Rum for Surfers

Papa’s Pilar Rum Legacy Edition 2023 honors legendary surfer Greg Noll, blending rum from the Caribbean and South America and aged in different barrels.

Not long ago I reviewed Papa Pilar’s Rum, also known as Hemingway’s Rum, as it’s made in collaboration with the estate of the great author and rum enthusiast, Ernest Hemingway. That was one of their 2022 Legacy Editions, and now for their 2023 Legacy Edition, released in February 2024, is a rum for surfers.

Papa's Pilar Rum Legacy Edition for Surfers — Papa’s Pilar Rum Legacy Edition for Surfers

Rum for Surfers

This one has been made in conjunction with the surfing legend, Greg Noll. Born in San Diego in 1937, Noll was surfing by the time he was eleven. He moved to Hawaii in 1954, and his surfing exploits continued. He surfed in conditions that even local surfers thought impossible. In 1969 he rode what people at the time believed to be the biggest wave anyone had ever managed to surf.

He had always designed and shaped surfboards, and later went into the business commercially, as well as spending time as a commercial fisherman. He died in 2021 at the age of 84, and to honor his memory his son Jed, who worked in his father’s business Noll Surfboards, collaborated with Papa Pilar’s to craft a suitable rum that his father would have enjoyed.

Making this Rum for Surfers

Jed Noll worked with Papa Pilar’s 7th generation Master Distiller, Ron Call. Together they produced a rum that is as complex as any wave rushing into shore. Call started by taking rums from both the Caribbean and South America, which were blended in bourbon and Spanish sherry casks, and then finished in once-used apple brandy French oak casks from Limousin, the wood used to make casks for fine French cognacs. A small amount of the rum is then also finished in apricot and orange bitters casks, for an added layer of flavor.

The spirit resulting from this long process is then bottled at 44% ABV (88 proof). A portion of the proceeds is being donated to Pipeline to a Cure, a nonprofit organization founded to celebrate the role surfing played in the development of hypertonic saline, an important treatment for those living with cystic fibrosis (CF). Studies in Australia showed that people with CF reported improvements after they had been surfing and breathing in the fine saltwater mist.