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Jan Stephenson Pineapple-Flavored Rum
The origin stories and tales of inspiration about different spirits in the industry can be interesting to absolutely vexing. Dented Brick Distillery located in South Salt Lake, Utah in partnership with Australian golfing legend Jan Stephenson has created a series of flavored rums that involve flavors that she personally enjoys and likes to experience when she is relaxing at the end of the day. Dented Bricks Rums are created by fermenting a blend of Turbinado sugar and molasses, then distilled in a 500 gallon Copper Pot Still. The flavor agent is added and then blended to 40% ABV and bottled.
Stephenson Pineapple Flavored Rum
Appearance
The rum comes in a tall, long necked 750 mL bottle. The labels are simple, straight forward and communicate the basics about the product. I noticed on the shelf when all the rums are lined up they are easy to spot, but individually are easy to overlook.
Like the label, the liquid in the bottle is pretty straightforward as it looks way more like pineapple juice than it does rum. Pouring it in the glass, it is easy to tell this is much thicker than juice, while maintaining the same strong yellow color that it has in the bottle. Agitating the liquid only created a razor thin line that slowly thickened and dropped a few syrupy legs before slowly pebbling up.
Nose
The aroma is dominated by pineapple juice with alcohol nipping around the edges.
Palate
Sipping the rum I discovered a full body, spirit with a robust pineapple flavor with enough alcohol in play to make me think they did not do anything to subdue it with additives. Further sensory and tactile testing confirmed that at the very least that there was no sticky sugar residue left on the hands. The finish lingers a bit with fruity sweetness, then fades with a light organic/mineral note coating the tongue. This flavor did not go away until I cleared it with water.
Review
I always review flavored rums in the metric of “did the maker achieve their goal?” “Does it taste like the flavor they were targeting?” In this case the answer is a resounding yes. Dented Brick Distillery has presented a very no nonsense addition to the flavored rum category and I sincerely hope it works for them. The rum itself is perfectly useful in any cocktail calling for pineapple rum, or simply mix it with lemon-lime soda for a refreshing highball. Overall, there is a beauty in the simplicity of the product and I consider it a job well done.
