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Hemingway’s Rum

Mike Gerrard Cuba, Rum, Spirit Reviews, USA

**Travel Distilled tries Hemingway’s rum, Papa’s Pilar Legacy Edition, made as a tribute to The Old Man and the Sea by the Nobel Prize-winning writer.**

Hemingway's Rum Papa Pilar Legacy Edition — Hemingway’s Rum
Papa Pilar Legacy Edition

When I left school at 16, my English teacher Mr Clark gave me a reading list, of books he thought I might enjoy. He encouraged me to keep up my writing and my reading, something for which I’ve always been super-grateful.

Two of the books on the list had a profound impact on me, as I became a lifelong fan of both writers. One was Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the other The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

The Old Man and the Sea

They’re both short, novellas, and I read each book in a single sitting. I can still picture in my mind the summer Saturday night I sat in my bedroom and devoured The Old Man and the Sea. It sent me to buy every Hemingway book I could find. I read biographies, read his diaries, read his collected letters… read everything.

Hemingway’s Rum

The Old Man and the Sea first came out in 1952, written when Hemingway was living in Cuba. My wife’s been lucky enough to visit his favourite bar in Havana, El Floridita, and enjoyed his favourite rum cocktail there, a Daiquiri. For a Mojito he preferred another bar, La Bodeguita Del Medio.

Papa’s Pilar Legacy

So when I was offered the chance to sample a rum inspired by Hemingway and first released to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the publication of The Old Man and the Sea, I didn’t need asking twice. It’s made by the Papa Pilar’s Rum Company, otherwise known as the Hemingway Rum Company, based in another place where Hemingway lived: Key West, Florida. If you’re ever in Key West, you can take a tour or do a rum tasting. Pilar was the name of Hemingway’s boat, which he fished from in both Cuba and Florida.

Hemingway’s Rum: 2022 Second Legacy Edition

The second legacy edition is a blend of no fewer than nine different rums from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela, and Florida. These are blended and aged in a French Oak Apple Brandy Cask, bottles at 44% ABV (88 proof) and released in a very limited edition. This is all done by 7th-generation Master Distiller Ron Call, whose family first began distilling back in the 1780s!

Supporting the Sea

Hemingway finished writing The Old Man and the Sea while he was actually on board the Pilar, so it’s fitting that for every bottle sold, the distillery is donating $20 to the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, a charity which supports reef conservation, restoration, and education.

Presenting Hemingway’s Rum

I haven’t been lucky enough to get the full presentation package, only a tasting sample, but if I’d seen this before Christmas I’d have been dropping big hints to my wife. The bottle comes in a leather replica of a World War II canteen – Hemingway enlisted as an ambulance driver during World War I, and was seriously injured, and during World War II he was present for the liberation of Paris, which he covered as a journalist.

On the back of the ‘canteen’ is a pocket which has a writer’s notebook in it, embossed with the “Never a Spectator” stamp, which is the motto of Papa’s Pilar Rum. Attached to the side is a black and copper pen. The whole package also comes with an ice sphere mold, to make the perfect cube to pop in your drink, and naturally a copy of The Old Man and the Sea. If this isn’t the perfect gift for the rum-loving writer in your life, I don’t know what is.

Tasting Hemingway’s Rum

I’m pleased to be able to say that what’s in the bottle justifies the classy and stylish presentation. The nose is sweet as a rum should be, but you can smell hints of the apple too, from its time in the barrel. Tasting it, there’s still some apple fruitiness and vanilla sweetness, but more of the robustness of the brandy shines through and makes for one smooth sipping experience. At 44% ABV (88 proof), it also packs a punch and while it would undoubtedly improve any rum cocktail you made with it, for me this is one to sip and savour slowly. It would make a great accompaniment to a sweet dessert as well.