What’s shakin’, cocktail fans?
Welcome to Episode 190 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!
Thanks for joining us for another interview episode, where we track down the best and brightest minds in the spirits and cocktail world, so that we can share their secrets with you. This time around. Whoah. Buckle up. We hang out with Kyle Reutner of Kō Hana Rum, based on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Kō Hana is doing unprecedented and compelling work with heirloom cane varietals to produce rums that help to preserve the centuries-old cultures that brought them to Hawaii, and advance the careful, scientific progress that will help showcase these flavors for future generations.
In this eye-opening conversation and rum tasting with Kō Hana Rum General Manager Kyle Reutner, some of the topics we discuss include:
How Kō Hana Rum started as a passion project dedicated to Hawaiian heirloom cane varietals, spreading from a small lot to several hundred acres of cane farmed at several locations on Oahu.
What heirloom cane even means – from its pivotal role in the polynesian diaspora to the advent of commodity sugar farming, to recent efforts to resurrect a nearly lost cultural staple crop.
Then we get into the tasting. Boy do we taste. We sample four white (i.e un-aged) agricole-style rums from Kō Hana, all with different flavor qualities and origin stories.
Along the way, we talk about Hawaiian terroir, the primacy of plants in the species-naming agenda of native polynesians, how Kō Hana has diversified its offerings using the only cacao grown in the United States, and much, much more.
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This episode’s featured cocktail is the Blue Hawaii. To make it, you’ll need:
¾ oz. white rum
¾ oz. vodka
¾ oz. blue curaçao
3 oz. fresh pineapple juice
1 oz. fresh sour mix
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake vigorously for about 10-15 seconds, then strain into a hurricane glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with a pineapple slice and a brandied cherry skewered on a bamboo cocktail pick.
This is a classic Tiki drink that actually entered the cocktail canon before Hawaii was officially recognized as a US state. And instead of piecing together a bunch of silly research here, we figured we’d just give you the details straight from one of our favorite sources: Imibibe.com.
Cane is an incredibly important crop to Hawaii because its caloric density allowed Polynesian “wayfinders” to venture far and wide in their canoes. When the island chain was settled, different cane varieties were used for different purposes: practical, secular, and religious.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and only small pockets remained of people who were dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of cane. The founders of Kō Hana Rum teamed up with scientists like Noah Lincoln (author of the book, KŌ: AN ETHNOBOTANICAL GUIDE TO HAWAIIAN SUGARCANE CULTIVARS), to locate, test, and cultivate different heirloom cane varietals that pre-dated Hawaii’s contact with Western colonial powers.
Over time, the Kō Hana team was able to increase their farming output and begin making delicious rum from single cane varieties. We tasted four different un-aged expressions during this interview, which are part of the company’s “KEA” line (meaning “white”). They were:
Manulele (July 2019)
Pakaweli (April 2020)
Pilimai (October 2019)
Mahai’ula (December 2019)
Kokoleka (chocolate rum liqueur)
Kō Hana also offers aged rums, and all of these products can be purchased and shipped to many US states. You can browse their entire selection by visiting the Kō Hana eCommerce store.
This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, Hawaiian Agricole rum courtesy of Kyle Reutner and Kō Hana Rum, and a little bit of interview magic by yours truly. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2021.
This episode is also brought to you by Near Country Provisions. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic and want to enjoy ethically raised (and delicious) meat from local farmers delivered to your door every month, then you need Near Country in your life.
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