I first introduced you to Oceanside Distillery with their Odysea Double Oak Bourbon — but when I think of Florida and spirits, rum is the first thing that comes to mind. My buddy and I stumbled upon their distillery and tasting room in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where I started my day with a bourbon flight. At that point in time, I already knew I was checking my luggage to carry back a bottle of bourbon, and figured I might as well grab a another bottle (you know, just to see how heavy I could make a 19″ checked bag). I tried a neat pour of their Florida Gold Rum at the distillery and after the first sip, that bottle also earned a spot tucked next to my dirty socks.
History
When we do these reviews, most bottles have quite a bit of distillery history that we can pull from… but unfortunately, there’s not much available on Oceanside. In fact, the only history from their website is the following blurb:
The story of Oceanside doesn’t begin with 100-year-old recipes, or generations of family in the distilling business. It started with two brothers and a dream of making craft spirits on Florida’s Space Coast using the very best Florida and regionally sourced ingredients, the best oak barrels, and some of the most technically advanced distilling equipment.
I was also able to find a really great article from SpaceCoastLiving.com, where owner Ron Foleno talks about his three year journey of research, training, and planning to open the doors of his dream project. After reading that article, I got in touch with Foleno and spoke directly with him about the history of his distillery.
Foleno’s brother, Lorenzo, had over 15 years of experience in distillation and was an integral force behind the distillery. Together, the brothers decided to go into business together and create Oceanside Distillery. The distillery was TTB licensed in 2018, and the immediately began distilling spirits.
Before transitioning into the spirits industry, Ron Foleno had owned a commercial design and construction business and actually built the building that houses the distillery and tasting room. During the first two years Ron learned the entire process of fermentation and distillation from Lorenzo, while Oceanside produced over 100 barrels of Bourbon, Run, Gin, and Vodka.
Sadly, Lorenzo passed away in early 2020 leaving Ron to carry the torch of the distillery alone. As he told SpaceCoastLiving.com, “this project is like my second career and my new responsibilities of wearing many hats (as the CEO, manager, brand and logo designer, chief tour guide, distillery chemist, and marketing guy) have been challenging, but I really enjoy every aspect of this venture.”
Product
- Learn More: What Is Rum?
When the distillery was founded, Ron aimed to use high quality ingredients in all of their spirits.
All of their rum starts from dehydrated sugar cane juice — no molasses or white sugar to be found here. That sugar cane is rendered into 100% natural raw sugar called panela, which is then mashed and fermented with yeast to turn the sugars into a mildly alcoholic liquid.
Once fermentation is complete, it’s time to move the liquid into their pot still and begin to distill it. It’s not clear exactly what type of still is used at Oceanside, but if there’s one type of still that is most synonymous with rum, it’s probably the Double Retort Pot Still. This design starts with a traditional single pot still where the contents are added and heated to a large copper pot. From there, the hot vapor coming off the still is funneled through a piece of tubing into a secondary chamber filled with liquid. The hot vapors interact with the liquid in this secondary chamber, some of it condensing, others re-vaporizing into a more highly refined (~35% ABV) spirit that passes to a third chamber where it happens all over again. The end result (~75% ABV) is finally piped through a condenser and captured as newly made rum.
The penultimate step before bottling is to barrel all of the newly made rum into former bourbon barrels sourced through Foleno’s bourbon making friends from Kentucky and Tennessee. Bourbon needs a fresh barrel every time, making it expensive — and the ability to sell used barrels on the market for purposes like this allows them to recoup some of those costs. It remains in this bourbon barrel for a remarkably long five years, and then is subsequently moved to a sherry cask for finishing before finally being bottled.
Packaging
Let’s start with the overall bottle shape, because this is similar to other designs we have seen time and again (just a few off the top of my head: Identity Tequila, Kentucky 74, and Dark Door). There are slight differences, but the overall idea seems to be the same: a cylindrical body, sharp and flatly angled shoulder, short neck, and capped off with a synthetic cork. It seems to want to evoke the idea of a hip, trendy, chic bottle that doesn’t necessarily fit the mold of a traditional spirit.
Where I start to love this bottle is the over-the-top tropical Florida imagery. I noted in my review of Odysea Double Oak Bourbon that it had very little Florida iconography – well, this bottle fixes that complaint and then some. The top of the label has a bright orange sunset with the silhouette of Florida’s state tree, the sabal palm. On the bottom right of the bottle is a proud flamingo strutting through some foliage, and on the bottom left is a toucan (which is not actually native to Florida, but who cares, it rounds out the tiki vibe on this bottle).
There is a lot going on, but the bottle is bold, colorful, expressive, and screams tiki cocktails at the top if its lungs. It stands out proudly on any bar.
This is exactly the kind of bottle I want to see from a distillery located next to Coco Beach.
Neat
Like any good Florida product, the first thing I smell is bold orange scent (seriously, this was the first thing I noticed with both the bourbon and rum – if this is on purpose, chefs kiss). Supporting that orange citrus is a strong sweetness that comes across as vanilla and mild notes of oak.
The first sip is wonderful. There are a ton of different flavors going on, and I can best describe it as a very oaky dish of bananas foster. The first notes are of brown sugar, caramelized banana, hints of vanilla, and orange peel. As that sweet dessert like flavor mellows out slightly, you get some raisin, almond, and oak wood. There is a mild alcohol finish to the experience that comes with a bit of burning, but it’s very mild.
Like many rums, there are complex sweet flavors of from the distilled sugar; however, the five years spent in the bourbon barrel gives this rum a lot of additional flavors. This spirit drinks like the perfect combination of rum and bourbon… (would that be rumbon or bourum?) Whatever you call it, it’s delicious.
On Ice
As we often see, adding ice to a spirit tends to open up and change the flavor profile. Sipping this neat is already a smooth drinking cacophony of flavors — and dropping in a couple cubes of ice just makes things all that more interesting.
The most notable change I notice is in the flavor from the sugar. Taken neat, this was like drinking bananas foster — but on the rocks, the brown sugar fades to the back and the vanilla comes more to the front. Now it’s more akin to drinking a banana-flavored crème brulee.
There weren’t many sharp flavors neat, but any hint of a rough edge has been further sanded down by the ice, resulting in a cold, creamy texture. The finish brings in some black pepper, oak, and dull lime.
While this is quite enjoyable, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily better than enjoying it neat. I’d definitely classify this as a sipping rum, either way.
Cocktail (Classic Daiquiri)
I am torn here. This daiquiri is very smooth, and the fresh lime adds so much more complexity to the rum and brings out some of the more hidden citrus notes.
However, the last thing this spirit needs is simple syrup – it’s sweet enough to begin with. I’m not the biggest fan of sweet cocktails, but I am very impressed in how well the rum stands up to the lime and simple syrup. To it’s credit, the acid notes in this spirit help to cut through some of the sweetness and mellows out the oak and black pepper.
End of the day, I think I would drink another one of these, but I much more prefer this spirit neat. I would be curious as to how this spirit would perform rum old fashioned – the angostura bitters may help to cut through the sweetness more than the lime does.
Fizz (Dark & Stormy)
Wow – what a great drink.
The bold flavors hold up well against the bright effervescence of the ginger beer, which also helps to temper the sweetness. You can distinctly pick out the crème brulee notes in the rum, which are harmonizing beautifully with the ginger beer.
There are subtle hints of oak and pepper still present, but the lime ties everything together here, creating a well-balanced and cohesive cocktail. (Side note: it’s interesting how well some added lime works here, compared to the daiquiri.)
I cannot think of much more that could be done to improve this drink, unless that bananas foster flavor would come back.
Overall Rating
I have never been a big fan of rum — most are often too sweet for my liking. However, this rum drinks much more like a bourbon, and for that I’m a fan. I could see myself sipping this on warm Florida evening (preferably in Cape Canaveral, while you feel the rumble of a rocket escaping orbit).
I mean, this is one of the few spirits that I think makes a great dark and stormy – and that’s big praise from me.
The care and focus taken by the Foleno brothers while establishing the distillery is clear in their product. The fact that this rum spends more time in former bourbon barrels (five years) than their Odysea bourbon spends in new American oak barrel highlights the lengths Oceanside will go to make a great product.
Next time I am in Florida, I will do my best to stop by and taste new spirits (they have a cold brew espresso rum that I am sad that I missed) created by Ron, who clearly is distilling in honor of his brother.
| Oceanside Distillery Florida Gold Rum Produced By: Oceanside Distillery Production Location: Florida, United StatesClassification: Rum Aging: 5 Years Proof: 45% ABV Price: $43 / 750 ml   |
Overall Rating: 4/5
I don’t know if it’s a rumbon or bourum — but this bourbon-tinged rum tastes great, whatever you choose to call it.