It’s no secret that I like the whisky—and the whisky that the folks at Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons, Colorado are making is some damn good whisky. But for the first time in a long time, I sipped on something other than the hand-crafted and oh-so smooth straight malt whisky on a recent visit to the Spirit Hound tasting room.
This time, I sipped on the rum—aged in a whisky barrel, of course—because when your whisky is that good, why wouldn’t you? A traditional Agrarian Style rum made with cane sugar and molasses sourced from the Caribbean, Spirit Hound’s Mountain Bum Rum has made a few appearances in the distillery’s spirits line-up since their inception in 2012.
“Rum isn’t something that we originally planned on producing,” said Craig Englehorn, Spirit Hound’s head distiller. Englehorn was is the middle of making one of the inaugural rum batches at the distillery when record-breaking flood waters hit the town—stranding Englehorn in the distillery for more than a day. The initial batch of rum produced was dubbed the “Flood Rum” and it didn’t take Spirit Hound too long to run through the first batch.
On Saturday, November 12, Spirit Hound is throwing a release party to celebrate the limited-release Barrel-Aged Rum and the return of rum to the distillery’s tasting room. The small-batch, twice-distilled rum has been aging in one of Spirit Hound’s whisky barrels for the past year, and will make its debut in the tasting room in 750 ml bottles, and mixed into two delicious cocktails: The Rocky Mountain Coloda—a delightful creamy and seriously dangerous island-inspired drink, and a Buick Special Martini made with rum, peach bitters, honey syrup and lemon juice. Both drinks will be available at the release party which will run from 11 am to 9 pm. A food truck, live music, and the chance to chat barrel-aged rum with Englehorn are also on tap for the event.
