Kirk & Sweeney
VISIT THIS PRODUCER'S WEBSITE
Country of Origin: Caribbean
Location: Santiago de los Caballeros
People: Made expressly for the Sebastiani Family
Items
Kirk & Sweeney was a wooden schooner best known for smuggling rum from the Caribbean to the U.S.A. during the early years of Prohibition. Legend has it that it was seized off the coast of New York with a massive amount of rum aboard. In the spirit of this rum runner, Kirk and Sweeney Dominican Rum is well worth pursuing.
Handcrafted in the Dominican Republic, Kirk and Sweeney Rum adheres to the very strict regulations to be labeled Dominican Rum. The process begins with high-quality sugarcane that is processed for fermentation and distillation. The sugarcane is grown mainly in the eastern part of the island by multiple growers. The rum is distilled in a 4 column distillation system. The rum is then aged in a variety of American and French oak barrels in Santiago de los Caballeros. Instead of a solera system that tops off barrels with fresh alcohol, the distiller for Kirk & Sweeney conducts various steps of dumping, blending, and re-barreling through the years (no fresh alcohol). The final blends are a selection of variously aged rums. Aged rum from the Dominican Republic requires that the entire production process including sugarcane harvesting, fermentation, distillation and aging all take place in the Dominican Republic. The rum must also be aged for a minimum of one year in barrels. Most of Kirk and Sweeney rum blends are well beyond one year in age. A small amount of natural caramel coloring is added to the rums, which is standard practice and within compliance.