Whaler's Rum Pirates and Charbay Tahitian Vanilla Rum

A response for Tiki Flange about Whaler's.

Heaven Hill is the parent company of Whaler's Rum, which was a made up brand from LeVecke Corp in California (Rectifier). Apparently, patterned after some bullshit mythical rum from Maui's Whaling Days? Yeah, right! It is a decent product, but the story don't wash!

Heaven Hill is major family owned Bourbon Producer, and I respect Parker Beam, who is the their Master Distiller and a fine Kentucky Gent if there ever was one. After all, he helped make me an official bona fide Kentucky Colonel for all the work I did promoting Bourbon. I respect all the Beams, as they are a great distilling dynasty.
(That being said, Lincoln Henderson, Jimmy Russel, Booker Noe (RIP), Bill Samuels, Jr, and Jimmy Bedford are all Masters of the Distillation Arts and legends in Appalachia).

Back to Heaven Hill, in 2000 they acquired Whalers to (attempt) compete with Bacardi and the other flavored Rums. They put money into colorful packages, and hey..I own the Tikis..they're cool. When I was in Kauai in June, I was lodged in between the Menehune Fish Pond and Long's Drug. All I bought for Kim and I was Whaler's and Trader Vic's as the drug store had limited stock. I think it is decent, but never exceptional. I did enjoy screwing the Marriott Beach Club out of their blood money, by mixing in my room, however.

Heaven Hill does everything okay, with their Bourbon being outstanding and worldclass* world class world-class wildcats wordless wildcat's worlds windlass world's worldliness worldly worldliest wordplay's worlders outclass worldlier wolds. I'll pass on their brandies, Mixto Tequila, Scotch, and Gin. I like their Irish Whiskey, Tyreconnel, and the have Dubonnet, which I think is superior to Lillet.

I was surprised to learn of the corporate espionage by Whaler's on the Tahitian Rum producer. I am also stunned to learn that a local who controls his production methodology would be so easily duped. Let me know if your friend needs help navigating the waters of International spirit importation, BAT (formerly BATF),and compliance.

May I make a suggestion for a truly magnificent, yet expensive product. Not from Tahiti, but from Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley. Domaine Charbay is an excellent micro distiller and they make a super-premium Tahitian Vanilla Sipping Rum. It is expensive, elegant and lovely. Miles and Marko are gifted distillers and this ranks as exceptional, yet limited. Crafty Slavic Bastards!
http://www.charbay.com/html/rums.html

I have all their products in my bar and I love to sip them straight.

Cheers and Good chatting.

Another interesting bit of business about Whaler's is detailed here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11748&forum=5

Long story short -- the tiki mugs in Whaler's packaging are Tiki Farm designs that are being used illegally.

Thanks Humuhumu for the update:

As Paul Harvey Says..now..for the rest of the story.
I did read all the threads relating to Holden's misfortune, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I believe the outside marketing firms are losers, and I bet the Board at Heaven Hill would be completely oblivious to Holden's situ regarding the mug promo. Being that Holden worked 10 hours and his intellectual property rights were stolen, I wonder aloud about compensation. It certainly is his business to pursue. I can tell you that there is not enough boycott power from TC and general Tiki Nation to affect Heaven Hill financially. It is a moral and morale choice that each person must make in solidarity with Holden and Tiki Farm. I won't buy Whaler's as I don't need it. I may bring this issue up with Parker at the next Whiskyfest when I see him. Men like him don't like unethical business practices, as he has REAL integrity and his Bourbon proves it.

Does that mean I have to throw away my Whaler Rip Off Cups? There the only ones I allow Kim to drink out of, as she gets tipsy clumsy after two Mai Tais.

With all this I'm hearing about the mug rip-off I'm glad I don't really like Whaler's enough to buy it. For dark rum I'll stick to Coruba when I can get it, or Myers's.

[ Edited by: thejab 2005-08-03 16:55 ]

Jab:

Do you like aged Demerara Rum? I really like it quite a bit, and have a serious stock. Coruba and Myer's are good. The Kiwis love Coruba, and when I was I visited Auckland it was on every back bar.

I am curious as to your take on Demerara Rum. Please expound.

Davey

I love Demarara rum. El Dorado's varieties are my favorites - the older the better, but I keep a good supply of Lemon Hart in my bar for mixing as El Dorado is harder to find around here.

I am going to have to try that. I liked the idea of their infused vodkas - the only vodkas commercially available infused with real fruit - but I found the flavor to be disappointing - way too astringent. (naturally, I prefer my home-infused vodkas and rums).

but vanilla rum, now there's a neat idea!

Does anyone know Bundaberg Black Rum? I remember trying it and thinking it was wonderful...but it might be just connected to fun memories.

Anybody else ever try?

On 2005-08-03 20:50, dangergirl299 wrote:
I am going to have to try that. I liked the idea of their infused vodkas - the only vodkas commercially available infused with real fruit - but I found the flavor to be disappointing - way too astringent. (naturally, I prefer my home-infused vodkas and rums).

but vanilla rum, now there's a neat idea!

Hangar One is also infused with real fruit, as is Belvedere.

Of course, Skyy, Ketel, Absolut and the rest are all fakes.

I have heard so many good things about Bundaberg rum, but I don't know if it can be had stateside.

On 2005-08-03 17:26, thejab wrote:
I love Demarara rum. El Dorado's varieties are my favorites - the older the better, but I keep a good supply of Lemon Hart in my bar for mixing as El Dorado is harder to find around here.

Have to agress with The Jab on this. El Dorado's aged Demararas are fantastic.

And only $295 a bottle for the 25 year old!

You can experience it for a mere $62 a shot at Trader Vic's SF.

Well, as is the case with a lot of these stories, I have only heard one side of the tale.

I certainly have been a heavy user of the Whaler's rums. Expecially when my local liquor store was clearancing the 1 liter bottles for $5.99! I bought about 40 liters of their rum over a three day period.

I haven't heard much about my buddy's rum import deal lately, but I know they have been focusing on their vanilla imports.

On 2005-08-03 20:50, dangergirl299 wrote:
I am going to have to try that. I liked the idea of their infused vodkas - the only vodkas commercially available infused with real fruit - but I found the flavor to be disappointing - way too astringent. (naturally, I prefer my home-infused vodkas and rums).

but vanilla rum, now there's a neat idea!

It sounds like a weaker version of a rum-based Vanilla Extract. If you ever use fresh Vanilla to flavor your cooking you could throw a left over & scraped-out pod into a bottle of Dark Rum, removing the pod after a few days (before it overpowers the Rum), and straining the infused Rum through a coffee filter to remove any leftover Vanilla seeds or bits of pod.

To add to Freddie's post...try to use true Mexican Vanilla Pods. I believe their flavor is superlative as I make Tequila Curados all the time with them. They tend not to overpower. Perhaps Penzleys Spice Co has them mail order.