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In this episode, we attempted a new mid-year exercise — picking 10 bottles each we think are the most talked about / anticipated releases of the year among rum enthusiasts, including bottles that have already hit shelves and some that are still on their way.

The goal was not only to create a snapshot of what's popular with rum enthusiasts in 2025, but also to give you a handy list of bottles you may want to add to your list to try if you haven't already.

After you've had a listen, send us an email or drop a comment on social to let us know — which releases are you most excited about this year? Which ones did we miss? We'd love to know!

We've included the full lists below, so stop scrolling here if you want to be surprised!

**Spoilers Below**

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John's Top 10 List:

10. Holmes Cay Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel - Single Origin Edition #4

9. Black Tot Finest Caribbean (New Blend)

8. Dead Reckoning Vanuatu 83 Islands

7. Raising Glasses Full Circle Blend

6. Bedford Park Westerhall Grenada 27-Year

5. Alambique Serrano - Alambique de Cobre

4. Habitation Velier Hampden PM Spirits / Prestige-Ledroit Blend

3. Roaming Road Belize 18-Year

2. Renaissance Clouded Leopard

1. Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Series #1: Pico Canoa

Will's Top 10 List:

10. Black Tot Historic Solera Blend

9. Hampden 1753

8. Foursquare Exceptional Cask Selection: Mandamus

7. Papalin Jamaica High Ester

6. Renaissance Clouded Leopard

5. Mhoba Rum: The Shaldon

4. Bristol Classic Rum Jamaica DOK 2009

3. Hampden The Maverick

2. Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Series #1: Pico Canoa

1. El Dorado High Ester Blend #2: PM/DHE

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we sat down with the founder and distiller behind one of the most interesting rum projects in the U.S. right now, Robyn Smith of rum et al., a chemical engineering PhD turned rum distiller.

The premise behind Rum Et Al is simple but fascinating. Robyn started with a foundational, always-available rum she named Baseline. She's since released batches in which she introduces a "variable" to the Baseline recipe, such as dunder. This allows you to taste the exact differences that the variable brings to the flavor profile when tasted side by side. If you're a rum geek, it's a really cool tasting experience.

During the episode, we discussed:

How she went from chemical engineering PhD to rum distiller

Her experience in R&D for Lost Spirits Distillery

How rum et al. came to be

All the nerdy rum production details

The joys and challenges of being a one-woman operation

Congeners vs. esters

How ester measurements translate to flavor profile

What we might see from her next

And much more!

Be sure to check out her YouTube channel, This Blog's Neat! These videos about her rum et al. releases are a great place to start:

How Baseline Was Made

How Variable (Dunderclap) Was Made

How Variable (Tailspin) Was Made

Have you had a chance to try Robyn's rum? What stood out to you in the conversation? Let us know via email (host@rumcast.com) or social!

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Sometimes we get in the mood to do something a little crazy, and this episode is one of those times.

After the debut of the latest musical number from John Gulla (don't miss this one), we spend 60 minutes putting a big dent in our backlog of rum samples by tasting and sharing rapidfire thoughts on 10 interesting rums each, for a total of 20.

We set a timer for two minutes and 30 seconds for each sample, leaving ourselves some extra time at the end to discuss our favorites, what we learned from the exercise, and more.

From recent releases like Papalin Jamaica High Ester Blend, to classics like Rhum Bielle Blanc, to up-and-coming producers like Taiwan's Renaissance Distillery and Australia's Mt. Uncle Distillery (including an Australian agave cask finish??), to recently closed distilleries like Japan's Nine Leaves, to soon-to-be-released rums that we saved as surprises — the range is wide and vast, just like the category of rum and John's vocal range.

You can check out the complete list of rums below, or just dive right into the episode!

After you've listened, let us know — have you tried any of these rums? If so, what did you think of them?

Cheers!

Complete List of Rums Sampled:

Oxbow Rhum Louisiane 2022 Harvest (United States)

Uruapan Cana Cristalina Single Agricola (Mexico)

Below the Salt L'Ardois JaQ (Nova Scotia)

Velier Nine Leaves 2023 Last Drops (Japan)

Botran Rare Blend - Italian Wine Cask (Guatemala)

Grander Toasted Oak Small Batch (Panama)

Rum & Cane - Asia Pacific XO (Fiji / Indonesia Blend)

Mt. Uncle Iridium X (Australia)

Crooked Island Rum - Waterman (Jamaica / Dominican Republic Blend)

Mt. Uncle Iridium X Agave Cask Edition (Australia)

Dràm Mòr Single Cask - Secret Distillery 7-Year (Mauritius)

Foursquare Magisterium (Barbados)

Rhum Bielle Blanc (Marie Galante, Guadeloupe)

Papalin Jamaica High Ester (Jamaica)

Renaissance 2018 Pedro Ximenez Sherry Cask (Taiwan)

Raising Glasses Full Circle Blend (8 Countries)

4 Surprise Rums (3 of which haven't been released yet)

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

If you keep up with rum releases it's been pretty hard to ignore the arrival of Alambique Serrano's Vida Nativa series — 5 limited release bottles from the Oaxacan cane juice rum producer that feature a wide range of interesting cask types, different stills, and distinct flavor profiles (watermelon cucumber water?).

In this episode, we tasted through 4 out of the 5 bottles, plus the new 3-year blend that's designed to be their first always available release. Along the way we debated our favorites, discussed a possible early favorite rum of the year, revealed John's secret connection to a beloved pop music icon, and much more.

We cover the specs of each release during the show, but if you'd like to follow along, the Alambique Serrano website has all the details here.

Have a listen and let us know what you think of these rums if you've been able to taste them!

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we invited Grander founder Dan DeHart on the show to break down the making of an atypical new unaged rum called Cane Harvest. Unlike the vast majority of rums that come out of Panama, this rum is made of 100% heavy column rum that typically only serves as a blending component with lighter-bodied rums. It's a fascinating glimpse at a type of rum we don't often get to experience on its own.

You can watch the video version of this episode here.

We talked to Dan about:

How an idea to recreate the defunct Caña Brava rum led to this much different rum

The source of the rum (hint: it's not from Las Cabras, the distillery where Grander has sourced all of its other rums to date)

What makes this heavy style of column still rum different

Whether we'll see an aged version of this rum

How Grander has evolved over the last 5 years

Most successful and most unsuccessful secondary maturations

And much more!

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, after a quick discussion of potential bottles for our Rumcast Single Cask Project, we dive into all things charanda with Miriam Pacheco, the general manager of Uruapan Charanda.

If you're familiar with the aguardientes de caña from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, think of charanda like their cousin from the state of Michoacán — a similar Mexican cane spirit that is often made from fresh sugarcane juice, but can also be made from molasses or piloncillo. Once among the hundreds of charanda producers in the state, Uruapan is now one of only two or three remaining. Miriam talked us through the distillery's 100+ year history, including:

What separates charanda from other Mexican cane spirits

Why they put "rum" in quotation marks on their label

Why the number of charanda producers has dwindled over the years

The range of distillates they produce from their collection of pot and column stills

Their newer line of single cane varietal rums

What you might find aging in their warehouse of 400+ casks

And much more!

As we've said before, there's no shortage of interesting cane spirits coming out of Mexico these days. Uruapan is definitely one of them.

Check out these links to learn more:

Uruapan Charanda website

Imbibe article on charanda

The Rumcast Guide to Mexican Rum

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

In this episode, we're excited to bring you the first public window into American Cane — the new American rum company that announced Maggie Campbell would be joining as CEO back in October.

If you've been listening to the show for a while, you'll know that we've followed Maggie's career closely from her days leading Privateer Rum to her more recent work at Mount Gay's Estate Rum Program. So ever since the announcement came that she would be returning to American rum, tons of rum enthusiasts have been waiting for more details.

Disclosure:As discussed in the intro,Will has served on American Cane's advisory board since 2022.

We sat down with Maggie and the co-founder of American Cane, Darin Vest, to get as many answers as we could to questions like:

What exactly is American Cane, and how did it begin?

What kinds of rum can we expect to see from them (and when)?

Is there a distillery? Where will it be located?

How is the role of CEO different from Maggie's past roles at rum companies?

Where does American rum stand stylistically, and where is it headed?

What do the next five years look like for the company?

And a whole lot more!

Relevant links:

American Cane website

Maggie Campbell Instagram

Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

At long last, the day arrived — we visited the Main Rum Company in person to taste through dozens of incredible rum casks in search of the perfect one for our ongoing single cask project! In this episode, we take you inside the journey (and inside the warehouse itself) to show you exactly what it’s like to pick a rum cask for release.

You'll hear about:

A step-by-step breakdown of the entire in-person tasting day at Main Rum

What a rum cask "offer sheet" looks like (and the types of casks they pulled for us) — check out the video version for a closer look at this

The unusual brief we gave Main Rum on the types of casks we were seeking

Standout casks we tasted throughout the day

Excerpts from inside the warehouse as we tasted our way through unforgettable casks

And much more!

Our goal was to make it feel like you are there with us, so we included a lot of clips we captured inside the warehouse. Have a listen, and let us know what else you’d like to learn about the process!