Get to Know Us in 5 Rums: Tashtego

Take a stroll with us through five bottles that have been part of our “rum journey.” The idea is to share some of the things we’ve liked over the years, a few of the bottles that got us deeper into this hobby, and hopefully give you some context to better understand our tastes. We’ll start out with Tashtego’s five bottles.

I got into rum through the tiki scene. I’ve been into tiki since I was a teenager. The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland is a great gateway into the world of tiki. One of the first dates I went on with my wife was at the (now closed) Trader Vic’s in the basement of the Palmer House hotel in Chicago. (I still have the swizzle stick from that night.) I keep a list in my Notes app of all the tiki bars I’ve been to, and I’ve included Zombie glasses from a couple of my favorites in this picture. 

I chose this Hamilton bottle because it represents when I started taking rums more seriously. Like a lot of home bartenders, I had figured I could make whatever tiki drinks I needed with Bacardi, Kraken, etc. When a neighbor bought me a copy of Martin and Rebecca Cate’s Smuggler’s Cove cocktail book, that started to change. The Cates include a rum classification system and a list of recommended rums. First I tried to get one bottle of each of the rum categories - then I started to acquire a whole lot more. 

This Zombie Blend came out around the time I was getting my home bar started, and it was a real revelation. First of all, it’s a collab with Beachbum Berry, the rum expert and cocktail historian responsible for chasing down a lot of the original Don the Beachcomber recipes (like the Zombie), many of which are included in the Smuggler’s Cove book. Second, it’s a high-proof blend that simplifies the mixing of a Zombie by combining the three different rums that recipe calls for into one bottle. Lastly, it’s just plain delicious. The nose is sweet and rich, and it’s perfectly sippable for something that’s created specifically to mix with.

Ed Hamilton absolutely belongs on the Mount Rushmore of rum legends, and this bottle shows what he’s great at - making rums that have purpose. And what a steal this is at around $40 for a liter of 59% rum. When I think of great tiki drink rums, this bottle is one of the first to come to mind.

Rum #1: Hamilton Beachbum Berry’s Zombie Blend

When you visit a tiki bar, you quickly realize “Hey, most of this stuff is made with rum.” There’s a reason for that: rum is the best and most diverse spirit in the world. And it’s nice when those bars take their rums seriously. One of the best tiki bars in the Chicago area is Hala Kahiki in River Grove. It’s an old school establishment adorned with original Witco artwork and Polynesian decor.  It also has an extensive list of cocktails (and rums in the back bar).  About four years ago they had a launch party for this release they did with Barrell Craft Spirits, and Pickwick and I were in attendance.

What I remember most about that night is a Barrell rep coming by our table with little plastic glasses to let us try the rum. I hadn’t had many overproof rums at that point, so I asked him how he’d recommend using such a high ABV rum. He wasn’t bothered by the proof at all; in fact, he said, “Oh, I don’t even sip anything that’s under 50%.” Pickwick and I looked at each other like “Who’s this drunk?” It seemed crazy to me back then to sip a rum that’s almost 65%. Jump to 2026, and we just reviewed a rum that was bottled at 73.4%. That night was an important step in our appreciation for cask strength spirits.

I’ve made it most of the way through this bottle at this point. You can see where the two owners of Hala Kahiki signed the bottle that evening after I bought it. While I collected bottles I like more by now, this is still a great sipper. There are rums from Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique and Guyana in here. I get a lot of the Jamaica, which I assume is Worthy Park based on the profile. It’s still pretty hot to me, but there’s a lot to like. It’s great in a cocktail as well.

Rum #2: Barrell Private Release Hala Kahiki 4 Country Blend

This blog is called Ester Island because we love high ester rum. And Hampden Estate is the Mecca of high esters. The first Hampden I tried was the 2022 Hampden Great House, widely regarded as the best Great House blend ever produced. The first Hampden I bought was this gem, HLCF Classic bottled at 60%. 

It’s hard to describe the Hampden profile in a helpful way. You can talk about grilled pineapple and hogo funk, but it’s a lot more than that. You know it when you taste it. The funky part of this is overripe fruit and maybe some rotting vegetation. That may not sound particularly appealing, but it’s an exciting flavor - it’s very much alive. Here in the Midwest, after a long winter, sometimes you’ll have a warm spring day and there’s the smell of mulch in a garden. That to me is the Hampden nose - things growing and blooming.

If you’re looking for a good expression of Hampden funk, I think HLCF Classic is your safest bet. First of all, it’s widely available at premium liquor stores. Unlike some of the Hampdens we’ve reviewed from independent bottlers that sell out quickly, this expression is an evergreen offering from Hampden. At around $90, it’s also priced pretty fairly for something with 4 years of tropical age at 60%. (It’s certainly a much better deal than Hampden 1753, the same mark with less age and proofed way down that usually costs only a few bucks less.) 

While it doesn’t have some of the complexity of the highest ester marks (DOK, HGML), the HLCF Classic gives you the funky Jamaican experience you want. And since it’s relatively affordable (for what it is) and widely available, you can feel free to mix with it. This is awesome in a Kingston Negroni or as part of a Mai Tai. It would plus up any cocktail that calls for aged molasses rum.

I don’t know if I’ll ever like another distillery more than Hampden, and this bottle was a really fun entry point.

Rum #3: Hampden Estate HLCF Classic

Two years ago our family went on vacation to the island of Saint Lucia. It’s one of the most naturally beautiful places on Earth. It’s almost impossibly lush, the Caribbean Sea is a gorgeous color of blue, and the pair of mountains called the Pitons that rise up in the southern part of the island look like something out of a video game. It’s a wild place covered in jungle and dotted with forested hills and mountains.

I had a chance to visit Saint Lucia Distillers while I was there. Our resort had a day trip you could book where a van drove you to the distillery for a guided tour. I love the way a distillery smells, it’s yeast and malt and dark sugar. We got to see the four different stills they have, browse the aging warehouse, check out their molasses pipeline that pumps molasses from ships docked in a nearby harbor, and of course we got to taste some rum. You could actually pour as much as you wanted of any of about 15 different rums. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

I found this bottle at Binny’s shortly after I returned from that trip. It’s a single cask 12-year old pot still rum bottled at 62.9%, and it is fantastic. I get cherries and brown sugar with some floral esters. It’s a powerhouse rum, packed with flavor. The way this tastes makes me feel like I’m back in Saint Lucia. It’s not anything specific that I ate or drank there, it’s more of a feeling and a general sense memory of being on the beach at night listening to the crickets. This rum manages to capture the essence of the island, and that’s one of the coolest things about rum. Since it’s such a diverse spirit, you can travel the globe just by sampling a few bottles and get an idea of what some of the endemic flavors are of those places. It’s nice to have a bottle that reminds you of a memorable trip.

Rum #4: Chairman’s Reserve Single Cask Spiribam John Dore Pot Still

This last rum represents a rum journey and the exotic frontiers of rum. If you’re not familiar with the Rumcast, it’s a podcast “that helps you navigate the world of rum by talking to the people who shape it.” The hosts, Will and John, started a project last year to bottle their own rums. They flew to Liverpool and visited The Main Company (which warehouses and ages rum from all over the world) and ended up selecting two casks - this one from Mauritius and a Versailles VSG from Guyana. The most interesting thing to me and other listeners is that they brought us all along for the ride, commenting not only on the cask selection process but also sharing financial details, how they sourced the bottle, how they approached distribution, etc. It was fun to follow along and, at the end of it, be able to buy these bottles we’d heard so much about.

This Mauritius rum is from Distillerie de Labourdonnais, and it’s a 5-year aged cane juice rum bottled at 63%. This is one of those rums where I had one taste and immediately ordered myself a bottle. It’s a very unique expression, especially for a cane juice rum. It’s so floral and delicate, while also giving you red fruits and vanilla. MLMO is a fun bottle that ended up being a bonus pick that the Rumcast crew surprised us with. As of this writing, the Rumcast Reserve bottles are still available on Raising Glasses.

I chose this bottle because it’s the culmination of two rum lovers’ journey. It’s also quite exotic, coming from a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Every rum aficionado is on some kind of voyage, and you never know quite where a rum is going to take you. It’s fun to be surprised.

Rum #5: Rumcast Reserve Single Cask Mauritius MLMO