Salt Lake received a diplomatic visit from the Ministry of Rum this week.
Neither the Mayor nor the Guvnor was there to welcome him, thank goodness, but 35 avid bartenders showed up to welcome Ed Hamilton and hear what he had to say about his favorite subject. And taste rum, courtesy the Utah chapter of the Utah Bartenders Guild.
Google “cocktail trends 2017” and chances are you’ll read about rum.
‘Is it the new tequila?’ asks one article. Well, of course it isn’t, but the tot that kept the British Navy afloat for centuries is finally getting the respect it deserves. Go to Ed’s website ministryofrum.com and you can get a crash course in rum distilling from the Minister himself, a former engineer who lives on a sloop in the Caribbean and researches (and sells) rum for a living.
He’s written a number of books on rum (a project he says was hard to get started because “You don’t have much credibility looking for a publisher for a book on rum when you’re sailing in the Caribbean drinking the best rums you can find in the name of research.” Most of the books are out of print now, but you can still find them on amazon.com.
Of course, The Minister recently introduced his own rum label. You can maybe find them at a DABC store, but for sure you’ll be able to find it in a good bar: the bartenders (from HSL, from Under Current, from Tinwell, from Lake Effect, from Tradition, from Water Witch) who listened to Ed’s ruminations (haha) all reconvened at the Witch.
So, keep an eye out for rum in Salt Lake magazine’s September Farm to Glass Cocktail Contest.
