:: my notes for the funky rum in cocktails panel ::

A few days before my panel at Boston Rum Week 2026 on "Funky Rums in Cocktails: The Bartender's High Ester Challenge", I was sent a list of possible questions. Here are a subset of my answers that I used to get my thoughts in line, and below they are presented out of order. The panel was lead by Dawn Aguilar of Silver Girl, and I was joined on stage by Jen Akin of Spiribam (Rhum JM et al.) and previously of Rumba in Seattle. The third panelist, Shannon Mustipher, unfortunately had travel issues that prevented her from attending (but her drink still made it). Not everything below is in a complete sentence, but the ideas are there, and not every question was asked due to time constraints. Photo below taken from the_auditor_reviews account on Instagram with the rest of the photos taken by myself. What is the first decision you make when building with an assertive rum: the amount of rum, the cocktail template, or the flavor that will sit opposite it? What the effect is and who is the intended drinker. The Right Hand and the Kingston Negroni have the same balancing partners but the intent and effect is different. In making a crowd pleaser even with a funky rum, there are many ways to round out the flavor from creamy/fatty orgeat and Coco Lopez to bold tropical flavors like crème de banana.

When is a funky rum the base of the drink, and when is it better used like seasoning? Intent, desired drinker. There is a time and place for elegance and a time and place for in-your-face flavor.

Which tool gives you the most control over a funky rum: blending, sweetness, acid, bitterness, dilution, or serving temperature? From my talk on Monday [on "Minimalist Amaro Tiki"] and my general drinking preference, bitterness. Otherwise, it is dilution since a lot of my favorite funky rums are higher proof, and determining if mollifying ingredients are necessary.

Is the Daiquiri still the best diagnostic test for an unfamiliar rum, or can it push every rum toward the same style of judgment? It is a drink that keeps all the other parameters constant, although you may have to adjust for proof. It's not my go-to, but I would not say no. Tasting the rum neat and seeing where it fits into the bigger picture of other rums and spirits that I have tried.

How do you describe funk on a menu so a curious guest opts in without feeling warned away? A rum that contains a lot of flavor and aroma molecules generated during the fermentation alongside the alcohol production. A diverse collection of flavors that can include tropical fruits, grassy notes, earthiness, and more. An extra layer of complexity not from the source materials (sugar cane), distillation, or the aging process.

Do high-ester drinks need to be immediately pleasurable, or is there room for a cocktail that asks the guest to acquire the taste? I remember my first experience tasting Smith & Cross. Tales of the Cocktail 2009 tasting room with Eric Seed. All he asked was whether I wanted to try a Jamaican rum and my mind went to Appleton even though I was familiar with Wray (although that was a white rum and this clearly had color). The bottle didn’t even have a real label on it. That was intense. It was the last thing I drank as a single man before I left the tasting room to elope across the river. Definitely there is a starting point for rum. Steps can be skipped if a drinker has a more advanced palate from amari, Islay Scotches, etc.

What are the first ingredients you gravitate towards when building a cocktail around a funky rum - any that you wouldn't commonly use for lower ester rums? I can see many ingredients working with high and low ester rums but it depends on what focus and balance is based on – the modifiers, the rums, or somewhere in the middle. Both the Right Hand and the Kingston Negroni work but the focus shifts, the flavor synergies etc. change. How do you make funky rums palatable for a newbie... or do you not even try? Small amounts and baby steps. Rums vary by amount of esters and which ones. Finding flavors that complement (Cynar) or soften the funk (orgeat, coconut cream). For small amounts, at Loyal Nine, I bolstered the clean white rum (Privateer instead of Cuban) in the Georgetown Club with a 1/4 ounce of Rhum JM 80°. Just enough funk to make the drink not so limp.

How funky is TOO funky when choosing a main rum for a cocktail? DOK? Grand Arome? Too funky depends on who is drinking it (a bartender's drink for bartenders and cocktail geeks or for an everyday guest?). Also how it is being balanced. A Daiquiri hides little and allows the rum to share vs. balancing it with strong flavors like banana liqueur, Campari, etc. vs. mollifying ingredients like orgeat, coconut cream, orange/pineapple juice.

Are we sometimes guilty of using high-ester rum simply because it's interesting rather than because it makes the drink better? Focusing on the rum is not so bad but it depends what the drinker is looking for and what their experience and range of appreciation are. Pushing it on someone who will not enjoy it is a fail.

How do you introduce high-ester rum to someone who thinks they don't like rum? Use it with a split base: Agricole with mezcal, aged Jamaican with rye, Bourbon, Cognac, or apple brandy. Cachaça with apple brandy. These are the questions that were asked about the drink I presented, the Overpowered By Funk (right most one in the photo).

Fred, Smith & Cross and unaged cachaça are both assertive cane spirits. How did you keep the split base from becoming two loud voices competing for the same space? What does the cachaça contribute that another Jamaican rum would not? The combination was one that I ripped off from Jessica Manzey's Jah Rule at Rumba in Seattle as featured in Chloe Frechette's Easy Tiki book that I had tried two nights before. The Cynar-banana combination came from Rafa Garcia Febles drink the Banana Clipper. Cachaça and Smith & Cross are not competing for the same space. One is earthy, low, and grassy in its funkiness depending on what brand you use, and the other pineapple, tropical, and petrol and a bit more bright. They can be complementary.

Crème de banane could easily become a literal match for Jamaican rum's banana notes. How do you use a matching flavor without making the drink feel obvious or exaggerated? Layering other flavors. Here, two liqueurs and two sugar cane spirits. See the Kingston Watusi (S&C, Fernet, Campari, banana), Where Eagles Dare (S&C, Punt e Mes, banana, mole bitters), and Petty Crime (S&C, Fernet, banana, orgeat, lime).

Cynar brings bitterness, earthiness, sweetness, and vegetal depth. Which of those functions matters most in this drink? Vegetal and bitterness. Vegetal works better with the cachaça, and bitterness balances S&C better. Banana does rather well with bitterness especially Fernet (see the Away Colors with añejo rum, Fernet, banana).

The other two drinks are shaken with fruit and citrus; yours is stirred and served over a large cube. How do temperature and dilution change the way the funk reaches the nose and palate? Bitterness remains even as the sugar is diluted away [a large cube will slow that dilution while still keeping things cold]. It's not linear on our palate. Shaken drinks also insert what citrus does to it all.

All three drinks use a partner that can be as attention-grabbing as the rum: passionfruit, Suze, or the cachaça-Cynar combination. Are bold partners safer than delicate ones when the rum is highly aromatic? In my "Minimalist Amaro Tiki" talk on Monday, I focused on how amari work best with funky rums and tropical flavors. Basic rums could work as a backbone but they don't synergize with the amaro like how an agricole or Jamaican rum would.