Post #770430 by Hurricane Hayward on Sat, Nov 19, 2016 11:49 PM

Mahalo Quince_at_Dannys for another great contribution! This will definitely expedite my purchase of Hamilton Black, which is hard to find in South Florida. Sounds like a viable alternative to Kohala Bay.

And good to see the other suggestions as well. Plantation OFTD might be the better alternative to Lemon Hart 151 in this blend. Again, I'm still waiting to get my hands on some, but I hear that its arrival is imminent.

Keep those experiments coming!

HH

On 2016-11-17 06:45, Quince_at_Dannys wrote:
First off, thanks to Hurricane Hayward for his extensive research on Kohala Bay and its various substitutions!

I've been playing with blends for awhile. I had been playing around with a Coruba/Hamilton Pot Still/Appleton Signature mixture, but when I found out the Mai Kai was using Appleton Reserve, I immediately altered course and came up with the following:

5 parts Appleton Reserve Blend
1 part Lemon Hart 151
1 part Hamilton Black Pot Still Rum

The Reserve delivers most of the rich flavor and the Hamilton brings the funk. It's possible Kohala Bay actually contains (contained) some of the same rums as Appleton Reserve with the addition of funkier pot still varieties.
The LH 151 in the mix is basically to get the ABV in the ballpark without disrupting the overall flavor profile.

The net result: a 91 proof Dark Jamaican that is very close in flavor Kohala Bay and mixes like a champ. There is a missing high note, but it's a subtle difference. The original Kohala Bay would have been proofed down from higher proof barrels of rum instead of incorporating a foreign element like Lemon Hart, so that accounts for the difference.