As I previously mentioned, last week I had a chance to go to Chicago to attend a Ministry of Rum event. It was exciting to see a great city and I even had enough time to do my own personal Ferris Bueller’s Day Off adventure, capped off by a chance to taste a ridiculous amount of rum. I found some stuff I had only read about, got a chance to revisit some old favorites, and even came across some rum being distilled in the Midwest. One of those I’ll tell you more about next week, but I want to first introduce you to the host. If you like rum, and want to know more about it, Edward Hamilton is a guy you need to know.

Like most people who end up as quasi-legends down in the islands, he came here without a plan. A sailor and boat builder, he eventually made his way to Florida in the mid 80’s and set about sailing the Caribbean. In 1993, everything changed. It might have been the tropical setting, it might have been the full moon, or it might have been the rum in his glass, but whatever it was it started him on a mission. He travelled the islands, first heading to Trinidad, and began cataloging rums and where they came from.

Two years later, he released his seminal work, “Rums of the Eastern Caribbean” was released, and he became the next point on the line that runs through Donn Beach and Victor Bergeron. A few years later-after Al Gore invented the internet-the website Ministry of Rum was born.

Today, Edward still travels through the islands to discover new rums, and across the country to share that new rum with rum novices and lovers everywhere. My only disappointment from the trip was that I didn’t stick around long enough to talk with Edward, but there’s only so much rum a man can taste before the thought of a 4am wake-up call lets him know it’s time to leave.

So check out his website, find out when he’ll be in your area, and go meet someone who has truly Made Life One Long Weekend ™. I’ll see you back here soon.

Bottoms up!

Jack