Matt Pietrek traveled the world, visited so many distilleries, and wrote a medical textbook-sized book on them. Luca Gargano traveled the world and gave us Caroni.

I just went to my local distillery here in Brooklyn. Have you seen airline ticket prices these days?

You can read more about the distillery in my article on Standard Wormwood

The base fermentable is unclear, but USVI + Jamaica means almost certainly 100% molasses. But I can’t know for sure.

Review

Smell: Very fruity. My initial thought upon smelling it is that this is something from Worthy Park or Hampden because it gives me a nice pineapple note and it’s not as industrial as some funks can be at times.

Taste: Surprisingly light. The nose was a lot heavier with Jamaican funk than the taste, but I actually prefer it not too overwhelming. It’s probably in the neighborhood of OWH or Smith & Cross. But then the wormwood kicks in and it finishes with a light touch of Malört. As someone who went to college in Chicago, I am very familiar with Malört, and I can’t say that I enjoy it, but I have grown a tolerance to it. As such, this finish is rather interesting. I can’t say that I necessarily like it, but I don’t hate it, and it’s actually quite curious.

In a daiquiri, it’s pretty much fantastic. You really don’t feel the Malört at all, and you just get a light, crisp, unaged Jamaican rum in your daiquiri, which is probably my favorite genre of daiquiri.

Verdict 7/10

I would not call this a sipper necessarily, though I could sip it just fine, but it’s just really nice as a mixer. I’d compare it to Spike’s Breezeway Blend or Planteray 3 Stars, where it’s light, crisp, funky but not overly so, and makes nice mixed drinks. Though, for the price, I can’t really say it’s a good value, when you can buy a 1L bottle of Planteray 3 Stars and 1L Spike’s Breezeway Blend combined for the same price as a 750mL of this rum. But I get it, its art-is-anal small batch rum distilled in NYC. The bartenders were really friendly and knowledgable and I do recommend Industry City for the vibes, and you might as well stop by for a good rum cocktail. 7/10