For this week’s blog we decided to revisit a conversation we had with our master blender. We had approached him with the stereotypical image of a master blender – you know, one of those who label spirits as their “calling” and something they were born passionate about. Quite surprisingly, we were met with a biochemistry geek who speaks of spirits as his ‘call of duty’. Dr Virender Sheorain, when posed with the cliché of “Were you always into the spirits industry?”, laughs it off by saying he’s a Biochemist who enjoys a good drink. Since alcohol was one among …
Rather than going all “rum is produced from ‘Genus saccharum officinarun’”, we’re going to break down the process for you the way our Wise Monkeys passed on to us. No BS, just pure rum. It’s a simple idea: Where there’s sugarcane, there shall be sugarcane-based spirits. It’s an unsaid rule that made its way since centuries, and the process roughly goes like this: This was the TLDR version. Now for those who are looking for a longer version of the story, lets take a walk back in history. It is said that after sugar cane was introduced in the Caribbeans, …
We like to believe that rum was made for the laidback souls to drink it the way they like it – bound by not many rules or regulations. However, some day if you fancy serving it the way rum connoisseurs do, let our Wise Monkeys be your guide to it. Setting the glassGlassware is important for two reasons. 1) Because you need to pour the drink into something, and drinking out of the bottle may not seem very connoisseur-like. 2) After having a few drinks, your mind would be at a lot more ease if you knocked over the glass …
There definitely some sort of sorcery in Jamaican rum. Anyone who drinks it becomes a lifelong devotee, and an advocate of that full-bodied, high-spirited, fruity flavour that takes over the senses. So what is it about the Jamaican variety of rum that appeals to accionados and those with an adventurous palate? Most of them swear by the flavour profile of Jamaican rum, which is unlike any they have tasted before. It comes on strong, as though unafraid of getting you mixed up in mischief. What creates this strong flavour profile? Esters. Esters are often considered impurities, which you won’t find …
Close observers of Alessandro Michele’s entourage of collaborators and muses will remember Jayde Fish, the San Francisco based artist discovered by the designer on Instagram and later tapped to supply gorgeous, whimsical illustrations for the Spring 2017 collection. Early this month, Fish made yet another visual splash, this time in New York’s Soho.
Ask a young Jamaican in Kingston or Mobay about obeah and they would probably say it’s just old-timer talk. But the old folk in the countryside will tell you otherwise. They will tell you about healers who can make you feel almost invincible, medicine men and women who have an answer to all your problems and yes, potions that have revived tired and flagging spirits. And all this is attributed to the local obeah man or woman. Seems a bit too far-fetched? Tell that to admirers of Nanny of the Maroons, the Jamaican national hero that adorns the $500 Jamaican …