Tag: Richard Seale

Are High Ester Rums for Drinking? Richard Seale Weighs In

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to try out a good selection of extremely high ester rums. From unaged Hampden Estate DOK at 85 percent ABV, to Long Pond TECC, Savanna HERR, and several others, I’ve tasted enough samples to seriously contemplate the extremely high ester rum world.

As much as anybody else, I once craved the high ester experience, plotting the day I’d have my own sample of Hampden’s DOK at home, available at a moment’s notice. Today, I’m thrilled to have two very different DOK expressions in my rum library. Yes, I’m unabashedly a high hogo Jamaican rum dunderhead.

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Luca, Richard, Alexandre and David Talk Geographical Indications

In the past year or so, the chatter amongst the uber-wonks frequently turns to the perceived friction between Richard Seale of Foursquare Rum Distillery, and Alexandre Gabriel of Plantation Rum. Without getting into myriad of points of contention, it’s safe to say Richard advocates for precise rum categorizations, geographical indications such as Martinique’s AOC, and rum free of undisclosed additives. Alexandre says that badly-formed Geographical Indications freeze a spirt category in time and constrain innovation. In addition, Alexandre believes rum can be further enhanced by traditional techniques like boisé, aka “dosage”. Trust me, it goes much deeper than this. I could write a book on just this debate, but that’s not my goal here.

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UK RumFest 2017 In Photos

For one glorious long weekend this past October, the rum world descended on London to celebrate all things rummy. Industry legends such as Alexandre Gabriel, Luca Gargano, Richard Seale, Martin Cate, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Bryan Davis, and of course Ian “Rum Ambassador” Burrell offered up rumtastic sessions, showed off their latest highly covetable rums, and spread the gospel of rum to a very enthusiastic crowd.

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Richard Seale’s Epic Takedown of “Rum has no rules”

The Ministry of Rum and Global Rum Club forums on Facebook are hotbeds of enthusiasts engaging in lively debates about all topics rum-related. Foursquare Rum Distillery master distiller and rum icon Richard Seale is a frequent contributor, injecting actual, real-world experience at every turn.

Recently, I shared my article on Cuban rum regulations, which started out, “Rum has no rules? Think again!”–a topic I’ve written about before.

In response to my post, Richard wrote an extremely long and well-articulated comment that’s simply too informative to lose in the desert of Facebook comments. So with Richard’s permission, I’m reprinting it here with just slight touchup of typos and such.

Quoth Richard:

Rum has no rules? Honestly, how could something so completely inane be not only spread but be believed and repeated again and again with authority?

And the notion that this “lack of rules” was somehow wonderful, so producers can be “creative.” What nonsense.

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