Lemon Hart Crisis (Crisis Averted!--at least for me)

OK, I've been trying to be calm but the time for calm is over. It's time to run around in a circle screaming because I AM NOW OFFICIALLY OUT OF LEMON HART.

Can somebody in the know please let me know how this whole distribution thing works? I just spent like half a day trying to get an address for Lemon Hart London. --nothin'. Who do we have to lean on to get some Lemon Hart on the shelves of my local liquor store???

Is Bacardi behind this? Is it now also time for TC to officially boycott Bacardi? I've been wanting to start an "Enemies List" thread for a while...

"I can't die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver."
Phil Harris

[ Edited by: pappythesailor 2007-07-05 08:59 ]

I've got a bottle of the 80 and the 151. Both uncracked.

Now going to the highest bidder... Bidding start at $15,000 a bottle.
:)

We can always order from Europe... Maybe mule it back from teh islands...

On 2007-06-27 10:26, Swanky wrote:
We can always order from Europe... Maybe mule it back from teh islands...

Just book my flight!

What is the problem?

Its in stock at Hi-Time in CA, which is probably no help to you.

http://www.hitimewine.net/istar.asp?a=6&id=162084!1104

Beverage Warehouse in L.A. also has it:
http://www.beveragewarehouse.com/search/more_info.php?item_id=4736

Does Pernod Ricard own the brand now?
http://www.allieddomecq.com/

I wasn't able to find Lemon Hart on the Pernod Ricard web site:
http://www.pernod-ricard.com/

cheekytiki! You're in London. Could you just pop over to Lemon Hart and mention to them we can't get their fine rum back in the States? I'm sure they mustn't be aware of it.

thanks!

The Lemon Hart that is available in Europe is Jamaican.
The Lemon Hart Demerara from Guyana may be available in some specialty shops.
I had to get mine from Germany, and they only have a very small supply of the 151 left.
Hopefully it's just a temporary thing, anyhow there's lots of El Dorado out there to choose from,
and good stuff it is too.

Squad 701

Beachbum Berry was just remarking at Hukilau how Lemon Hart availability stinks. However, there is a major booze store close to me that is alway stocked with both 151 and regular proof of the Demerara.

You can barely find Bacardi in AL, let alone Lemon Hart. However; I used to be able to find it in Pensacola, but sadly no more. And on top of that, you can't have anything shipped to AL.

Ok here it is again.
http://www.wineandliquordepot.com/
Wine and liquor Depot
16938 Saticoy Street
Van Nuys California 91406
(818) 996-1414
Lemon Hart 151- $22.99
Lemon Hart 80- $16.89
Eldorado 15yr- $35.99
Shipping for four bottles $21.00 (ohio)

Extreme Trading
Germany
http://www.extreme-trading.com
They are high dollar.
Havana Club Anejo 7yr About $50.00 bucks to your door.
Lemon Hart gold 151 Jamaica rum good stuff. A little less.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2007-06-27 15:23 ]

For you Bostonians, Joyal's in West Warwick, RI, lists it as being in stock.

Thanks for all the posts. I do wish to restate my original rant: I can't find Lemon Hart at any liquor store around here, not that it can't be had.

I did talk to a liquor store guy yesterday who said he could get a case. We'll see if he's full of beans.

Sorry. We have never been able to just go to a near by store and
just pick it up.
It does seem to be getting harder to find.

Sheez Pappy, all you have to do is ask, I've got case in the basement (no fire hazards here!)
Just PM me with what you want.
The 151 is harder to get, the local distributor doesn't stock any, so I have to wait until they send out a truck to the Midwest somewhere, should be another month or so.

i'll check the campus wines down the street from me - i know i saw it either there or at kappy's up near the kowloon, but i can't remember which place.

I've got about 6 bottles of the 80 and 4 of the 151, and my local liquor store usually has a bottle of two of each waiting for me behind the counter almost everytime Im there. Whaddaya need?

ps Cappys always seems to have it in Sauguss....Kowloon & Demerara...sounds like a road trip to me!!

Also, I wouldnt worry too much. I was told 2 or 3 years ago about how it wasnt being imported anymore, yada yada yada. Its all Bacardi. Start that enemies list....oh, and secretly tape record all your conversations.

[ Edited by: Bargoyle 2007-06-28 11:01 ]

On 2007-06-27 11:54, frostiki wrote:
You can barely find Bacardi in AL, let alone Lemon Hart. However; I used to be able to find it in Pensacola, but sadly no more. And on top of that, you can't have anything shipped to AL.

Oh God, AL blows for booze. My parents live there. I bring them all kinds of stuff they can't get there at the package stores.

Good news for the New England ohana. Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge just called and my Lemon Hart is in. More good news: It's for the good ol' price of $12.99 for the 80-proof. I can't remember what the 151 is but it was also reasonable.

Yankee Spirits (508) 347-2231
Route 20, Sturbridge, MA

Be sure and mention when you call them this is a line of rum they should carry all the time! Mention my name and receive no discount whatsoever!

Why does this have to be so hard?

Every ingredient I decide I need, is hard to find. I would appreciate it if before spending on shipping from CA anyone can recommend a store that stocks or will order Lemon Hart in NJ or NYC (altho one store in NJ said it isn't available in the NJ market. Zat true?). Heck, even CT would be okay, I'll go for the drive. Don't even get me started on Passion fruit syrup....

Thanks!

Susan

p.s. If you haven't gotten it yet--da Bum's Sippin' Safari is a great read!

Susan,
I hate to pester you if you've heard this before but:

I can't recommend enough making your own passion fruit syrup. Take passion fruit juice and slowly reduce it over heat to 1/3 volume. Add 1 cup sugar for every 8 oz. liquid you have left. Bottle it hot in a clean bottle and it will last indefinitely (say, a year). It really makes TV passion fruit syrup taste like a** in comparison.

I'll try it--do you recommend any particular brand of juice?

Still holding out hope someone knows a local (NYC regional) source for Lemon Hart!

Hey, Susan, I'm in New York and have a call in to a very well-stocked local store (they carry El Dorado) to see if they can get Lemon Hart. I'll let you know if they can. They're in Newburgh.

I made my own passion fruit syrup the other day, using Beachbum Berry's recipe from "Sippin' Safari" and it's heavenly--by far the best I've ever had. And the best part was the total cost: $1.69, plus a few cents worth of sugar. Look in your supermarket for Goya frozen passion fruit pulp.

Torani also makes a good Passion Fruit Syrup. BK says its better than the TV stuff as it is made with real juice and sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.

Newburgh would be just fine, let me know what they say--thanks!

I'm going to p/u some of the Goya's this weekend (maybe sooner, my daughter turned 21 and is now my tiki bar slave. If she wants to drink some of the primo stuff, she has to do shopping errands). And we'll concoct.

She's trying to get me to take a drive over to Niagara Falls, not to see the view, but to go supply shopping in Ontario... bad kid!

DemeraraDRinker, I like living here. But drinking here is a different story. The state buys the alcohol and only buys rot gut or big name stuff, so I have to sneak across state lines under the cover of darkeness…

I just discovered the greatness called Lemon Hart!

We usually don't see much beyond Captain and Mount Gay in Hawaii. There is one good liquor store called Tamura's that does have Zaya every once in a while. A few days ago a went into this small crappy liquor store right by our house, and they had Lemon Hart sitting on the shelf.

Needless to say, I bough a bottle, tried it, then went back over and bought the other 3 they had. I'm hooked!!!!

I can easily order a case of Lemon Hard 80 or 151 through the PA liquor system. The trouble? I HAVE to order a case (12 bottles). At $20 for the 80proof and $28 for the 151, that's a hefty bit of change to dish out.

Maybe there are others who live nearby who would want to go in on a case or two?

Hi stickyii, where in Pennsylvania? I'm waiting to hear from Velveteenlounge about whether it's available in Newburgh, I'm in Upper Montclair in NJ. I can drive either up or to the left.

In Maryland we have no shortage of Lemon Hart 80/151, which is distributed by Republic National Distributing Company to MD and 18 other states. Unfortunately, not NY, NJ, nor New England.

I attempted to call Pernod Ricard USA and got through the first time, but when I was transferred to Customer Service I was cut off in the middle of their IVR program. It did not sound at all professional. Whoever answered, "Pernod Ricard USA," seemed to be picking up on speakerphone with the echo that gave the impression of a largely vacant office.

When I called back the main switchboard (as if) rang for a long time then went into Voicemail. After calling back about 5 times consecutively, I let it go. In case anyone else wants to try it's 914.848.4800.

The address is:

Pernod Ricard USA
100 Manhattanville Road
Purchase NY 10577

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-07-06 12:20 ]

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-07-12 06:20 ]

On 2007-07-06 10:46, susanr5 wrote:
Hi stickyii, where in Pennsylvania? I'm waiting to hear from Velveteenlounge about whether it's available in Newburgh, I'm in Upper Montclair in NJ. I can drive either up or to the left.

I'm still waiting to hear. It took them a little time to get back to me about parfait amour.

I'm only about 15 minutes from the PA border, but PA is, obviously, a big state. If stickyii is near the Matamoras area and I can't get it in our area I might be in for a few bottles. However, I've heard you can get it in New England and I'll be up there soon, so I'm hopeful of finding it in a store.

Some of you are going to the Northeast Tiki Tour so you'll be in MA next month. You can always call ahead to Yankee Spirits and get your Lemon Hart.

Note: pappythesailor has no affiliation with Lemon Hart, Yankee Spirits nor their subsidiaries.

On 2007-07-06 14:09, pappythesailor wrote:
Some of you are going to the Northeast Tiki Tour so you'll be in MA next month. You can always call ahead to Yankee Spirits and get your Lemon Hart.

Note: pappythesailor has no affiliation with Lemon Hart, Yankee Spirits nor their subsidiaries.

Definitely. I'm hoping to lay my hands on some before then, but that will be my back up!

I've got the answer to this problem! Does anyone have any contacts at the New York Times? Because if someone does an article on hard-to-find rums I guarantee they will suddenly become available everywhere. It happened just before Christmas last year with ryes--they ran an article and suddenly every corner liquor store carried about ten kinds of rye. Most recently it was Hudson Valley small-batch whiskey distillers. Now even our suburban stores have them. If the Times publishes a story mentioning Lemon Hart it will be everywhere inside of a month!

Turns out my liquor store (by far the best in the Hudson Valley) can't get Lemon Hart. Apparently it's "not available in the Hudson Valley," for reasons even she didn't understand. She did say, however, that it is available in NYC. Can anyone in the city confirm that? I'll gladly help create a demand if there is a particular store in NYC that is known to carry it.

I called a bunch of places in NJ (apparently not shipped there) and NYC (not any place I called, don't remember who, but definitely Astor Wines). I didn't ask about ordering by the case though. If anyone else finds an NYC source before I do, I'd be glad to help/order/split with anyone else in the NYC/NorthNJ area.

[ Edited by: susanr5 2007-07-12 17:06 ]

More good news for the New England ohana.

Just picked up a couple of bottles of Lemon Hart at Kappy's in Peabody MA yesterday (junction of Routes 114 and 128). The 80 proof was 13 bucks and the 151 was around 19 bucks. I am sure the Saugus store probably has some too since it's even bigger. I just can't seem to walk out of a bookstore, cd shop or liquor store empty handed.

See you on the tour next month...

I did not see any Lemon Hart in the Saugus Kappy's when I last visited, about 3 weeks ago.

The Peabody store seems to stay on top of their rums better, IMHO. The Saugus store seems to be a mass-market drive-by location specializing in the common stuff. Well, that's not completely true, but I think their rum selection is smaller than Peabody's, though Saugus has 3 times more bottles of Bacardi just in case you need to buy 200 bottles at once.

I just returned from Boston with a suitcase full of Lemon Hart. The bottle shops in the north end, Italian district are, or should I say were well stocked :). The big shop on the corner (Martengetii's SP.?) as you enter the Italian district sells the 80 proof for $13.99. I also found the 151 proof at a small shop along the Freedom Trail. I wish I had more space in my luggage as I would have brought back some Black Seal 151, which I can't find locally.

Wow, that's a heck of a find! And not too far from home! I know Martignetti's also has a good selection of syrups, so I gotta get over there!

On 2007-07-16 08:57, leisure master wrote:
Just picked up a couple of bottles of Lemon Hart at Kappy's in Peabody MA yesterday (junction of Routes 114 and 128).

Speaking of Peabody MA liquor stores........I crack up every time I pass this one.....but then again, I'm a little twisted.

as with many in this crowd, I share your enjoyment of the infantile and perverse.

you really have to read the sign out loud to fully appreciate the name.

Dint Da Da Dint Da Da Dint Da Da DIH NAH! Dint Da Da Dint Da Da Dint Da Da DIH NAH! This place is cool.

I used to work around the corner from this placed, and passed it twice a day.

And chuckled every time.

Of course, we all know what a bunghole is... right???

"T P for the bunghole!"
Cornhulieo

I'm sure this is a silly question . . . but . . . WHY is Lemon Hart is so DIFFICULT to find? Is it an inter-continental distrubution thing? A US inter-regional distribution thing? A supply & demand thing? What is it? I can't even get the largest liquor chains in my area to "Special Order" it! Can't even find it on the internet sources - always 'OUT-OF-STOCK'!. Somebody 'splain it to me before I have a "Senior Melt-down"!

One word. Bacardi.

Bacardi? That doesn't work for me . . . why wouldn't they have the same effect on Cruzan, Appleton Estates, El Dorado, Barbancourt . . . just to name a few. Got to be more to it than simply "Bacardi".

ElDorado whats that? We can't get that here either!
I know what it is by the way.
It's just like Coke pays to have the rights to sell
exclusively at OSU stadium.
I'm sure they have a hand in it.
Why else would it not be sold in so many stores?