As you get out of your car in a small parking lot in North Hollywood on a Sunday afternoon, there can be a feeling that you just arrived at church. You may see others dressed in their Sunday tiki best, make eye contact and nod, and head towards the back of the Tonga Hut. Sometimes, you arrive on your own and you take your leap of faith with your fiancé, past the dumpster with boxes of empty rum bottles, squeezing her hand tight, and enter the hallway. If you are familiar with this portal, you know the ritual of adjustment. Even so, it’s always a shock to your pupils as they rush to open and bring in light. You pass the display cases, raise your eyebrows to Magnum P.I. and reach your passport check in. Sherri greets you warmly, collects your toll, and stamps your book while her squeeze Tom surrounds the pleasant and mostly dimmly lit interior with tropical/tiki music. You hear the dibbling water from the Drooling Bastard on your left and go find a seat. Syd is hustling behind the bar getting ready and Marie is creating, sometimes on the spot, mixed drinks with the rum that will be preached that day. We wait to see where Forrest Cokely has been.
Checking in
The Rum Rhum Club was created by Tonga Hut co-owner Amy Boylan early in 2012 with the mission to taste and experience new and vintage rums from around the world. The Master of Ceremonies Forrest is loaded with experience and enriches your knowedlge of rum, if thats what you are looking for or you can just sip and enjoy the “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd. The format is such that you can learn about the different styles of fermentation, heads and tails, and esters or you can simply enjoy throwing the various samples down your hatch. Forrest is very open to questions and you can see that he enjoys dissecting the bouquet in a rum, similar to a sommelier. It’s open forum there, comments, feedback, cheers and outbursts are welcomed.
We’ve been to past meetings where we focused on rums from Panama (special guests from Selvarey), Puerto Rico, but on this day, there was too many interesting bottles to focus on just one country or region. The congregation that gathered were treated to eight different rums and two mixed drinks, including the delicious Tonga Hut Rum Barrel that they only serve in their Palm Springs location. It highlights Montanya Rums from Colorado and we were able to try the Oro and Platino. Both delicious and easily sippable. The Oro would be an interesting replacement to bourbon in a pecan pie. We also were presented a glass of Helios rum, which is distilled in Okinawa in ceramic stills. A very interesting agricole rum that was a bit easier than its cousins in Martinique. I definitely suggest this as a gate way agricole to those who don’t care for such a strong vegetable taste. Many other rums passed this way and that over bowls of popcorn. The day ended with a group picture by Tom and a sampling of Plantation’s 1989 Trinidad rum with much fanfare. Sweet up front with a nice gentle burn at the end. Definitely worth finding and adding it to your collection.
Big Mo and the passports
The Rum Rhum Club meets every 4-8 weeks and is $40 for new members (includes your passport) and $20 for members. They have a Facebook page that can be found by clicking on here. Sessions last from an hour or two followed by the bar opening to the public and the weekly Sunday evening gathering of a few Drooling Bastards. We highly recommend joining the club regardless if you are a rum novice or expert.
Stop it