Rum Talk

About Me

Name: Luis Ayala
Location: United States

Luis K. Ayala is no stranger to rum. With over a decade of hands-on experience, from judging at international rum competitions and tastings to assisting distilleries in the production of new rums, he has witnessed -and written- about all aspects of the rum industry. His books include: The Rum Experience, The Encyclopedia of Rum Drinks, The 2002-2003 Rum Buyer's Guide and the upcoming American Rum. In 2001, Mr. Ayala, along with his wife and partner, Margaret, founded Rum Runner Press Inc., a company devoted to servicing the needs of the rum industry, from education and training. Mr. Ayala's reputation as a rum lover and an expert in the field is well known. To date he is the most published rum author in the world. In September of 2002 he received the International Rum Festival's Platinum Award for his "Global education and promotion of rum." Luis and Margaret Ayala have visited many of the leading producers of rum around the world. They offer consulting services to the rum industry, in the form of Seminars, Tasting Classes, Competition Logistics, Organoleptic Assessments and Product Development. Luis and Margaret are also Directors and Instructors at The Rum University.

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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Flavored Rums vs. Rum-based Liqueurs

With the increasing number of coconut, mango, vanilla, coffee, pineapple, etc., flavored rums even tasting like rum, I'm left thinking that consumers interested in these products are not really going after the flavor of rum but rather after the illusions associated with the particular flavoring agents. When is a "Coconut Rum" real? When the predominant taste is rum or coconut? If the dominant flavor is coconut, and there is not perceivable trace of "aged" rum on the base alcohol, perhaps the product should be referred to as a "Coconut-flavored rum liqueur" or, more precisely, a "Coconut-flavored sugarcane spirit".

Should a person who drinks flavored rums consider himself/herself a rum drinker? What do you think?

posted by Luis Ayala | 9:35 AM | 8 comments

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Cosumer Rum Blending

I recently visited my friend (and fellow rum judge) Pat Davidson. He prepared me a delicious (ok, it was more than one) Rum and Coke. What made these drinks special was the fact that he did not use one rum, but rather the fact that he mixed two of them (in this particular occasion he mixed Bacardi 8 and Pyrat).

I wonder how many rum drinkers out there have ventured into the world of creating their own blends.... I for one, have created a "house blend" that includes about 90% Ron Botrán Añejo (12 years old), 8% Ron Zacapa Centenario (23 years old) and 2% Hallmark Demearara (25 years old). The resulting blend is only slightly more expensive to produce than the Botran Añejo is by itself, yet is very good sipping, on ice or in cocktails.

It reminds of my beer-drinking days, when my friends and I would visit Waterloo Brewing Company and get creative with their brews. A very palatable combination was 1/2 pint of O'Henry's Porter and the other half of Ed's Best Bitter.

Anyone else out there experimenting with their spirits?

posted by Luis Ayala | 12:54 PM | 2 comments

Friday, April 08, 2005

Upcoming rum trip and reviews

We are exploring the possibility of publishing our rum reviews as blogs instead of as PDF articles. Let us know what you think about it. Also, we're going to be travelling in May 2005 to Hawaii to visit a distillery in Maui. Details about our trip will come soon, so stay tuned.

posted by Luis Ayala | 5:06 PM | 1 comments