78: Inside Demerara Distillers Ltd. and El Dorado Rum with Shaun Caleb
In this episode, we sat down with Shaun Caleb, master distiller at Demerara Distillers Ltd. (makers of El Dorado Rum) to discuss a wide range of topics related to DDL and his career in rum, including...
His path from Guyana to Princeton University and back to Guyana to work for DDL
Learning to distill on some of the oldest stills in the world
How DDL's range of both historic and modern stills allow them to produce an array of 20+ rum marques
The differences between the Port Mourant double wooden pot still and Versailles single wooden pot still, and how they express themselves in the rum
How DDL had the foresight to preserve its heritage stills
Why modern distilleries don't use wooden stills
High ester rum production at DDL (and how it differs from Jamaican high ester rum production)
Why there aren’t “lost” DDL rum marques
The backstory on DDL's decision to reduce its practice of aging rum with caramel in the barrels
The one type of still Shaun would add to DDL if he could
What to expect from El Dorado Rum in the future
And much more!
Also, before we got to the interview, we created a March Madness themed bracket of Demerara rums (it ties into the interview, we swear).
You can find out more info about El Dorado Rum and Demerara Distillers Ltd. at the following links:
Matt Pietrek’s deep dive into Demerara Distillers Ltd. on Cocktail Wonk
P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.
