Phil Prichard coming to Cleveland

jankdc · Post by **jankdc** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:48 pm

I stopped by one of the grocery stores tonight to pick up some Prichard's rum. Unfortunately the Liquor department was closed, but they were announcing that Phil will be there doing bottle signings on Wednesday.

It's the Legacy Village Gian Eagle from 2:15 to 4:00.

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:00 am

Nice one, are you going down?

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:20 am

I'll take Extra Crispy...

Phil is quite the character of the Colonel Sanders type. A man's man. When I was a young man working in Ft. Lauderdale I'll never forget the time I worked at Port Everglades, and my lunch was frequently a 2-piece special at Kentucky Fried. I'll never forget the time I saw the Colonel himself - dressed in his usual whites - striding through the airport.

A lifetime passes and Sue Sea and I met and spent time with Phil at the Rum Queen's fest. He wore a short brimmed fedora and was complaining loudly about how the Queen had changed his presentation without notifying him. We had a nice conversation and he ended sending us a bottle of his Private Stock (reviewed).

It is shocking how good his rums are considering their relatively young age, although he does use young barrels.

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it...

1. Phil has received a Press Kit, plus a personal email from me. Let him know you read his quote in the NY Times and if he knows about the petition?

2. He began making rum privately in his own handmade small still, ask him about it, and if he still uses it (he did).

jankdc · Post by **jankdc** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:32 pm

I don't know why he is here, but I just got his itinerary from the distillary:

Michael, this is the schedule that I was given.

3/19...4:00-6;00 approx..World Wines & Liquor

8760 Mentor Ave. Mentor,Oh

3/20 12;00-2:00 Giant Eagle..New Store..#921

Euclid Ave. Willoughby, Oh

3/20 2:30-4:30 Giant Eagle - Legacy Village
25105 Cedar Rd. Lyndhurst, Oh

Hope you can make it!

Sabrina Kimball

I'll make it to one of them. I feel bad that I haven't tried his rum before meeting him. I will ask him about the petition.

RT · Post by RT » Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:23 pm

I was thinking about popping over from Erie today, but then the snow squalls settled in. Perhaps tomorrow in Willoughby.

I have not met Phil, but I had a lovely tour with his wife about 2 years ago. I am still hoarding the last dram of Private Stock from that visit.

jankdc · Post by **jankdc** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:15 am

Quick question for the Capn:

The top rated rums that you reviewed on this site that are currently availble are Wray and Nephew Overproof, Mount Gay Black Label, and Prichard's Fine rum. They each get a 8.5 rating. If you were to only choose one to sip, which one? which one would you consider "the best"?

Dai · Post by **Dai** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:24 pm

I was watching some videos of Prichard's rum on youtube last night and it struck me why some of the larger distilleries don't use smaller barrels. They could always take a five year old from a larger barrels transfer it to smaller barrels age it another two or three years and produce a similar quality as a 10/12 year old rum in eight years. Just a thought, there maybe good reasons like being to labour intensive and expensive as to why they don't do this.

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 4:59 pm

In answer...

Dai, of course one can't know for sure but cost is a big factor. For the larger distilleries it's a numbers game. With thousands of barrels in aging warehouses, being used on a particular schedule and with predictable results it's hard to imagine any of these distillers changing over to MUCH more expensive small barrels.

The greatest challenge for small and/or new micro-distillers is the idea that you're going to invest all you have for five or ten years before you can begin to recoup your investment. This is why so many of them end up with a modfied Carl still with the idea that they can produce gin, white and gold rums and white dog while a lesser amount of good stuff is being aged. And hope they can stay in business long enough to sell it.

The American Distilling Institute promotes the simplistic notion that small barrels accelerate aging by increasing the wood to distillate ratio. This argument is countered by Chuck Cowdery who points out that there are a number of parallel processes going on with wood, but that don't happen at the same rate. It's not as simple as the ratio - count on that.

Phil is an exception, and started very small. He used very expensive, food grade molasses and then aged his product in good smaller barrels. While I trust Cowdery's observations and reports about small wood and whiskey, it may be that rum is another matter. All I can say is that Phil's products can stand up against any 10 or 12 year old I've tasted.

Next patient! Please remove your clothes...

Jank the three rums you names are all very different - one is clearly
Barbadian and resembles MGXO, one is a white overproof and one is Phil's Jamaican style. There is no best. The W&N is an easy buy, very inexpensive for a top rated rum, and you will use and enjoy it. Anytime you can find Phil's Fine Rum for a fair cost - go for it. As far as the Black goes, keep in mind it's quite nice AND at a higher proof so it goes farther (or should).

jankdc · Post by **jankdc** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:59 pm

Well I went today. He was very gracious as I interviewed him. I taped 40 minutes on a wide range of topics from rum categories, history of his distillery, barrels, bourbon, cost of molasses, the micro-distillery movement, and the rum cover over tax. I brought a copy of the petition to him and he said he will look at it.

One thing that he was most passionate about was categorizing rum. He really agreed with the Capn in that learning about rum has been really hit or miss. His solution (and I don't necessarily agree with it) is to categorize it in similarly to whiskey. Whiskey is mainly categorized by what it is made from. He argues that we should categorize rum the same way. Cane juice, black-strap molasses, sweet molasses, sugar (and granulated cane juice). He is giving a talk on this a Miami rum fest coming up (I don't know if it is the Burr brothers one, but I'll be able to figure it out).

I have a busy week coming up (my grandmother's 90th birthday), but I'll post the interview as soon as I can.

I have to say that having me show up with my voice recorder, was not what he planned and I really appreciate him humoring me.

As for categories of rum, first taste Prichards Fine Rum is clearly Jamaican. I'll be exploring it over the next couple of days. Let's see if it pushes Appleton 12 out of my top three. Besides, I'd rather give my money to him than Campari.

RT · Post by RT » Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:54 pm

Well, the lake effect snow still hasn't stopped here, and I didn't make it to Cleveland today either. Glad you had a good time with Phil. In tasting the Fine Rum, keep in mind there is also a Private Stock Rum aged 8-10 years and typically available only at the distillery in Kelso TN. That is the product that would be most likely to displace the Appleton 12 (and perhaps even the 21) in your rankings.

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:37 am

What did he say about the cover over program and the rebates?

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:54 am

Let's all raise a dram of Prichard's to Jank!

What a man! Chasing the man down and managing to gain an interview is of terrific value to all who have a serious interest in rum. Phil is a no-nonsence kind of man and believes in purity and quality. He comes from a whisky background and as far as I'm concerned he fairly represents what American micro-disitilling should be about.

Thanks again for an absolutely smashing achievement. We are all proud of you...

Dai · Post by **Dai** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:50 am

Capn Jimbo wrote:In answer...

Dai, of course one can't know for sure but cost is a big factor. For the larger distilleries it's a numbers game. With thousands of barrels in aging warehouses, being used on a particular schedule and with predictable results it's hard to imagine any of these distillers changing over to MUCH more expensive small barrels.

The greatest challenge for small and/or new micro-distillers is the idea that you're going to invest all you have for five or ten years before you can begin to recoup your investment. This is why so many of them end up with a modfied Carl still with the idea that they can produce gin, white and gold rums and white dog while a lesser amount of good stuff is being aged. And hope they can stay in business long enough to sell it.

The American Distilling Institute promotes the simplistic notion that small barrels accelerate aging by increasing the wood to distillate ratio. This argument is countered by Chuck Cowdery who points out that there are a number of parallel processes going on with wood, but that don't happen at the same rate. It's not as simple as the ratio - count on that.

Phil is an exception, and started very small. He used very expensive, food grade molasses and then aged his product in good smaller barrels. While I trust Cowdery's observations and reports about small wood and whiskey, it may be that rum is another matter. All I can say is that Phil's products can stand up against any 10 or 12 year old I've tasted.

Next patient! Please remove your clothes...

Jank the three rums you names are all very different - one is clearly
Barbadian and resembles MGXO, one is a white overproof and one is Phil's Jamaican style. There is no best. The W&N is an easy buy, very inexpensive for a top rated rum, and you will use and enjoy it. Anytime you can find Phil's Fine Rum for a fair cost - go for it. As far as the Black goes, keep in mind it's quite nice AND at a higher proof so it goes farther (or should).

I don't know if it is correct or not but the possibilities for craft distilling or bottling are huge if it is possible to accelerate ageing with smaller barrels.

checkout this video @1.37 on the time line where he talks about using smaller barrels for ageing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syMIxeF ... 1BB56710BB

jankdc · Post by **jankdc** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:57 am

He was telling me that he is aging his rum for 3-4 years now. Also, his bourbon was started when he started the distillery (so I think he said 10 years?).

He was saying that a lot of newer distillers who are using the smaller barrels are not aging their spirits enough. I think he would say that 2-4 months is just not enough time.

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:24 am

Exactly...

In the video, this micro-distiller is either a graduate of the American Distilling Institute or should be in that he relies on the myth of ultra-small barrels increasing wood/spirits contact ratio with the entirely false claim that 5 to 10 years of aging can be reduced to - yup - months. Mooseshit. In Part Two he admits that the use of the ultra-small barrels is simply a stop gap, and that he intends to slowly convert to larger barrels. There are many simultaneous processes going on at different speeds and also interacting with one another. The processes and interactions that need time, well, need time. Period. Gee, maybe if they use 1 gallon barrels they could get it down to weeks, lol...

Phil uses significantly larger barrels and for a much longer time. And lest we forget he also depends on extremely expensive food grade molasses compared to the 2nd and 3rd boil bulk molasses used by almost all rum distillers. One cannot overlook too the skill of the cuts. I can't wait to hear the interview...