Reviews #219-222; Rums#9-12: A collection of Ed Hamilton Bottlings / Ohio Rum Society

The Ohio Rum Society

ORS is a group of enthusiasts in Ohio dedicated to spreading the knowledge of rum and educating people on it. The group currently stands at 93 paid members as of this writing and recently celebrated turning 3 years old in August.

The group has 3 main goals:

• Elevate the Rum Category in Ohio

• Educate the common Ohio consumer on cane spirits available in the state

• Showcase the best cocktail programs and bartending talent in Columbus Ohio

Due to living in a control state, the group tries to help make sure interesting rums are brought in with consumer demand. Spreading knowledge and getting people to understand and appreciate cane spirits is important in that regard due to the way liquor works in Ohio.

Some of the past events this year have been Rum Bottle Shares, Alexander Gabriel of Plantation giving a talk to Members, and the event I will be highlighting here, Ed Hamilton.

Ed Hamilton joined us in an event hosted at a Tiki bar called Huli Huli in Powell Ohio. With 30 members present he gave a talk on cane spirits and some of the insight into how he made and produced his Rum Brand, and the journey he went through after having Lemon hart taken from him.

The most interesting part of the evening, and the main focuses were the guided tastings we went through which will be detail below.

Hamilton 151 vs Hamilton 86

For the first guided part of the tasting, we were given pours of Hamilton 151 and 86 side by side, which I shall detail my review of them here.

Hamilton 151 (No Water):

ABV: 75.5%

Nose: Strong Ethanol, Mangoes, Pineapple, Burnt Brown Brown Sugar, Baking Spices

Palate: Thick, Full oily mouthfeel Heat, Brown Sugar, Tartness, Pineapples, Dark Chocolate, Spices

Finish: Spices, Vanilla, Heat, Fruits, Tart Mangoes

Rating: 6/10

Overall a good product and I can see its use in cocktails, the proof just makes this such an unwieldy beast to drink neat.

Hamilton 86 Proof:

ABV:43%

Nose: Deep Chocolate, Raisins, Citrus, Burnt Brown Sugar

Palate: Thin, a bit watery, Brown Sugar, Slight Vanilla.

Finish: Short, Spices, Vanilla, Brown Sugar.

Rating: 4/10

It’s not bad, the flavors are ok but they fade out fast and the nose is the best part of this for me personally.

After we had the chance to try these 2 SbS, he instructed us to add some water to the 151 to try to get it to about the same proof

as the 86, which we did.

Hamilton 151 with water:

Nose: More Open, Brown Sugar, Spices, Mangoes,

Palate: Thinner, unbalanced heat, chocolate, spices, hot.

Finish: Short, Spices, Vanilla, unbalanced, fades out fast

Rating: 3/10

I’m sure I didn’t proof it down right, but this was supposed to be a demonstration of the process they use to proof down the 86, as Ed described that they take 5 days to proof down the Rum they have shipped in at 154 proof down to the 86 proof. I think both rums are good for what they are but I would rather take the 151 proof for cocktails and neat sipping over the 86. That is a personal preference though as the 86 feels a bit muted, if you want a low proof rum to sip on its perfect for that. Ed stated to us his preference was for the 86, as he thought it was better for cocktails.

Effect of Caramel on Rum:

Now this was a very cool experiment that we go to participate and be guided in. The first aspect of this was trying some of Ed’s

Jamaican Post Still (Gold) Rum.

Jamaican Pot Still Gold Rum (Hamilton) (No Caramel Added)

ABV: 46.5%

Nose: Funk, Rotting Fruits, Mango, Rubber.

Palate: Medium mouthfeel, funk, mango, rubber, rotting fruits.

Finish: Short, funk, rotting fruits, and some rubber

Rating: 6/10

Not bad for the price, a decent cheap funky Jamacian rum. I would not mind having this on hand most of the time.

Now for adding the Caramel Ed Brought

Jamaican Pot Still Gold Rum (Caramel added):

Nose: Sweet, Vanilla, Sugary, slight Funk

Palate: Brown Sugar, Sweet, Muted, some Funk

Finish: Short, Sweet, Vanilla

Rating: 3/10

The adding of caramel took a nice rum and ruined it in my opinion, crazy what that can do. Even with Ed talking about his Caramel being sugar based I’m still not a fan of this practice and wish rums wouldn’t add any color or sugar but I diegress.

The last rum we got to try is a new offering the Hamilton 87 “White Stache” which is described as the following:

This is a blend of 3 rums, 3 year old aged Trinidad rum, Molasses from Guyana and Santo Domingo. This is carbon filtered to remove the color from the ageing in Oak Barrels.

Ed talked about how bartenders told him they wanted a rum that would be good in cocktails that was “Smooth” and didn’t have that “harsh finish”. Lets dive into this rum

Hamilton 87 White Stache:

ABV: 43.5

Nose: Mocha, slight coffee, Tart.

Palate: Thin, Watery, Mocha. Not much flavor

Finish: Little to non

Rating: 4/10

This is inoffensive. With little to no flavor. With the profile he was going after he nailed it, but even at the cheap price this is sold at, this rum is clearly not target towards me.

Overall it was a good and very educational evening, seeing the difference the 5 days worth of dilution on the 151 and 86, as well as the effect of caramel was very educational and not something I would have thought to do.