Admin announcement and disclaimer

Excuse me for a quick break from the usual posts I make here. I’m excited to announce that I’ve recently taken a full-time job in in the beverage alcohol industry — I’m now the distiller at Richland Distilling Company’s second distillery in Brunswick, Georgia. I really couldn’t be happier, this is a great job with a great company in a fantastic small seaside town.

I’ll be posting here as usual, and you can also expect my Instagram and Facebook posts to continue as well. I do want to make it clear that my posts here are entirely mine. I’m not representing Richland Distilling Company at all here, they’re not reviewing or reading my posts, and nothing I say here should be credited to or blamed on them.

I do hope to provide some additional information about the production process here and on my social media accounts as time goes on. This would be done with the intention of sharing information and helping others and not as brand promotion. This would certainly be a grey area between the “nothing here represents the company” and “here’s what I’m doing at the company” ends of the spectrum, and I’ll need to figure out how that works when the time comes. But for the near term it’s business as usual here – just a rum and spirits fan posting news and things of interest to share with the community.

If you’re traveling through coastal Georgia, come by and visit me at the distillery! We’re right off I-95.

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — September 2024

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in August 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting but excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 96 rum labels in total this month, 27 are covered here. 

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — September 2024”

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — August 2024

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in July 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting but excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 99 rum labels in total this month, 54 are covered here. 

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — August 2024”

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — July 2024

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in June 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting but excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 97 rum labels in total this month, 27 are covered here. 

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — July 2024”

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — June 2024

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in May 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting but excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 134 rum labels in total this month (same as last month!), 37 are covered here. 

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — June 2024”

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — May 2024

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in April 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting but excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 134 rum labels in total this month, 62 (!!) are covered here. Last month only had 21 for comparison.

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — May 2024”

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — April 2024

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in March 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting and excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 86 rum labels in total this month, 21 are covered here (22 if you count releases with less than 1% ABV).

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — April 2024”

Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — March 2024

Better late than never, right? Apologies for how late this is. The April report will follow soon after this in a separate post.

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in February 2024. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting and excluding spiced/flavored products and most cachacas.

The TTB approved 68 rum labels in total this month, 26 are covered here (33 if you count the re-approved remaining Hampden Estate 8 Marks Set labels).

Continue reading “Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — March 2024”

A guide to 2024 Texas Rum Festival after-show events

If you’re going to be at the Texas Rum Festival this weekend, here’s a quick guide to events happening outside of the main show. These are events that are sponsored by brands or bars and aren’t part of the official show agenda. Some require reservations or the purchase of a ticket, I’ve provided links to registration sites.

Continue reading “A guide to 2024 Texas Rum Festival after-show events”

First location of new Don the Beachcomber chain opens in Tampa Bay area

The long-awaited opening of the first new Don the Beachcomber restaurant has happened. Polynesian/Tiki aficionados can now visit the Madeira Beach location as of Friday, 23 February.

It’s located at 15015 Madeira Way, Suite 100, Madeira Beach, FL and is open seven days a week (11-11 Sun-Wed, 11-1am Thu-Sat). Their number is (727) 870-8454 and seating is first come, first served — they’re not taking reservations.

Atomic Grog has great coverage here including photos and menu details.

Marie King, beverage director for Don the Beachcomber, was part of a DtB preview at Inuhele in Atlanta in January. She served Missionary’s Downfall cocktails while other DtB team members sold branded T-shirts and very cool tiki mugs made by Eekum Bookum.