Episode 247 - Modern Caribbean Rum with Matt Pietrek

In this fascinating deep-dive into the world of cane distillates with Matt Pietrek, author of Modern Caribbean Rum, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Matt and his wife Carrie collaborated to create an 800+ page self-published treatise on the rums of the Caribbean: through strategy, structure, and of course visiting so many of the incredible producers who pour their life into this spirit.
• Then, we get into the weeds on a wide-ranging set of topics related to the classification of rum. And this is really the heart of the book. We talk about:
• The broad-strokes differences between British-style, French-style, and Spanish-style rums
• The impact of colonial history and economics on the timelines and styles that were propagated in different islands and regions
• Why Matt thinks about Rum as a “Meta-category” of spirits that contains multitudes of styles and flavors
• Along the way, we cover the palletized nuances of self-publishing, the four main decision buckets that dictate the kind of rum that a given producer will bottle, the surprising influence of Canadians on overproof rum bottling strength,
• And much, much more.

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