Lost Spirits Distillery to tweak their Navy Style rum, release at least two Cuban style rums

The folks at Lost Spirits Distillery let loose a surprise for their fans at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans this week. About a month ago they teased their upcoming Cuban Style Rum by posting a picture of the label on their Facebook feed, the label stating the rum as 151 proof.

Much more recently, their Facebook feed mentioned they weren’t able to take the 151 proof rum on the plane to New Orleans for Tales. However, the accompanying photo showed a very similar label, but this label stating 47% ABV (94 proof) with the additional words “Anejo Blanco”, which I take to mean aged, then filtered to remove the color. Subsequent photos on Facebook show those 47% bottles in New Orleans, where the Lost Spirits folks are giving them away bottles to some lucky folks. What I’m hearing is that Lost Spirits will release both Cuban versions, albeit with the Anejo Blanco version coming in at 45% ABV on the shelf.

In discussing the Cuban style with Bryan, he’s shared a few more details about its making. To summarize:

• Different distillation practices, which I take to mean adjusting the heads/tails cut.
• Neutral fermentation environment, which I interpret to mean not nitrogen depriving the yeast.
• The wood aging plays a stronger part of the flavor, relative to the prior rums.
• They put a lot of effort into preparing the barrels prior to let “…as many different parts of the oak to sing as possible.”

(I will update this as I learn more and get a bottle of the Cuban to try out.)

In other news, one of my earlier posts on the Navy Style rum failed to mention an interesting side-note from my conversation with Bryan. Currently the Navy Style is available in two strengths: 68% and 55%. Bryan said the 55% was a concession to make a version easier sell to bars, where higher proof rums are often considered too expensive to use in mainstream cocktails.

The Lost Spirits 55% version is a bit of an oddball – while it’s called Navy “style,” it’s not technically navy proof. To be navy proof, a spirit has to be 114 proof (57% ABV). The reason for this is that if a navy proof spirit leaks in into the gunpowder stores, it won’t prevent the gunpowder from igniting. The 55% ABV version is just 2% short of being navy proof, and Bryan’s indicated that future releases will be at 57% so that it can be deemed navy proof.