Blending House in Florida Introduces Unique Rum Highlighting American Craft Spirits
A new blending house and distillery in Orlando, Florida has introduced rum to its list of spirits. Forward/Slash distillery and blending house opened its doors in April of 2023 and has now introduced its first rum, Primarch as part of its Wondering Cane Series.
The Blending House
(Photo: Forward/Slash)
Forward/Slash just opened this year and highlights American craft spirits. While primarily focusing on blending whiskey, it also blends vodka and gin but has only just recently dipped its toe into the world of rum with this new release. The distillery side of the business mostly makes bitters and liqueurs which are used in the onsite tasting room and bar to craft cocktails for guests.
The business began out of owners’, Tim Bradstreet’s and Michael Buffa’s desire to showcase American spirits and the talented distillers who craft these unique products. Part of this ethos means placing transparency at its core. “We’re just spirit nerds,” Buffa added.
Buffa said, “I love the stories of all these really cool small producers that are making amazing products and people in our area don’t know about it.
“We look to work with distilleries that will allow us to tell people who they are and about them,” said Buffa. “We look at ourselves as almost an extension of the brands that we work with.”
One of the struggles of craft distilleries is a lack of wide distribution and it can be hard to experience great spirits depending on where you live. Forward/Slash is going to bring more distilleries’ products to where they live.
“Whether we’re talking about rum, whiskey, or gin, there are so many amazing craft distilleries right now in the country, and being in Florida, sometimes we don’t get exposed to those because there is such a big market. For a smaller distillery, it’s hard for them, unless they have the volume, to get into Florida,” explained Buffa. “Our job is to go out and find them. We have to like their product first and then we really want to make sure we like the people behind it, because we’re going to be advocates for the brand.”
The Rum
(Photo: Forward/Slash)
For this release, Forward/Slash set out to bring together three unique rum producers into one bottle. Primarch was made with a particular blend of rums and the goal of making a great daiquiri-style rum.
Primarch is the first part of Forward/Slash’s Wondering Cane Series which will explore the wide variety of traditions and methods of authentic rum distillation and production. The rums selected for the blends are the results of craftsmen dedicated to making pure rums that do not include additives.
“We decided to see if we could create a balanced, blended rum that utilized all three of the main types of fermentation,” stated Forward/Slash.
The rum is 45% ABV, unaged, and is a blend of 44% Boyd & Blair molasses rum, 33% Sugar Sands single estate Florida cane juice rum and 23% Copper Bottom raw sugar rum.
Forward/Slash had already formed a relationship with Barry Young, owner and master distiller of Boyd & Blair, “so that one was a no-brainer” when Bradstreet and Buffa started this endeavor. Boyd & Blair sources its molasses from Pennsylvania-based producer Zook Molasses which uses a traditional Amish-style method for making high-quality molasses. The award-winning rum is fermented between 21-28 days in an open-top fermenter and distilled using a pot still.
Next, Forward/Slash looked to its locality in Florida to finish out its blend.
“We started searching around and we went to a Florida Craft Spirits Association event in Jacksonville, Florida and we got to meet Jeremy and his family who owned Copper Bottom.”
Located in Holly Hill, Florida, near Daytona Beach, Copper Bottom Craft Distillery uses a unique raw sugar base for its rums which is in between sugarcane juice and crystalized sugar. All of owner Jeremy Craig’s rums are handcrafted and made in small batches.
Then for the cane juice rum, Forward/Slash used another Florida producer. Sugar Sand Distillery is located on a 10-acre sugarcane farm in Lake Placid. This producer is a farm-to-bottle distillery using Florida-grown sugarcane. One of the few single-estate rum producers in the continental US making agricole style rum. Don Davies, owner and distiller of Sugar Sand rum, harvests his estate-grown sugar cane by hand and crushes the cane, ferments the juice, and distills in the center of his sugar cane field in an open-air distillery.
With the three rums selected it was time to start blending. For the team, this was where the minor details mattered most.
“Everything starts at a microgram scale here,” explained Buffa. “Eventually, we narrowed it down to two and we said the next test is going to make a daiquiri with it and that was going to be the one that determined which one we’re going to make.”
“We set out to create what we think is a great daiquiri-style rum,” said Buffa. “And we are pretty happy with the end result.”
Primarch debuted at the distillery’s “Wet Hot Rum Summer” release party on July 29. The rum was featured in a housemade daiquiri that did not disappoint.
(Photo: Jessica Gleman)
Primarch is limited to 828 bottles for what may be the first batch. It is likely to be the first of many rums blended by Forward/Slash and it will be exciting to see what comes next for the Wondering Cane Series, which will showcase rums from more craft distilleries.
Read Next:
8 Must-Try American Craft Rum Brands in 2023
How to Make a Perfect Daiquiri Every Single Time
10 Distilleries for Rum in South Florida Worth Planning a Trip for
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