115: Behind the Bottle: Holmes Cay Infinity Cask with Eric Kaye

Note: Watch this episode on YouTube for video of the whole interview: https://youtu.be/KA4_5kEqvQU In this episode, after a quick look at some of our favorite reactions to the Best Designed Bottles episode, we get the behind-the-scenes story of one of the year's most unique rum releases — the Holmes Cay Infinity Cask bottle. This bottle features a blend of exceedingly rare rums from 13 distilleries (five of which are no longer in operation). From 47-year-old Port Mourant, to 47-year-old rhum agricole from the closed Gardel distillery, to Caroni rums, to Hampden, Long Pond, and much more, it's a blend that began all the way back in 2003 as part of the Main Rum Company's infinity cask program — their own special blends of retained rum samples from some of their best casks. Holmes Cay founder Eric Kaye took us through the whole backstory, including: How the opportunity to bring this rum to market came about The decision to release it in both 700ml and 200ml bottles Why is it $1,500? Is any rum actually worth that much? Is this just taking us into bourbon territory? What the rum actually tastes like How they unexpectedly lost a significant amount of the rum The packaging headaches that go into designing a custom box The differences between this cask and Main Rum's other infinity casks Some exciting upcoming Mhoba and Savanna releases And much more! We'd love to hear your thoughts on this release. Have a listen and leave a comment or hop into the Discord to let us know what you think! You can get more details on this rum on the Holmes Cay website: https://www.holmescay.com/single-cask-editions/ As mentioned in the intro, here are some of the worthwhile articles on eco-friendly packaging: Rumporter: Should We Do Away with the Glass Bottle?: https://rumporter.com/en/carbon-footprint-should-we-do-away-with-the-glass-bottle/ IWSC: Sustainable Spirits Packaging: https://www.iwsc.net/news/iwsc/iwsc-insight-report-sustainable-spirits-packaging Glass Hallmark: How Is the Glass Industry Delivering on Lighter Weight Glass Packaging?: https://glasshallmark.com/light-weight-glass-bottles/ 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.