106: Kuleana Rum Works: Discovering the Big Island's Take on Hawaiian Rum with Steve Jefferson
In this episode, we sat down with Steve Jefferson, co-founder and CEO of Kuleana Rum Works, a distillery on Hawaii's Big Island that's putting their own spin on fresh cane juice rum. From growing their own heirloom Hawaiian sugarcane to sourcing and blending rums from around the world, they have a unique approach that's resulting in some pretty damn good rum. We chatted about: Going from sailing around the Caribbean to starting a rum distillery in Hawaii Working with a 30+ year veteran of Martinique rhum agricole on Kuleana's production process The big gamble Steve made to acquire the 45 acres that became Kuleana's farm Nerdy production and still design details The current state of their aging program How they plan to utilize the 35 varieties of heirloom Hawaiian sugarcane Their relationship with Ko Hana on Oahu Why Kuleana sources and blends rums from around the world in addition to distilling their own Their connection to High West Whiskey Their crowdsourced funding campaign And more! Plus, at the beginning, some rambling thoughts on John's travels in Italy, amaro, chasing the solar eclipse, and the impact of minor ABV differences. You can check out Kuleana's website here (which also has a link to their funding campaign): https://kuleanarum.com/ P.S. 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.