Post #551394 by Rum guy on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 7:28 PM

First, sorry for not posting here more, the Ministry of Rum has kept me busier than I ever thought I could be, but about Lemon Hart.

The best information I have at this time is that Mosiaq in Canada concluded the purchase of the Lemon Hart label in February 2010 and have subsequently entered into an agreement with DDL in Guyana to buy aged product which they will bottle in Canada. So that takes care of the Canadian market. There is no agreement in place at this time for Lemon Hart to be imported to the US again, but there are discussions going on. It should be noted that the Lemon Hart brand was basically ignored in the US for the last 4 years so there are a lot of loose ends that will have to be cleaned up.

Apparently, the 151 was never sold in Canada, according to Mosaiq. In the US the product mix favors the 151. But Mosaiq has been seeing sales at 80 proof and hasn't seen enough demand, as in no requests from the liquor control boards across Canada for the 151.

To put Lemon Hart in perspective, previously it was blended with 1.5% Canadian rum and aged in Canada but the excise tax concessions, according to Mosaiq, don't favor that approach in the future. In about 1997, Lemon Hart 80proof was one of seven bottles of rum on the shelf at the biggest liquor store in the US, Sam's Wine and Spirits in Chicago. At that time the label stated 'Colored Fresh Rum.' Since that time that designation has been removed and I'm told that both the 80 proof and the 151 proof are aged rum, though both are colored with caramel.

I'll post more as soon as I have some confirmed details.