112: Managing Rum’s Most Famous Single Cask Collection: The Main Rum Company Revisited w/ Ian Hoyles

Note: See the end of this episode description for the Hurricane Beryl aid links we mention in the intro. In this episode we revisited one of rum's iconic institutions from a totally different perspective from our previous episode (from over 2 years ago!) on it. We're talking, of course, about The Main Rum Company — keepers of E&A Scheer's boutique single cask program, and possibly the most extensive collection of single cask rum (excluding distilleries) in the world. You know all those great single cask releases from independent bottlers? A huge number of them came from Main Rum. To guide us through this deep dive, we spoke with Main Rum's Senior Cask Expert (what a cool title) Ian Hoyles. Ian spoke with us about: The art of matching the right cask to the right rum The crown jewels of Main Rum's collection over the years How exactly Main Rum's mysterious "infinity casks" are created Pushing the limits of aging How to know when a cask is ready for sale How Main Rum collectively assesses casks The rum world's most distinctive flavor profiles And much more! Go here to check out The Main Rum Company’s website: https://www.rum.nl/en/home/mainrum ***Hurricane Beryl Relief*** As we mentioned in the intro, we reached out to friends in the Caribbean and were told that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) does impactful relief work across the region. They have set up a bank account for Beryl relief that you can find on their website here: https://www.cdema.org/index.php There is also an organization called Airlink that is coordinating with the CDEMA to bring relief supplies to the region. There are ways to donate online here: https://airlinkflight.org/responses/hurricane-beryl/ John's colleagues at the university spoke highly of CORE, an organization they are currently working with that is bringing aid to the Caribbean as well: https://www.coreresponse.org/hurricane-beryl/ 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.