Ho-Ho-Ho

There is nothing like going to a rum distillery for the holidays.  We went to “Old New Orleans” distillery our first night in New Orleans.  When you walk in you are instantly struck with the smell of rum.  We waited about 10 minutes for the next tour and already didn’t notice the smell.

Turns out the barrels come from whiskey distilleries from Kentucky.  So we may have seen these barrels when we went to a bourbon distillery there (http://tandtrv.blogspot.com/2011/10/frankfort-is-capital-of-kentucky.html).

 

The tour was good with a wonderful guide.  The place is small, but interesting to hear about the process of taking sugar cane molasses and changing it into rum.  They work to be sustainable.  Several of their byproducts are sent out to be used for other products (even nail polish!). BTW, the best rum they had was 10 years old.  VERY smooth!

 

For the price of the tour, you start with a mixed drink of rum and iced tea.  During the tour you get a taste of 180 proof spirits.  At the end of the tour, you drink small shots of 5 different rums that they make.  By the end, we were very happy and everyone on the tour was very friendly.  Plus, the drinks made us more likely to buy a few bottles of rum.  Good marketing! 

After the tour we learned about the life of the other couples that were on the tour. One of the gentlemen was a professor at Bowling Green in Ohio. It was fun to discuss the Bowling Green library and the ice rink at the school.  My oldest brother graduated from there and the library and ice rink is pretty much all I remember of the college.  Fun tour, great guide, and good people!