Some of you may not remember that I was once a serious participant over at the Ministry, until I got into it with the consistently inconsistent, "It's all good" Preacher Ed. Over what you may ask?
Agricultural rum.
Actually these are no more or less than rums made primarily from relatively fresh cane juice (as opposed to rums made from the byproduct of sugar manufacture, ie molasses). Named in a self-serving manner by the French as "agricultural rums", made mostly in the former French Indies (but also a few other countries) and named to distinguish their cane juice rum from what they pejoratively called the "industrial rums" made from, ugh mon ami, molasses.
You see the Preacher is a BIG fan of the AOC, and close to being its head cheerleader. He promoted the AOC agri-rums as though it was the AOC who defined what is and is not cane juice rum. He denied that the world class agricultural rums from Haiti's Barbancourt are indeed agricultural, despite over 150 years of history to the contrary. On different occasions he stated that Barbancourt was made from "fresh cane juice" (his book), "sugar cane syrup" (his weblist of distilleries) and/or from "cane juice, syrup or molasses depending on availability" (in a thread at the Ministry).
He glibly put down respected authors Ian Williams and Dave Broom, both of whom disagreed with his fluctuating position on Barbancourt.
When I pointed out the superiority of Barbancourt's agriculturals to the AOC agriculturals of Martinique, noting the AOC rums inconsistency, relatively average quality and incredible and unjustified high prices - the Preacher erupted into a frothing attack filled with flippant one-liners and put downs. Of course I exited from the Ministry pronto - in toto - and simply deleted my posts. In the spirit of Hotel California, the proprietor Preacher just wouldn't let go.
It just didn't make sense! Until now.
I just learned that the dear Preacher is anything but unbiased. In leaving I'd noted that, like extreme right wing American churches, the Ministry is tied to its state/commercial sponsors and was hardly likely to allow real free speech. But I had no idea how bad it was. According to author Wayne Curtis' blog...
The Preacher was an importer of AOC Niesson and La Favourite rums! And apparently is no stranger to run-in's and controversies of the legal kind. There's no separation of church and state over at the Ministry.Some of the other Martinique rums are imported by Ed Hamilton, who was instrumental in arranging last year's competition. But he and Dori Bryant, who organized the (Ybor City) fest this year, are communicating only through very low-tech means: lawyers. So Ed's rums – Niesson and La Favourite – weren't represented in the competition.
Accordingly, it's no wonder that he put down competitor Barbancourt. It's no wonder that he deleted my posting of Dave Broom's comparative analysis of agriculturals. And it's no wonder that he defends the AOC as insuring quality, when the evidence is quite different. It all makes sense. The Ministry could not appear more biased. So in answer to the question "What's under the Minister's robe?"...
Apparently business contacts. But no cojones of which I am aware...
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Links:
Comparing Agriculturals
Capn Jimbo leaves the Ministry