-to recipe using Lost Spirits Navy Style rum is a variation of the Scarr Power from Rumba in Seattle. Rumba’s Scarr Power uses Smith & Cross and I simply swap in the Lost Spirits 55%. Much as I enjoy the Smith&Cross-based original, the Lost Spirits version is just fantastic.

• 1.5 oz Lost Spirits Navy Style rum, 55% ABV 
• .75 oz fresh squeezed lime juice 
• .5 oz 2:1 Nutmeg syrup 

Add all ingredients to a small glass. Add a large ice cube or two, stir gently. Garnish with orange peel if desired.

I deliberately don’t shake this drink, so as to keep the dilution to a minimum. I also use a small old-fashion glass, ~ 5 oz, so that a single large ice cube is nearly submerged and providing just enough chilling and dilution as the drink is slowly consumed.