In each one of our fermentations, we dilute our molasses in order to achieve a previously determined Brix %. In the sugar industry a brix percentage is not just the amount of sucrose in a particular solution; it is the measure of dissolved solids in that solution. This includes sucrose, invert,  and ash.

Our goal in each fermentation is to get the highest alcohol yield without compromising our desired flavor. Generally more total sugars in the molasses will lead to the maximum possible levels of alcohol production, yet more sucrose can be left behind untouched. This can lead to a batch that is hard to distill to the desired proof and a product that is much “hotter” in taste.

Our current molasses is a blend of blackstrap (last) molasses, the by-product of the milling process, and high sucrose % syrups. The mill that we visited this last week has offered to sell us B-cut molasses, which is very hard to come by for a general purchase. In order to sell this product, the mill will cut several thousand of gallons out of their production cycle. The cut will take place in between the second and third centrifuge shown in the simplistic mill diagram on the right. This cut will still have all the sucrose that will be taken out of the last cycle, and will have a much higher percentage of ash content than the cane juice or syrup in the beginning.

ONOR is very excited to have the opportunity to experiment with and potentially purchase B-cut molasses from a mill just down the road. Regardless of the outcome of the experimental batches, ONOR will continue to produce the highest quality rums in the world from our tiny distillery on the edge of Gentilly.

If the results are good and we switch our molasses blend, our customers will be the first to know. I was thinking something like: OLd New Orleans RUm: “The NeW Crystal” —- Maybe?

Standing next to a gleaming 200 gallon still, between blue oil-drums full of molasses and a couple hundred oak barrels of aging rum, Mark Stewart and Jonathan Kline stand with an acquired patience. On a day when they’re not doing any distilling, they’re watching rum age.  At least until a shipment of their new bottles arrives.  An order for 500 cases has to be hand bottled and hand labeled.

The idea of making rum in Louisiana seemed simple, but they had no idea how long it would take to get the first bottle of New Orleans Rum, or N.O. Rum, to market.  Their progress has been steady but slow.  The process of meeting the rigorous demands for a distilling license, aging the rum and bottling it by hand has been everything but quick.  Now though, they believe they’re right on time.  Just like premium vodkas and tequilas, the market for premium rum is expected to take off.

“We’re making rum where there is all this sugar cane,” Stewart says.  ”I wondered why no-one else was doing it.  Then we found out why: it’s really difficult.” The laws created after Prohibition make starting a distillery business very difficult both legally and financially.  By the book, it takes time.  The two distillers began building the distillery more than five years ago.  But they didn’t bottle their first batch until February 1998.

Getting a distilling license requires the patience of knowing that any return on investment may be a long time coming.  A license to distill is only issued after the still is built.  Before any liquor is produced, the facility must pass state, federal and city inspections.  Compliance with all applicable regulations leaves Stewart and Kline bottling their rum in what they call the “bomb room.” Because filtering and hand bottling releases alcohol vapors into the air, fire safety codes require immense precautions.  The vault-like room has a six-foot reinforced concrete floor, explosion-proof lighting and a door sturdy enough to resist thousands of pounds of pressure.

The rest of the warehouse is an unassuming converted metal shop.  Rows of barrels fill most of the floor space, with a cluster of molasses drums in one corner and a couple of rattling industrial fans coaxing a breeze in through the back garage door.  The still looks like a giant cartoonish gas tank with a large thermometer standing up at one end.  A couple of thin pipes rise fifteen feet, drape over a wall and then descend down to a valve.  Next to it is a large jar full of clear, distilled rum.

The idea of distilling a local rum came from painter James Michalopoulos, whose work adorns the rum’s label.  He enlisted Kline, Stewart, business manager Jed McSpadden, and a handful of investors into the project.  They soon realized that there were no locals to learn from.  Their company, Celebration Distillation, is the only licensed alcoholic beverage distiller in the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco’s tri-state region.  They sought out experienced distillers for advice, including a retired Dutch distiller living in Baton Rouge.  ”People were guiding us on the phone,” Stewart says of their first batches.  They have visited distilleries in other countries, consulted distillers around the world and had a few visit their warehouse, including a master distiller of Scotch.

The rum they’ve crafted is more worthy of a snifter than a sweet mixer.  They  start with a high-quality, edible molasses, while many inexpensive rums are made from cheaper cane syrups.  Much of the flavor comes out in the distilling.  Though rum comes our clear like vodka, their rum develops flavor from being distilled at a lower proof, or percentage of alcohol, than spirits, like vodka.  The rich, carmel color comes from at least two years of aging in charred white oak barrels. The wood mellows the rum’s flavor and gives it distinct characteristics, combining the hints of sweetness from the molasses with an earthy character and subtle vanilla flavor from the oak.  It is filtered several times before the finished product is bottled.

Upscale rumes are just gaining recognition.  Rum is one of the world’s most commonly distilled and consumed spirits.  It’s most popular in sweet concoctions in tropical climates, especially the Caribbean.  But the actual distilling varies greatly from country to country and even according to colonial distilling influences (ie British or French).  Heave body, colored rums have stronger flavors, Kline says.  Many of the better known Caribbean rums, such as Haiti’s Barbancourt or Jamaica’s Appleton, are now offering aged vintages, some as old as 15 years.  Bacardi, the largest liquor producer in the world, is also offering a high end rum.

New Orleans Rum is available in six states but is growing and trying to expand its market.  But with a maximum barrel capacity of 6,000 cases, they are far smaller than the liquor industry’s newly popular “small batch” spirits, especially bourbons. Because there isn’t much incentive for liquor distributors to move small quantities, Kline and Stewart also promote the product.  ”If a new place opens, we carry a bottle over,” Stewart says.

It has been well received in bars and restaurants.  Several notable local restaurants, including Commander’s Palace and Bayona, have taken it into the kitchen, adding new flavors to sauces and dishes.  ”It makes a killer bananas foster,” Stewart says.  But they prefer it in cocktails, like a mix of rum and ginger beer (spiced ginger ale) called a “Partly Cloudy.” Or a mix of rum, orange juice and a splash of grenadine called a “Gentilly Sunrise.” Named for the neighborhood where they distill the rum, they hope it will help people remember to ask for New Orleans Rum by name.

At Tales of the Toddy last week, a Hotel Monteleone ballroom was jammed with people who enjoyed tastes of many fun holiday cocktails and desserts, as well as shopping, networking and cocktail talk.  Organizer Ann Rogers had all the participants make their recipes available, so I wasn’t the only one to leave with a big fistful of new favorites.

The food lines were longest for the Pelican Club’s spicy rum shrimp with cranberries, citrus and chiles, which was spicy, fruity, delicious.

The Pelican Club’s spicy rum shrimp with cranberries, citrus and chiles:

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup diced sweet peppers

6 hot chiles, minced

1/4 cup diced sweet onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

8 ounces cranberries

1 cup diced pineapple

1 pound jumbo deveined shrimp

3 bay leaves

2 ounces Old New Orleans dark rum

Juice and zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon kosher salt

In a large skillet, melt butter and saute the sweet peppers, chiles, onion, garlic, cranberries and pineapple until softened.  Add shrimp, bay leaves, rum, orange juice and zest and salt.  Cook until shrimp are done. Remove the shrimp and keep warm.  Reduce the sauce and serve with the shrimp.

One of the most interesting hot drinks was the Flippin’ Flip, made by Wayne Curtis and based on a colonial drink that was heated with a hot poker, Curtis said.

Curtis is a freelance journalist and author of “And a Bottle of Rum: The History of the New World in 10 Cocktails” who moved from Maine to New Orleans post-Katrina, in large part because, as he writes on www.waynecurtis.com, “It’s easily the most authentic and distinctive American city.  And really, if your interests revolved around history, architecture, preservation, and drinking, where the hell else would you go?”

Do not let the ingredients list fool you.  This is yummy, and the leftover ginger syrup could be quite useful in holiday cooking and baking.

Wayne Curtis’ Flippin’ Flip

1 1/2 ounces Old New Orleans Crystal Rum

2 ounces Abita Amber beer

3/4 ounce maple syrup

3/4 ounce ginger syrup

1/2 ounce juice of Meyer lemon

Fresh nutmeg

Combine all ingredients except the nutmeg in a saucepan and heat until steaming but not boiling.  Pour into a mug and grate fre unpeeled sh nutmeg over the surface.

*Ginger syrup: Combine 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil.  Take off heat and add about 4 ounces chopped fresh ginger (is fine).  Let sit until cooled.  Strain into a bottle.  Will keep, refrigerated, a couple of weeks.

New Orleans Rum Bar Towel

(If you’re one of the lucky first 100 to register for the Crawl at Molly’s)

1. Tomorrow when you’re sweating out your Old New Orleans Rum at the gym, you’re gonna need a towel to dab at your forehead, neck and other sweaty places. We’ll be there for you.
   *Hashers, this is great for you for that reason alone.
2. For those impromptu skinny-dipping sessions (especially in this loopy weather). We don’t advise this after the crawl and please keep to your own pools and bathtubs.
3. Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras are coming up and you’re going to need your Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel for a good many reasons, some possibly having to do with Porta-potty doors and wet grass. I’m just sayin’, we’ll come through in the clutch.
4. We would never suggest bringing Old New Orleans Rum in your vehicle, but an Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel is a must when it comes to your car. Whether it’s changing the oil or filling up your tires with air, that grease begs to be rubbed off your fingers with one of our immaculately white yet incredibly awesome Old New Orleans Rum tagged Bar Towels.
5. Second Lines are a local spontaneous act of Follow The Leader. Be that Leader. Break out your “just-so-happened-to-be-on-hand” Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel and lead away!
6. Use your Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel to patch up that ole’ hot air balloon you’ve been meaning to fly around the world in again after that last failed attempt that dropped you floating the Nile, where you found out the true meaning of a nasty mosquito.
7. I understand some of you will be men receiving these terry cloth works of art. Show the women in your life how cultured you truly are by framing your Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel thing of beauty. Maybe give it to her for Valentines Day and remind her that you used it to clean up her not so attractive throw up the night you met.
8. College students, Old New Orleans Rum is looking out for your best interest (if you’re 21 years of age or older, of course). Let’s face it…everyone’s getting sick of wiping their hands off on their clothes after leaving your bathroom. Voila! A handcrafted Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel that doubles as a hand towel! You’ll be the talk of the University with these puppies. Screw the bathroom scented candles.
9. What would Saints & Hornet games be without a rally towel? Bring your Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel to cheer on the other celebrities of the Crescent City. Don’t let that pricey beer you bought in the Dome get warm! Use your Old New Orleans Rum Towel as a makeshift Coozie. McGuiver would be proud!
10. And, most obviously, clean your bar with it! If you don’t have one, get one, stock it with Old New Orleans Rum, and then wipe it down with your coveted Limited Edition, “can’t-get-anywhere-else” Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel.

If you have any awesome or witty uses for your Old New Orleans Rum Bar Towel, send them to morgan@neworleansrum.com and we’ll post them with your name!

Hip Hip Horray, for repeal day!

Hip hip hooray, for Repeal Day! Instead of pouring one out for all those who thirsted for a sip of spirit during the 13 years of Prohibition, shoot it back and thank those liquor lovers for their hard work in determination 75 years ago!

On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment put a smack-down on the 18th Amendment, thus allowing us to enjoy our spirits today. If it weren’t for this repeal, Old New Orleans Rum would still be a twinkle in James Michalopoulos’ eye.

If you want to enjoy this evening right, like they did on that glorious day, you’ll have yourself a Rum Runner, in honor of the most infamous (in our opinion awesome-est) rum runner, William McCoy, on the 21st hour to commemorate the amendment.

Enjoy. Drink Up. “Stay Wet!”

Christmas Package

This year you’re going to be the one who’s giving out the best presents. No more namby-pamby gift cards or kitschy mugs for those you will bestow gifts on this year. You’re going to give them the best bottle of Rum they’ll ever taste and they’ll thank you for years to come. You’re going to give them Old New Orleans Rum.

Click here to read more about our award-winning Rums. And who says you have to send a bottle to your friends? We won’t tell if you give the gift of good taste to yourself.

You can purchase Old New Orleans Rum at any Rouse’s, or if you’re not from around these parts, DrinkUpNY.com is our online distributor. We also offer gift certificates for our fabulous tours given at the Distillery on Frenchmen as well as Old New Orleans Rum merchandise in our tasting room. Eat, drink Old New Orleans Rum and be merry this holiday season!

Till the next round,
ONO

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters Life!) – As well as flooding it with water and stinking mud, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 also gave the Old New Orleans Rum distillery a new lease of life, plus a new brand of rum and a series of awards.

“Ever since the storm people around the country have been very sympathetic to products from New Orleans,” said Ben Gersh, general manager at the distillery.

“We happen to make a very good product in New Orleans,” he added.

Founded in 1995 by local artist James Michalopoulos – whose vividly colored oil paintings of ornate, balconied buildings in the city’s French Quarter adorn the inside of Old New Orleans Rum bottle labels – the distillery was a small venture producing a few hundred cases before the hurricane hit almost three years ago.

Now the distillery – run by Michalopoulos’ company Celebration Distillation – is in the process of boosting production up to 9,000 cases a year due to demand.

“It’s amazing to think that in just three years since Katrina we have gone from a mud pile to a world-class producer of rum,” said distiller Chris Sule, a former brewer.

After the hurricane that flooded more than 85 percent of the city Gersh said no one knew what to expect when workers were allowed back into the distillery.

“Most of the equipment is stainless steel so that was easy to clean up,” he said. “The big question was what had happened to the rum we had here in the barrels and whether we were still in business.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that only six barrels were contaminated by the flood waters while one floated away and was never found.

HIDDEN TREASURE

While testing all the barrels for contaminants, workers stumbled upon 17 barrels of 10-year-old rum that had been forgotten. The company bottled it and sells it to a few bars around the country.

“We don’t sell this 10-year-old in New Orleans because if we sold it to one bar everyone would insist on having it,” Gersh said.

“For us, the 10-year-old rum shows that good things can come out of terrible events.”

The awards haven’t hurt either. At the 2008 International Rum Festival Competition all four types of rum made by Old New Orleans Rum – a clear variety, a three-year-old, its Cajun-spiced brand and the 10-year-old – won medals.

Gersh said the three-year-old rum, in particular, is a local favorite on Bourbon Street for mixing mojitos – a cocktail made with rum, lime, mint fine sugar and soda water.

He added that the secret of the distillery’s success is that it uses molasses in the distilling process.

“We’re also the first distillers to say we’re a real American rum and proud of it, and that resonates with rum drinkers,” Gersh said.

The distillery runs daily tours, including a sampling of Old New Orleans Rum.

“We try to do find something new, local and original once in while and this is the best thing we’ve found yet,” said Gayle Klein, a local resident who took a recent tour.

Pointing to a mark on the wall about eight feet (2.4 meters) from the ground, Toni Serpas, who was also on the tour, said: “Just look at that. It’s amazing how far they’ve come since Katrina,”

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Biggest client: Republic Beverage Co. is the distributor

Where they’re based: Lower 9th Ward

Top executive: James Michalopoulos, owner and president

Year introduced: 1995

2007 sales: 2008 year-to-date sales show an increase of 66.7 percent over 2007 year-to-date sales, which were 30 percent more than 2006 sales

OLD NEW ORLEANS RUM, like the city it is named for, is rich in complexity and flavor.  The handcrafted rum recently took several awards at the 2008 International Rum festival, capturing worldwide attention.

Owner and President, James Michalopoulos, a local artist, became enamored with the idea of making his own rum after he sampled a friend’s homemade spirits.  After two years of perfecting the engineering of his still, ingredients and the distillation process, Michalopoulos put his product ont he market in 1995.  Every part of the process reflects the attention to detail of an artist, which from the beginning has distinguished Old New Orleans Rum from mass-produced spririts, said Ben Gersh, managing director.

“We have engineered a perfume still into a double distillation pot and column that gives us a purer alcohol with a more complex flavor profile,” Gersh said.  ”Most people either use one or the other.  Many distillers add the rum flavors at the end, but my secret is through the process.  Everything is done by hand, the traditional way.”

And Old New Orleans Rum uses only the freshest, Louisiana-made ingredients.

Using molasses, instead of refined sugar, and fresh herbs and spices in the distillation process rather than adding them at the end contribute to Old New Orleans Rum’s unique flavor.

“Rum is the hardest to make of all the spirits,” Gersh said, and not something that is typically embraced by American distilleries.  As young as it is, Old New Orleans Rum boasts being the oldest rum distillery in the United States in continuous operation.

Old New Orleans Rum has proved itself on the international scene, too, winning the gold medal for its Crystal rum, the silver for Cajun Spice and Amber rums and the bronze for its 10 Year limited release at the 2008 International Rum festival held in January in Tampa, Fla.

The company’s Cajun Spic also has received the highest market rating by the Beverage Tasting Institute the past two years.

Old New Orleans Rum is now distributed in 11 states and has grown from selling a couple hundred cases a year to more than 9,000 cases from August 2007 to August 2008, Gersh said.

“We have sold almost 600 cases in Kentucky since December.  To be able to say you are selling rum in Kentucky, you must be doing something right.”

– N