La Isla Rum Club - Dzama Rhum

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  Dzama Rhum - Rum Club

La Isla Rum Club March - For this month’s Rum Club, we were fortunate to get to taste a variety of Dzama’s brilliant collection, starting with the citrusy Cuvée Blanche, then moving through the darker rums. Andrew Christianson, a very informative Dzama representative was there answering questions and even helped serve rum tasters and food.

Dzama is an exotic African Rum which we enjoyed with some delicious food  prepared by our own Chef Lee. As usual, Lee worked to incorporate traditional ingredients of the region from which the rum is produced into each dish. Dzama is from a small island off the coast of Madagascar, ironically named Nosy Be, which means big island!

Dzama Rhum; (Left to right) Cuvée Blanche, Nosy Be Amber 104 Prestige, Cuvée Noire, Amber Cuvée Noire Prestige

It is common in rum production to use already used whiskey barrels for aging rum, which is why you can often pick up hints of bourbon in rum. It is also common in rum production to enhance flavor by adding fruit and spices to the rum directly. We learned that Dzama is unique in that they do not infuse their rum directly, but by soaking their wood barrels in citrus or vanilla bean water, and then letting the infused wood impart flavor into the rum during the aging process. With the darker rums, Dzama uses vanilla infused wood, which they re-cask, meaning the barrels are reused for aging, allowing each batch to have different levels of boldness. The first with strong notes of vanilla, and each batch that follows more mellow.

Alfonso entertaining some guests

Guests taking notes on Dzama's unique flavor

Spinach salad w mango dressing & garlic crostini

Tripleta: ham, pernil & cube steak sandwich w swiss & mayo ketchup

Romazavu: beef, pork & chicken stew w a thick tomato & sofrito base

Deep fried banana & vanilla icecream

Mark you calendars Rum Bums, April 30th is our next Rum Club! A big thank you to Andrew and Dzama Rhum, and everyone who came out Tuesday night. To view the full photo gallery, visit our facebook photo album!