Seven Brother's Erie Island Rums: A Microdistillery in Ohio

[jankdc]

I saw some rums on the shelf recently from a local distillery. I have their vodka, and I like it better than the Absolut and Smirnoff that I usually get.

I couldn't find any information on their rums on their site or on the web, so I emailed the distiller and got some answers.

Currently they have a Silver Rum and Spiced Rum, with a Red Rum lightly aged in Cherry barrels out soon:

I've picked up a bottle of your vodka, but at heart am a rum drinker. I saw that you are now producing rums and had some questions: Where do you get your molasses or cane juice from? Do your use real spices for your spiced rum or do you also use natural flavors? How long do you ferment for? Do you use pot or column distillers? How long will your red rum be aged? Do you use any colorants in the red or spiced rum?

Congratulations and thanks,

Michael
P.S. I'd love to see more information and pictures on your website.

First reply:

Michael,

Thanks for supporting us. You seem to be very knowledgeable about rum. We make our vodka from locally sourced grains. I'd love to say that we buy our sugar cane products from a local farmer as well, but unfortunately sugar cane will not grow in Ohio! So the raw materials for our rum come from a wholesaler. I'm looking for a small sugar cane farmer in the south that can supply me directly, but it is tough to find one.

We have two column stills and I am currently adding a much larger and more efficient still.

We use premium spices for our spiced rum. I order fresh vanilla beans for each batch. All other spices are fresh from Penzy's. Not just real spices, but the best that I can buy! A lot of the major brands buy flavor extracts from outside suppliers. I'm not looking to clone any major brands...my 100 proof spiced rum is very different. Try it mixed with some local apple cider.

I don't use any colorants. Again, most major brands use caramel to add color, but mine is an artisan brand. My philosophy: if someone buys spiced rum based on color, they should buy Sailor Jerry. If they look for spice flavors that are true - not just muted additives - then they will love my 100 proof spiced rum.

My Red Rum is an aged rum that is coming along very nicely. I age it in Cherry wood instead of oak because it gives it a very unique profile. It will age until I feel it is ready to sell. I sampled it again this week and I think that it is very close to ready. My whisky has recently made an amazing transition as well.

My website is pretty bad. I'm updating it next week. Look for us on Facebook - I keep that page updated.

Hopefully it is clear that we don't follow the herd. I just hope that consumers are willing to try something new and different. Sorry for the long answers, that happens after a couple glasses of Seven Brothers Vodka on the rocks!

I'm curious, how did you hear about our Red Rum?

Kevin Suttman
President
Seven Brothers Distilling Company
440-897-9311

SEVEN BROTHERS VODKA
ERIE ISLANDS SILVER RUM
ERIE ISLANDS 100 PROOF SPICED RUM
ERIE ISLANDS RED RUM***COMING SOON
SEVEN BROTHERS GIN***COMING SOON
SEVEN BROTHERS MAPLE WHISKEY***COMING SOON

Thanks for getting back to me. I actually appreciate the long answers.

I found out about the red rum after being frustrated that there wasn't any information on your website : ). So I did a google search for "seven brothers rum". I came across this article. Being a rum sipper, I'm most interested in this rum.

I now buy almost all my wine from Ohio wineries. I like to support the local economy. I'm spending a little more, but am actually drinking a better class of wine.

It was that mentality that made me try your vodka, which I thought was very good. I actually noticed flavors with it (again, I'm more of a rum drinker). My daughter tasted it and said "what is this?". She found it much better than the Absolut that she usually has. I plan to get a couple of bottles as gifts this year.

I'm curious to see how your "low temp" method translates to rum.

I'm excited to know that you're using natural spices for your rum. Is it sweetened?

Also, are you using cane juice or molasses for the ferment?

Thanks again,
Michael

Michael,

Each product is distilled very differently. The vodka is run very slowly and gently through my still using my Low-Temperature process. This captures the subtle and delicate flavors and gives it a very smooth finish. The Rum is run much faster, so I still get the benefit of the smooth finish, but not so much of the delicate flavors. When I run whiskey, the low-temp process really adds an interesting profile.



Our rum is made from both molasses and cane juice. No sweeteners are added.



Cheers!

Currently I am working on gathering a basic reference collection. Hopefully I will be done with that in the spring. I'll then try their rums and try to post some impressions.

Seven Brothers Distillery Website

Seven Brothers Facebook Page

[Capn Jimbo]

Look forward to your review of these rums. We are big backer of independent craft distillers. Bravo to you and to them!

[jankdc]

I was wondering what they were doing with the low temperature distillation, my hunch was they were using some type of vacuum process. It turns out that is what they are doing: Kevin Posted this on Facebook the other day:

We are still working on the final layout of our new still. I have had the help of some industry experts in the design. Outside of the industry, not many people appreciate the complexity and possibilities of vacuum distillation, but the industry folks are very excited about my progress and are more than willing to help!

I still have a long way to go before we can fire it up!

He also talks about it in this article that was jut published.

It could have been much easier to start a distillery if Suttman had taken the pre-fab, easy road. You can buy stills from several companies that sell these devices, which involve a vessel for vaporizing the alcohol with heat and a cooling device to condense the vapor into a drinkable form.

“It’s like plug and play—the manufacturer comes in, installs the still, stays for a week and teaches you how to use it and you are up in business,” Suttman says.

That’s not the way he did it. “I developed a new way to distill,” he says, revealing the mad scientist in him. Actually, Suttman took a lesson from the food industry and how it preserves flavor and aroma by using vacuum technology. His method of distilling involves heating at significantly lower temperatures (he won’t tell how low—it’s a trade secret) and reducing that boiling temperature with the vacuum.

The article is a good read. One thing he intends to do is to start private labeling his spirits. Anyone want to oversee the creation of their own brand of rum?

[Capn Jimbo]

It's not as new as you think...


First, my thanks for a great contribution. We all appreciate your effort and your sharing of this information.

Small distillers always seem to be anxious for a hook, whether it's glacier water or s "secret vacumn process" that is claimed to produce a "smooth sweetness". Take Sammy Hagar, who once invested in "Cabo Wabo" - which was actually well regarded - and then decided to make his own rum from scratch, using the services of a local Hawaiian mad scientist. It's a "small batch rum" made in his Rube Goldgerg looking "...unique handmade pot stills to purify the finished product while leaving the cane's distinct character." It is a nutty structure that looks like a mini oil refinery on LSD. But apparently, it heats the ferment and cools the vapor.

Get the idea?

Mind you, I'm not offended by the claims but honestly, vacumn assist is not really new. I've met Richard Seale whose Foursquare Distillery is known for being ultra modern, clean and environmentally sound (compare to the crude and deteriorating stills of Guyana). His use of vacumn assist (which does lower the distilling temperatures) is done to reduce fuel and energy costs and for other technical reasons that do not include claims of smoothness/sweetness. The output - like all stills - is far more dependent on the skills and decisions of the master distiller.

MOR: "The Foursquare distillery is built on the site of the Foursquare sugar factory which was closed for many years before Richard Seale bought the estate and installed state of the art distilling equipment. A number of innovations are incorporated into the design in an effort reduce the environment impact of the spirits distilled here."

"During fermentation, carbon dioxide is captured, filtered and sold to local gas bottlers. The distillery uses molasses as raw ingredient for fermentation and there is no bagasse to burn to generate steam, the cost of heating the wash is considerable. This multiple-column still operates below atmospheric pressure at a partial vacuum reducing the problem of waste heat as well as reducing the chance of fire associated with large boilers.

After distillation, the spent wash is aerated on a grid of plastic media reducing the oxygen load of the waste water, a common problem facing distillers."

The art of distilling has been around for thousands of years. Many of the world's finest spirits have been made with old fashioned, labor intensive pot stills - which are still the gold standard for quality. There are so many variables from the grain used, the time and method of fermentation, a big factor - the yeast, whether column or pot stilled, the number of distillations and the cut points chosen, and not to mention another art - that of wood aging. To attribute a result to a not so secret vacumn process is really pretty bold, as it leaves out all the other factors, most of which have a great deal to do with the output.

If Seven Sisters has achieved a "smoother, sweeter" product, and regardless of the part played by vacumn, good on them!


A word about vodka comparisons...

Vodka especially is all about marketing, beginning with Sydney Frank and his Grey Goose "super-premium". Up until then, vodka was a get drunk product, sold for $10 to $15 at most. Sydney believed he could triple the price, a claim that other producers found laughable, but he had good reason, stating "It's only alcohol and water. If I can triple the price, it's all profit". His bottle and marketing were legendary. He turned an ordinary, relatively tasteless spirit into a "super premium" - with marketing alone.

There's more...

Can't remember the magazine - it might have been Fortune or one of the like - who created a vodka comparison. They gathered a group of experienced vodka tasters who swore by their own brand, wouldn't drink any other. These loyal drinkers were then presented with a blind tasting test which included their brand and...

You know the rest. They couldn't even identify their own brand. That's vodka for you - a spirit that's all marketing. Small distillers usually start with it because it can be sold without expensive and time consuming aging. They are desperate for a cash flow.


But let's be fair...

I really do appreciate and support small and craft distillers, especially those who who chase the dragon insofar as the art of it all is concerned. I'm less impressed with those who claim a technological break through. Still, my own grandfather was just such a successful inventor and also a manufacturer whose product was just such a breakthrough, so I can't deny that Seven Sisters hasn't achieved something really special.

If he has, Diageo will soon be knocking on this door. Only time - or a sample - will tell.

[Capn Jimbo]

Some Questions...


Here are some questions I'd like to know...

1. What is his raw material for the vodka? For the rum?

2. Can he describe his fermentation and yeast used for each? What kind of water is used?

3. How many columns are used? Is this a variant of a Coffey still?

4. How long does the distillation take? As far as the rum is concerned does he still make cuts? To what percentage is the vodka distilled? The rum?

5. Is there aging of any sort, and if so, how and in what wood? Is the spirit stored at all, in what, and for how long before bottling? Diluted to what proof and with what?

Jan, since you have exchanged email with this gentleman, would you be so kind as to chat him up with these questions? Thanks....

[jankdc]

I've sent your questions, and I expect an answer if a couple of days. In the meantime, I'll take a stab from what I know already:

Here are some questions I'd like to know...

1. What is his raw material for the vodka?

He uses local winter wheat and corn.

For the rum?

He uses molasses and cane juice that he gets from wholesalers.

2. Can he describe his fermentation and yeast used for each? What kind of water is used?

local spring water

Code: Select all

3.   How many columns are used?   Is this a variant of a Coffey still?

4.   How long does the distillation take?  As far as the rum is concerned does he still make cuts?  To what percentage is the vodka distilled?  The rum?

5.   Is there aging of any sort, and if so, how and in what wood?   Is the spirit stored at all, in what, and for how long before bottling?   Diluted to what proof and with what?

I don't think any of the rum is currently aged. He will have a red rum coming out within the next couple of months that is aged not very long is small cherry barrels.

Again, I'll get back to you when I get an answer.

by the way, he has more information on his website regarding the vacuum process:

We are one of the few beverage distilleries in the world that embraces vacuum distillation. Here is the science: by lowering the pressure in our still, we lower the boiling point of the mash. Lowering the boiling point of the mash changes the chemical reactions that occur during distillation. Here is the artistry: by manipulating the still pressure, we can eliminate reactions that damage flavors and aromas, so we can pull through some unique flavors from our mash. We can also eliminate some high temperature reactions which cause harsh flavors. This process also has major advantages when infusing flavors into spirits.

[Capn Jimbo]

Good stuff...


Nice, informative post, thank you. One note: the distillers of cane juice rums have to start the ferments very soon, as the juice begins to ferment very soon after pressing. A few distillers like Barbancourt and St. James remove a bit of water, and are able to keep the juice for a month or two. However, in any event cane juice, unlike molasses, does not keep.

So to add to the questions:

1. Is your cane juice fresh? If not how do you keep it from fermenting?

2. If molasses is used, what grade? BTW, Phil Prichard and a few others use food grade (top grade), relatively expensive molasses. Most distillers use rather low grade, 2nd extraction or even black strap.

Look forward to the answers. Small distillers have to distinguish themselves via quality and better ingredients in the best case, and markeing stories in the worst.