Location: Inside the Old Pa’ia Mill
Distillery not open for tours |
As one of the country’s first craft distilled spirits brands, Old Lahaina Rum is made on Maui at Hawai’i’s oldest operating distillery – Kolani Distillers. When the company’s distillery started construction in 2003, there were only 50 licensed distilleries in the US. However, with the current massive interest in artisanal craft spirits, over 2000 craft distilleries had obtained federal operating distilling licenses in 2019. As the industry has grown, so has Old Lahaina Rum. One thing that hasn’t changed is that Kolani Distillers remains a local family-owned business and continues to make its renowned Old Lahaina brand rums sold only in Hawai’i.
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Founding of the Company
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Team
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Kolani Distillers was founded in 2003 by Paul Case and his son. At that time, there were no other distilleries in the state. The Cases believed, of the remaining two operating sugar mills in Hawai’i, that the Gay and Robinson plant on Kaua’i would be the first to shut down, leaving Maui’s HC&S Pu’unene Mill as Hawai’i’s only source of rum-making molasses. According to Case, “Fortunately, we were correct and located our distillery on Mau’i.” That said, with Kolani Distillers being one of the first craft distilleries in 2003, the company had major barriers to entry.
Case further added, “We got into this business in the beginning of the micro distillery explosion. We thought craft distilling was going to be an interesting business based upon what had happened in the craft beer business and the wine industries. We learned quickly that actual distilling was largely a lost art at that point in time.” Case credits the collaborative learning from the nascent American Distilling Institute, founded by Bill Owens, for helping them get up and running. “We all started to exchange information. It then took us till about 2006 before we could make a rum that was reasonably palatable. Each following year, we learned more and more secrets and tricks by reading more books. By 2009, we finally were able to make a product that we could proudly put out on the shelf next to the big boys.”
In the tradition of a family-built company, there was lots of hands-on labor put into the construction of their distillery. “My son is a mechanical genius,” said Case. “We built our distillery by hand with the help of some island and mainland labor. The construction was a bit challenging since the distillery is located inside an abandoned 1911-built sugar mill’s metal outbuilding. It's part of the original 1875 vintage Pa’ia Mill. The age and condition of our building’s exterior rules out public tours. To create a clean manufacturing environment, our still house is an independent building we constructed inside the old exterior building. Turning wrenches ourselves, we put in the steam, electrical, plumbing, and water systems.”
Case further added, “We got into this business in the beginning of the micro distillery explosion. We thought craft distilling was going to be an interesting business based upon what had happened in the craft beer business and the wine industries. We learned quickly that actual distilling was largely a lost art at that point in time.” Case credits the collaborative learning from the nascent American Distilling Institute, founded by Bill Owens, for helping them get up and running. “We all started to exchange information. It then took us till about 2006 before we could make a rum that was reasonably palatable. Each following year, we learned more and more secrets and tricks by reading more books. By 2009, we finally were able to make a product that we could proudly put out on the shelf next to the big boys.”
In the tradition of a family-built company, there was lots of hands-on labor put into the construction of their distillery. “My son is a mechanical genius,” said Case. “We built our distillery by hand with the help of some island and mainland labor. The construction was a bit challenging since the distillery is located inside an abandoned 1911-built sugar mill’s metal outbuilding. It's part of the original 1875 vintage Pa’ia Mill. The age and condition of our building’s exterior rules out public tours. To create a clean manufacturing environment, our still house is an independent building we constructed inside the old exterior building. Turning wrenches ourselves, we put in the steam, electrical, plumbing, and water systems.”
Team
- Paul Case: Founder
- Tania Harmon: Marketing Director
- Tristan Reynolds – Agriculture
- Basil Blume – Finance and Accounting
- Dustin, Andy, Jared, Damien, Jena, and Bula – “The Crew”
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Why Rum?
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Approach to Rum
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When Old Lahaina Rum was launched, plain and flavored vodkas were the hot products. However, the Cases wanted to go in a different direction. Paul recounted, “We figured rum was the way to go in our islands. Most of the alcohol is consumed in Mai Tai’s and other tropical drinks here. Our goal was to give our bartenders a local, affordable product so that Mai Tai’s could be made from a Hawai’i spirit. [We wanted to create] something local and reflective of the high quality of the islands’ ingredients, [and that could be] handmade in small batches. That's where all the business was, and it's where the majority of the business remains.”
Case finds distilling an intriguing intersection between art and science. “There's lots of fun things about making spirits. From an artisanal craft standpoint, a sous chef can make a souffle out of the same ingredients a fry cook could only make biscuits with. Great distillers can tell what kind of rum can ultimately be developed by simply tasting the starting ingredients. That’s true sensory imagination. You also need skills on the science side. We have a sophisticated high-pressure liquid chromatograph and a gas chromatograph in our lab. We believe you need that kind of equipment to ensure product consistency, so that a consumer gets what they expect every time. Coming from a tech background, what appealed to me first was the science piece of it, but I’ve come to love the artistic part of it, too.”
Case finds distilling an intriguing intersection between art and science. “There's lots of fun things about making spirits. From an artisanal craft standpoint, a sous chef can make a souffle out of the same ingredients a fry cook could only make biscuits with. Great distillers can tell what kind of rum can ultimately be developed by simply tasting the starting ingredients. That’s true sensory imagination. You also need skills on the science side. We have a sophisticated high-pressure liquid chromatograph and a gas chromatograph in our lab. We believe you need that kind of equipment to ensure product consistency, so that a consumer gets what they expect every time. Coming from a tech background, what appealed to me first was the science piece of it, but I’ve come to love the artistic part of it, too.”
Old Lahaina Rums were designed to be the main spirit ingredients in a Mai Tai, but Mai Tai recipes have large variations. To better understand the commonalities and differences amongst Mai Tai recipes, Case created a database of 820 recipes. “Many people who drink Mai Tai’s do not like the taste of alcohol. Rums run a huge spectrum of character and tastes - from something called a high-ester rum (meaning it has a lot of higher alcohol compounds), all the way up to something that's called a light rum. A light rum has a lot of those harsher alcohols distilled out. With a lighter rum, a bartender won’t need to bury heavy rum flavors with other ingredients; our goal was to make something that did not have the burn or the very high-ester content.” Case provided the following example of a high-ester, straight sugarcane distillate, “A bottle of cachaça, which is a single distilled product, has a very distinctive taste. It's somewhat grassy with significantly more raw alcohol tones in it. Some people like that, while many others don’t. Using that kind of rum in a Mai Tai would result in a drink that deviates markedly from the standard recipe. We’re bringing something quite different to the market. The key characteristic of the Old Lahaina rums is the lightness of the flavor profile; it's really made as a mixed drink product. That's the Hawai’ian market and that's who we built it for.”
Smoothness and consistency are the keys for Old Lahaina. “Our product is known for being very smooth, lighter in alcohol flavor, and less burning in your throat when you mix it. That was our goal. Our stills and processes are built to produce that kind of a rum.” Case said. He also added, “When you're trying to build a brand, consistency is the name of the game. You want it to taste the same every time it’s poured. We spend a lot of time making sure that today's batch tastes as close as possible to the one we made three months ago… or even two years ago.”
Price was another factor in the development of Old Lahaina Rum. Their goal was to make a local product that would sell at a reasonable price so it could be poured in Hawai’i bars everywhere. According to Case, “We thought we could make something that could be proudly served by the 5 star resorts and bars catering to locals alike. Bars are extremely cost-focused so we priced the product more affordably than other competing distilleries built after us. Unlike others in the market, we are only sold in Hawai’i. That’s about as local as you can get!” Case continued to add, “I believe we achieved our goals and make a great product that bars, resorts, and retailers are proud to put forward when someone asks ‘What have you got that’s local and really good?’ We don’t make tons of profits at our price point, but we are very widely distributed across the islands. Many visitors try our product during their stay, and then call us from the mainland trying to get more, but can’t find it. That’s the ultimate compliment.”
Smoothness and consistency are the keys for Old Lahaina. “Our product is known for being very smooth, lighter in alcohol flavor, and less burning in your throat when you mix it. That was our goal. Our stills and processes are built to produce that kind of a rum.” Case said. He also added, “When you're trying to build a brand, consistency is the name of the game. You want it to taste the same every time it’s poured. We spend a lot of time making sure that today's batch tastes as close as possible to the one we made three months ago… or even two years ago.”
Price was another factor in the development of Old Lahaina Rum. Their goal was to make a local product that would sell at a reasonable price so it could be poured in Hawai’i bars everywhere. According to Case, “We thought we could make something that could be proudly served by the 5 star resorts and bars catering to locals alike. Bars are extremely cost-focused so we priced the product more affordably than other competing distilleries built after us. Unlike others in the market, we are only sold in Hawai’i. That’s about as local as you can get!” Case continued to add, “I believe we achieved our goals and make a great product that bars, resorts, and retailers are proud to put forward when someone asks ‘What have you got that’s local and really good?’ We don’t make tons of profits at our price point, but we are very widely distributed across the islands. Many visitors try our product during their stay, and then call us from the mainland trying to get more, but can’t find it. That’s the ultimate compliment.”
Ingredients
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Molasses
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Water
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Yeast
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Old Lahaina is made from molasses. The Hawai’i molasses used to make Old Lahaina Rum currently comes from a stockpile of 250 gallon totes squirreled away from the now-closed HC&S Puunene Mill. Molasses’s long shelf-life is due to honey-like natural preservative properties, and has allowed the company to continue to produce rum from its thousands of gallons of stored product. To obtain the raw molasses, Case explained, “The last plantation in Hawai’i was the HC&S Plantation. They remain our landlords to this day, and our distillery is located on the old plantation itself. We've always been a company that lives off local sugar products. HC&S was always very supportive of our business. When they were going to close the Pu’unene Mill in December 2016, we knew about it long beforehand. The sugar plant was running at full blast until December 26, 2016. For the year before that, we made as much rum as we possibly could. We also bought as much raw molasses as we could afford. We're still living off that stock.”
However, the molasses will eventually run out, and that’s one of the core issues for Kolani’s operation. Case shared the following perspective, “For the past two years, we have been working solving that problem. We do not want to get away from having a Hawai’i sourced sugar as the base of our product [because] we think that's integral to our brand story.”
A recent finding has bought Kolani Distillers a little more time. Case noted, “Several months ago, the guys who bought the plantation were getting ready to start tearing down the Pu’unene Mill and wanted to sell some tanks. One of their workers looked inside a set of tanks and discovered it was still full of molasses. They called us up and said, ‘Hey, you guys want this stuff?’ We were able to get thousands of more gallons of molasses. That should keep us going until we can get our new sources on-line.”
Unique attributes of Pu’unene Mill Molasses
Though molasses is typically traded like a commodity, there are major differences in production methodology and flavor. Case explained, “We love the plantation’s molasses. There's a huge difference in ‘burn harvesting’ [which is when the leaves of the sugarcane are burnt off in the field] versus green harvesting [when the leaves of the sugarcane are left on] in terms of what organic compounds make their way through the sugar-making process. Molasses is a byproduct of sugar-making and these harvesting differences strongly influence the molasses flavors. The efficiency of the plant is also important as to how much sugar is left in molasses.
To make sugar, sugarcane is crushed to produce juice. The juice is boiled down to a sugar syrup. The concentrate that’s produced is seeded with nearly microscopic crystals that enlarge in the super saturated liquid. This heating, concentrating, and crystalizing process goes on for several more cycles to remove as much sugar as possible with molasses being the end byproduct. As the exact production process varies from plant to plant, no molasses that comes out of any particular plant is going to be exactly the same because of the variations in temperatures used to heat the sugarcane, harvesting methods, and the amount of growing field minerals that are in the original cane juice. Case explained, “Pu’unene Mill’s molasses is unique because of the growing conditions on Maui, the varietal of cane used and how much sugar it contains. [This can be contrasted to the] many smaller craft distilleries that make rum from kitchen sugar or buy from a big molasses broker that sells nationally.” He added, “If you call a broker up and say, ‘I want some molasses’ they've got lots of grades at different prices coming from all over the world. Some stuff is cheap and some is really very good. Many distilleries buy the cheapest stuff to minimize their manufacturing costs. Hawai’i’s sugar is world famous and we have been using it since the beginning.”
However, the molasses will eventually run out, and that’s one of the core issues for Kolani’s operation. Case shared the following perspective, “For the past two years, we have been working solving that problem. We do not want to get away from having a Hawai’i sourced sugar as the base of our product [because] we think that's integral to our brand story.”
A recent finding has bought Kolani Distillers a little more time. Case noted, “Several months ago, the guys who bought the plantation were getting ready to start tearing down the Pu’unene Mill and wanted to sell some tanks. One of their workers looked inside a set of tanks and discovered it was still full of molasses. They called us up and said, ‘Hey, you guys want this stuff?’ We were able to get thousands of more gallons of molasses. That should keep us going until we can get our new sources on-line.”
Unique attributes of Pu’unene Mill Molasses
Though molasses is typically traded like a commodity, there are major differences in production methodology and flavor. Case explained, “We love the plantation’s molasses. There's a huge difference in ‘burn harvesting’ [which is when the leaves of the sugarcane are burnt off in the field] versus green harvesting [when the leaves of the sugarcane are left on] in terms of what organic compounds make their way through the sugar-making process. Molasses is a byproduct of sugar-making and these harvesting differences strongly influence the molasses flavors. The efficiency of the plant is also important as to how much sugar is left in molasses.
To make sugar, sugarcane is crushed to produce juice. The juice is boiled down to a sugar syrup. The concentrate that’s produced is seeded with nearly microscopic crystals that enlarge in the super saturated liquid. This heating, concentrating, and crystalizing process goes on for several more cycles to remove as much sugar as possible with molasses being the end byproduct. As the exact production process varies from plant to plant, no molasses that comes out of any particular plant is going to be exactly the same because of the variations in temperatures used to heat the sugarcane, harvesting methods, and the amount of growing field minerals that are in the original cane juice. Case explained, “Pu’unene Mill’s molasses is unique because of the growing conditions on Maui, the varietal of cane used and how much sugar it contains. [This can be contrasted to the] many smaller craft distilleries that make rum from kitchen sugar or buy from a big molasses broker that sells nationally.” He added, “If you call a broker up and say, ‘I want some molasses’ they've got lots of grades at different prices coming from all over the world. Some stuff is cheap and some is really very good. Many distilleries buy the cheapest stuff to minimize their manufacturing costs. Hawai’i’s sugar is world famous and we have been using it since the beginning.”
Four kinds of water are used in the Kolani distillery.
- County water from local streams and wells (including the famous ‘Iao Valley) is used as-is the base water for routine activities.
- Dechlorinated water, which is made by removing the chlorine, then treating the base water, is used for blending with molasses prior to fermentation because the chlorine kills yeast
- Softened water is used for washing bottles and other internal processes.
- Reverse osmosis water is used for final blending and proofing. In the distilled spirits business, using the RO or deionized water for final blending prevents problems. For example, having any iron atoms in the water will likely create sediments or discolor the product.
Yeast plays an essential role in determining the flavor profile of any rum. Most people know the yeast act to produce the ethyl alcohol we consume while giving off carbon dioxide. Fewer people understand that during fermentation, the yeast can produce up to fifty different organic compounds and a dozen different alcohols. Working with all these compounds and alcohols is the heart of creating spirits.
The yeast strain used in making Old Lahaina Rum was determined by testing a number of commercially available strains. Specifically, the Old Lahaina strain was selected because it creates a low-ester rum in the trials Kolani ran. Case noted, “We don't have as many problems with yeast as a lot of people do. If you're trying to create a high-estered product, specific yeast strain selection is very important. You're not just trying to produce the most amount of ethanol that you can. You're trying to produce a specific mix of all of the other kinds of alcohols, congeners, and acids that will eventually become the specific aroma compounds that define your final spirit.”
The yeast strain used in making Old Lahaina Rum was determined by testing a number of commercially available strains. Specifically, the Old Lahaina strain was selected because it creates a low-ester rum in the trials Kolani ran. Case noted, “We don't have as many problems with yeast as a lot of people do. If you're trying to create a high-estered product, specific yeast strain selection is very important. You're not just trying to produce the most amount of ethanol that you can. You're trying to produce a specific mix of all of the other kinds of alcohols, congeners, and acids that will eventually become the specific aroma compounds that define your final spirit.”
Production
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Fermentation
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Still Story/Distillation
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Aging/Resting
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Finishing/Proofing
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Fermentation
Dechlorinated water and other nutrients necessary for yeast development are added to molasses to bring the sugar content down to a level where it can ferment. It is then combined with yeast in 320-gallon, closed-top fermenters for up to 72 hours. The exact amount of time depends upon the ambient temperature in the distillery as well as other factors. Kolani’s fermentation tanks employ upper end temperature controls because the yeast will die if it gets above 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Just as in beer and wine production, the fermentation process is completed when the yeast can no longer digest any remaining sugar in the tank.
Case noted, “During fermentation, the yeast actually go through two distinct cycles. The first one is called the ‘budding’ period, where the yeast spend all of their energy creating as many additional yeast as they can. The yeast need oxygen as they multiply rapidly in the budding phase. Next, the yeast goes into ‘consumption’ mode and quits using oxygen. The closed fermenters are necessary to prevent further contact with oxygen from that point forward.
We discovered early on that fermentation is really a race between yeast and bacterial growth. When you have an open-top fermenter, the naturally occurring airborne bacteria grow a lot faster than yeast do. Those bacteria don't produce alcohol, but they still grow and produce other compounds. This has a big effect on the taste. If you don't have closed-top fermenters, you don't have control of the bacteria. Winemakers and some distillers purposely introduce desirable bacteria in wine fermentations all the time, and actually inoculate their product at a certain time of the fermentation. Allowing the yeast outputs to combine with the bacterial outputs creates a distinct flavor profile.”
Dechlorinated water and other nutrients necessary for yeast development are added to molasses to bring the sugar content down to a level where it can ferment. It is then combined with yeast in 320-gallon, closed-top fermenters for up to 72 hours. The exact amount of time depends upon the ambient temperature in the distillery as well as other factors. Kolani’s fermentation tanks employ upper end temperature controls because the yeast will die if it gets above 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Just as in beer and wine production, the fermentation process is completed when the yeast can no longer digest any remaining sugar in the tank.
Case noted, “During fermentation, the yeast actually go through two distinct cycles. The first one is called the ‘budding’ period, where the yeast spend all of their energy creating as many additional yeast as they can. The yeast need oxygen as they multiply rapidly in the budding phase. Next, the yeast goes into ‘consumption’ mode and quits using oxygen. The closed fermenters are necessary to prevent further contact with oxygen from that point forward.
We discovered early on that fermentation is really a race between yeast and bacterial growth. When you have an open-top fermenter, the naturally occurring airborne bacteria grow a lot faster than yeast do. Those bacteria don't produce alcohol, but they still grow and produce other compounds. This has a big effect on the taste. If you don't have closed-top fermenters, you don't have control of the bacteria. Winemakers and some distillers purposely introduce desirable bacteria in wine fermentations all the time, and actually inoculate their product at a certain time of the fermentation. Allowing the yeast outputs to combine with the bacterial outputs creates a distinct flavor profile.”
Stills
Kolani owns two 70-year-old, hand-hammered 500-gallon copper E. B. Badger Pot Stills. One pot still is outfitted with a custom-built column made by a well-known still maker in the bourbon industry. That type of still is called a “pot column” still. Case mentioned that the antique Kolani stills have an interesting history.
Still Story:
Erastus Beethoven Badger was a coppersmith living in the Boston area during the mid-1800’s. In 1840, he founded his coppersmith company, which quickly became renowned for its workmanship. E. B. Badger Company went on to become the foremost manufacturer of copper stills in the United States and France, later pioneering the continuous still.
Shortly after the end of World War II, E. B. Badger & Sons Company was commissioned to manufacture 12 beautiful 500-gallon discontinuous “pot” stills. From 1946 until 1965, the American Liquor Company used them to distill New England rum in Boston. In 1965, the set of 12 was broken up and sold.
After passing through several hands, nine of the stills were acquired by a distillery in Florida where, until recently, they remained in operation. One still reportedly ended up in Cuba and fell overboard when a nighttime attempt was made to repatriate it to the US.
The two stills were sold to Heublein, Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut, who sent them out west to their distillery in Menlo Park, California. There, the stills were actively producing distilled gin until they were taken out of service in 1997.
In 2002, they were shipped to Vendome Copper and Brass in Louisville, Kentucky for testing, refurbishing and retrofitting. Kolani Distillers had Vendome build a custom eight-tray rectifier column to be added to one of the stills, thus creating the ability to make very clean, light final rums. After the refurbishing and upgrading, they were shipped to Maui in 2003, and placed in the Pa’ia Distillery. The distillery building was then constructed around the stills.
The stills were put back into operation to make Old Lahaina Rum in 2006.
Distillation
Distillation is the art and science of separating compounds by slight differences in their individual boiling points. In distillation, the master distiller selects the compounds that they want in the final product. Currently at Kolani, distillation runs are done a couple times a week with scheduling contingent upon the Old Lahaina rum production’s needs, including the refilling of empty barrels.
For the first ‘stripping pot still,’ the objective is to extract all the alcohols out of the fermentation liquid. That liquid is referred to as ‘wash” in the rum industry. The alcohols that result from the stripping run are collected and then run through the fractional pot/column still. The exact approach to the fractional column distillation varies. Case explained, “The pot/column still can, in a single pass, make what we want in the way of a final product. It has eight trays [called ‘plates’] in it. Each of those plates performs another distillation. During distillation, each tray is forcing the rising alcohol vapors back into fluid and then re-boils that fluid. You get a certain level of refinement every time you do that. The end product of the pot/column raw rum is a spirit called White Dog in the industry.”
Kolani owns two 70-year-old, hand-hammered 500-gallon copper E. B. Badger Pot Stills. One pot still is outfitted with a custom-built column made by a well-known still maker in the bourbon industry. That type of still is called a “pot column” still. Case mentioned that the antique Kolani stills have an interesting history.
Still Story:
Erastus Beethoven Badger was a coppersmith living in the Boston area during the mid-1800’s. In 1840, he founded his coppersmith company, which quickly became renowned for its workmanship. E. B. Badger Company went on to become the foremost manufacturer of copper stills in the United States and France, later pioneering the continuous still.
Shortly after the end of World War II, E. B. Badger & Sons Company was commissioned to manufacture 12 beautiful 500-gallon discontinuous “pot” stills. From 1946 until 1965, the American Liquor Company used them to distill New England rum in Boston. In 1965, the set of 12 was broken up and sold.
After passing through several hands, nine of the stills were acquired by a distillery in Florida where, until recently, they remained in operation. One still reportedly ended up in Cuba and fell overboard when a nighttime attempt was made to repatriate it to the US.
The two stills were sold to Heublein, Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut, who sent them out west to their distillery in Menlo Park, California. There, the stills were actively producing distilled gin until they were taken out of service in 1997.
In 2002, they were shipped to Vendome Copper and Brass in Louisville, Kentucky for testing, refurbishing and retrofitting. Kolani Distillers had Vendome build a custom eight-tray rectifier column to be added to one of the stills, thus creating the ability to make very clean, light final rums. After the refurbishing and upgrading, they were shipped to Maui in 2003, and placed in the Pa’ia Distillery. The distillery building was then constructed around the stills.
The stills were put back into operation to make Old Lahaina Rum in 2006.
Distillation
Distillation is the art and science of separating compounds by slight differences in their individual boiling points. In distillation, the master distiller selects the compounds that they want in the final product. Currently at Kolani, distillation runs are done a couple times a week with scheduling contingent upon the Old Lahaina rum production’s needs, including the refilling of empty barrels.
For the first ‘stripping pot still,’ the objective is to extract all the alcohols out of the fermentation liquid. That liquid is referred to as ‘wash” in the rum industry. The alcohols that result from the stripping run are collected and then run through the fractional pot/column still. The exact approach to the fractional column distillation varies. Case explained, “The pot/column still can, in a single pass, make what we want in the way of a final product. It has eight trays [called ‘plates’] in it. Each of those plates performs another distillation. During distillation, each tray is forcing the rising alcohol vapors back into fluid and then re-boils that fluid. You get a certain level of refinement every time you do that. The end product of the pot/column raw rum is a spirit called White Dog in the industry.”
Aging/Resting
The White Dog rum, which is the rum directly off the still, is rested for at least 30 days in stainless steel. Resting is necessary, since further chemical reactions occur within the White Dog over time. Those reactions create the esters and compounds within the alcohol that will become its final smell and taste components. Case noted, “If you drink White Dog alcohol right off the still, it doesn't taste anything like what the product will taste after it's been in a steel tank for 30 days. It's completely different.”
Barrel Aging
Aged portion of rum in Old Lahaina sits in a No. 3 or No. 4 “Alligator Char” for a minimum of three years. Sometimes, longer-aged products are added, depending on what the first blending tastes like.
Case explained, “Our Gold and Dark rums have some barrel-aged rum in them, but by no means are 100% aged rum. If Old Lahaina rums were 100% barreled rum, we would be selling them for $50 a bottle, but we don't do that. What we're looking for is a low-ester rum which our customers like the taste of. In barrels, different kinds of heavier wood compounds are built up. If you take a really good barreled rum, say a12-year-old barreled product, and run it through a gas chromatograph, you're going to find well over 200 organic compounds. It's a very rich, generally high-ester, sophisticated product. That’s great for sipping, but not for making the affordable, yet excellent, tropical mixed-drink rums we are trying to produce.”
When asked if Old Lahaina Rum will be doing any future 100% barrel-aged products, Case hinted, “I will tell you that we started making rum in 2006. We do have some old barrels squirreled away. We might be doing something else with that.”
The White Dog rum, which is the rum directly off the still, is rested for at least 30 days in stainless steel. Resting is necessary, since further chemical reactions occur within the White Dog over time. Those reactions create the esters and compounds within the alcohol that will become its final smell and taste components. Case noted, “If you drink White Dog alcohol right off the still, it doesn't taste anything like what the product will taste after it's been in a steel tank for 30 days. It's completely different.”
Barrel Aging
Aged portion of rum in Old Lahaina sits in a No. 3 or No. 4 “Alligator Char” for a minimum of three years. Sometimes, longer-aged products are added, depending on what the first blending tastes like.
Case explained, “Our Gold and Dark rums have some barrel-aged rum in them, but by no means are 100% aged rum. If Old Lahaina rums were 100% barreled rum, we would be selling them for $50 a bottle, but we don't do that. What we're looking for is a low-ester rum which our customers like the taste of. In barrels, different kinds of heavier wood compounds are built up. If you take a really good barreled rum, say a12-year-old barreled product, and run it through a gas chromatograph, you're going to find well over 200 organic compounds. It's a very rich, generally high-ester, sophisticated product. That’s great for sipping, but not for making the affordable, yet excellent, tropical mixed-drink rums we are trying to produce.”
When asked if Old Lahaina Rum will be doing any future 100% barrel-aged products, Case hinted, “I will tell you that we started making rum in 2006. We do have some old barrels squirreled away. We might be doing something else with that.”
Aging/Resting
The White Dog rum, which is the rum directly off the still, is rested for at least 30 days in stainless steel. Resting is necessary, since further chemical reactions occur within the White Dog over time. Those reactions create the esters and compounds within the alcohol that will become its final smell and taste components. Case noted, “If you drink White Dog alcohol right off the still, it doesn't taste anything like what the product will taste after it's been in a steel tank for 30 days. It's completely different.”
Barrel Aging
Aged portion of rum in Old Lahaina sits in a No. 3 or No. 4 “Alligator Char” for a minimum of three years. Sometimes, longer-aged products are added, depending on what the first blending tastes like.
Case explained, “Our Gold and Dark rums have some barrel-aged rum in them, but by no means are 100% aged rum. If Old Lahaina rums were 100% barreled rum, we would be selling them for $50 a bottle, but we don't do that. What we're looking for is a low-ester rum which our customers like the taste of. In barrels, different kinds of heavier wood compounds are built up. If you take a really good barreled rum, say a12-year-old barreled product, and run it through a gas chromatograph, you're going to find well over 200 organic compounds. It's a very rich, generally high-ester, sophisticated product. That’s great for sipping, but not for making the affordable, yet excellent, tropical mixed-drink rums we are trying to produce.”
When asked if Old Lahaina Rum will be doing any future 100% barrel-aged products, Case hinted, “I will tell you that we started making rum in 2006. We do have some old barrels squirreled away. We might be doing something else with that.”
The White Dog rum, which is the rum directly off the still, is rested for at least 30 days in stainless steel. Resting is necessary, since further chemical reactions occur within the White Dog over time. Those reactions create the esters and compounds within the alcohol that will become its final smell and taste components. Case noted, “If you drink White Dog alcohol right off the still, it doesn't taste anything like what the product will taste after it's been in a steel tank for 30 days. It's completely different.”
Barrel Aging
Aged portion of rum in Old Lahaina sits in a No. 3 or No. 4 “Alligator Char” for a minimum of three years. Sometimes, longer-aged products are added, depending on what the first blending tastes like.
Case explained, “Our Gold and Dark rums have some barrel-aged rum in them, but by no means are 100% aged rum. If Old Lahaina rums were 100% barreled rum, we would be selling them for $50 a bottle, but we don't do that. What we're looking for is a low-ester rum which our customers like the taste of. In barrels, different kinds of heavier wood compounds are built up. If you take a really good barreled rum, say a12-year-old barreled product, and run it through a gas chromatograph, you're going to find well over 200 organic compounds. It's a very rich, generally high-ester, sophisticated product. That’s great for sipping, but not for making the affordable, yet excellent, tropical mixed-drink rums we are trying to produce.”
When asked if Old Lahaina Rum will be doing any future 100% barrel-aged products, Case hinted, “I will tell you that we started making rum in 2006. We do have some old barrels squirreled away. We might be doing something else with that.”
The Rum
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Old Lahaina Silver
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Old Lahaina Gold
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Old Lahaina Dark
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Old Lahaina Gold The Gold Rum contains some barrel product, as well as rum that was only rested in stainless steel for thirty days. It also uses caramel, as necessary, to insure color consistency from batch to batch. This product also “medaled” early after its introduction. Although the product hasn’t been entered in any recent contests, it is a possibility in the future. |
Old Lahaina Dark
Beyond having more barrel product and a darker caramel color, the rum is finished in a proprietary way to make it float. Case noted, “Our dark rum is famous for the way it floats. If you go look at an Old Lahaina based Mai Tai, you're going to get a very, very sharp line between the mixed rum juice on the bottom and the dark rum that's floating at the top. [To make the rum float] we have to “do things” to the dark rum.” Kolani’s finishing processes are all trade secrets as they are for many manufacturers. “The float characteristic is a huge marketing distinguisher for us.” Case added. In contests, Old Lahaina Dark received a Triple Gold Medal at the MicroLiquor Spirit Awards which recognized small and emerging brands for outstanding taste and package design. |
Up Next
Old Lahaina Rum is only sold in Hawai’i. “We don't want to be just another rum company that happens to be made in Hawai’i – we want to be THE Hawai’i rum.” Said Case.
When asked about future plans for Old Lahaina rum, Case said, “The ways that you grow a spirits company are: expand your distribution, come up with new products, or make your existing products better. We're continuously exploring all of those options.”
Case added, “We also need to get our story out to more people. We’re the oldest rum maker in the state and have never advertised since we started. As a family-owned local business, we don’t have the deep advertising pockets of our mainland-owned Hawai’i competitors, but our product speaks for itself when people try it.”
When asked about future plans for Old Lahaina rum, Case said, “The ways that you grow a spirits company are: expand your distribution, come up with new products, or make your existing products better. We're continuously exploring all of those options.”
Case added, “We also need to get our story out to more people. We’re the oldest rum maker in the state and have never advertised since we started. As a family-owned local business, we don’t have the deep advertising pockets of our mainland-owned Hawai’i competitors, but our product speaks for itself when people try it.”