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| Kōloa Rum Company's award winning lineup. |
The sugar era of Kauai ended when Gay & Robinson,
established 1889, announced the shutdown of their sugar operations in 2008. Sugar has been an important part of Kauai’s
history since 1835 when the first sugar plantation opened in Koloa. Kōloa Rum Company is continuing Kauai’s sugar
heritage, but in a slightly different way. Kōloa Rum Company was established in 2008 and
purchased the last 90 tons of granulated sugar from Gay & Robinson to start
their line of Kauai rum. Today Kauai’s
first distillery provides rum tastings in their tasting room located on another
property with sugar plantation ties, the Kilohana Plantation.
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| Who's ready for some rum tasting? |
Kōloa Rum Company’s rum tastings are unique in that guests
use their tastes to create a miniature mai tai.
The instructional drinking session starts with a shot glass filled with Kōloa
Rum Company’s mai tai mix and another with a taste of Kauai White Rum. Kauai White has a very clean taste and is
very smooth. It is perfect for mojitos,
mai tais, and jungle juice. After taking
a sip of the white rum and a sip of the mai tai mix, we dumped the rest of the
white rum into the mix.
We next tried the three time gold medal winner Kauai Dark
Rum. The dark rum is not aged and gets
its color from caramelized sugar and proprietary flavors. Kauai Dark has a clean vanilla taste with a
hint of chocolate and a
dry finish. Kauai Dark can be used in a
dark and stormy made with ginger beer and is also good with eggnog. After taking a taste we tested our bartending
skills by slowly pouring the rest of the Kauai Dark in an attempt to float it
for a mai tai sunset. We then downed our
cocktail shot to get a taste of a Hawaiian mai tai.
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| Tasting Kauai Dark before testing our bartending skills. |
Kōloa Rum Company also makes spiced rum. Since they use cane sugar instead
of molasses, the rum is sweeter than other rums. Kauai Spiced is also stronger than Kōloa Rum
Company’s other rums at 88 proof. Kauai
Spice does not mix with many things, but does mix well with chai tea and
vanilla coke. Rome likened the taste to that
of a good cigar.
Kauai Coconut has only been around seven months and is the
baby of the company. Kauai Coconut is
all-natural coconut rum. The slight
green hue comes from natural coconut flavors. The coconut flavor is crisp with a warm burn
at the end and a fantastic coconut aroma.
On its first run it won a silver medal.
Kauai Coconut can be used in a mai tai instead of Kauai White for an
extra touch of Hawaiian island flavor.
As Kōloa Rum Company can only legally serve one ounce to
visitors, Kauai Gold is not included in the tasting rotation. However, during my food tour with Tasting Kauai, I had a chance to taste Kauai Gold
as part of my mai tai at Gaylord’s Mahiko Lounge, also on the Kilohana Plantation
property. Kauai Gold Rum is a sweeter
version of Kauai White with a buttery finish.
Kauai Gold gets its color from the mixed in caramelized sugar.
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| Bottle aging casks. |
Since Kōloa Rum Company is so young, they do not yet have
any aged rums. They have created small
casks visitors can purchase to individually age their bottles of rum. Kauai Dark and Kauai Spice are best for
aging, and one month in the small cask is equal to two years of regular barrel
aging. Kōloa Rum Company plans on
releasing aged rum in five years or so.
There is no tourism at Kōloa Rum Company’s distillery, which
is located on the grounds of the Kukui Brand facilities in Kalaheo. However, Kōloa Rum Company will be building new production and retail facilities in Koloa in the next several years. The
new headquarters will be situated on 18 acres.
Ten acres will have sugar cane, interactive gardens and a small museum. The other eight acres will house the warehouse and buildings where visitors will be able to
take tours of the distillery and jam factory and visit a tasting room and café. Koloa was the location of Kauai’s first
sugarcane mill and was the first town to have electricity and a street light,
which is still blinking yellow.
The sugar Kōloa Rum Company purchased from Gay &
Robinson will last about two more years.
While Kōloa Rum Company plans to grow and harvest sugarcane and
currently has 10 acres growing, they will not have use of a sugar mill. They will purchase raw crystal sugar from Maui to continue their current line of rum. They will also be creating a new line of rum which
will be sweeter and made with fresh pressed cane juice from their sugarcane
crops instead of sugar. They
will also be releasing Kauai Coffee liquor and two additional flavored mixes in
the near future.
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| Kōloa Rum even comes in carry on size. |
I highly suggest including a stop at Kōloa Rum Company’s tasting room during
a visit to the Kilohana Plantation for a taste of the newest version of Kauai’s
sugar heritage. The tasting room is open
every day starting at 10:00 a.m., and tastings occur every half hour. Kōloa Rum Company’s rum can be purchased in
the adjoining company store. Since I can
never leave a tasting without making a purchase, we brought home bottles of
Kauai Gold and Kauai Dark so we can make our own mai tais, and a bottle of
Kauai Coconut for a friend. While Kōloa Rum
is available elsewhere in the United States and other countries, bottles of rum cannot be shipped outside of Hawaii from the company store, so be sure to save some room in your
luggage.
