Both natives of Southern California, we met at work in 2004 and were friendly acquaintances. It wasn’t however until many years later in 2012,  that I invited Jen Marie on a pub crawl that I host in downtown Los Angeles a few times a year.  She and her friends joined in the fun and before the end of the night, she somehow had become my plus one for an upcoming friend’s wedding.  One year after that wedding, we were engaged.

It was soon after we began dating I started attending mixology classes instructed by  Andrew Willett.  His curriculum is based off of pre-prohibition bartending. It was in middle of taking all the classes that I realized in a town that has so many popular spirits – rum was being overlooked. Why was this?   I shared this revelation with Jen Marie, and she joined me on this new run in my life. We started our rum education and adventures by exploring Tiki Bars since the majority of their drinks are rum based. We sought out Tonga Hut in North Hollywood, Tiki Ti on Sunset, and Bahooka in Rosemead unfortunately on its last day before it closed. This made us realize that there are not many successful local Tiki Bars still around.  So, we started searching for tiki bars during our travels, including our trip to Europe in 2013.  In London we found The Rum Kitchen and Trader Vic’s, as well as in Berlin, we visited Tiki Heart and The Rum Trader.

It was our last stop in Barcelona, when I noticed an interesting bottle behind the bar while out for an evening.  I asked for a glass of Edmundo Dantes 15. It blew my mind.  The very first sip was a transformation from just exploring rum in tiki drinks, to wanting to know everything about rum and sharing it with others.

This is what brings us to this blog.  We want to share our findings and experiences with you. Hopefully you will discover or appreciate rum even more.

We look forward to your comments!