KDHamptons

KDHamptons catches up with Sag Harbor residents and freshly minted rum purveyors Jason Cyril Laan and Mike McQuade, who recently launched Sag Harbor Rum, a handcrafted product of traditional aging in old bourbon barrels, reviving a classic maritime recipe and process that infuses hints of coffee, vanilla, walnut, black cherry, pineapple and ginger.

KDHamptons: How long have you been coming to the Hamptons? Why do you love it so much?

Jason Cyril Laan: I grew up coming to the Hamptons in the summers where my grandmother had a house on Post Crossing in Southampton Village. My family has been out here for generations, and my aunts and uncles started to migrate out from the city and live here all year round. I decided to live in Sag Harbor full-time myself a few years ago and have found it to be such a great place.

KDHamptons: Please describe Sag Harbor Rum for our readers?

Jason: We aimed to create an “Old Whalers Style” rum….we call it an un-rum rum. It’s made out here on the East End (on the north fork in Baiting Hollow to be exact). Its aged in old bourbon barrels for the better part of a year and then during that aging process we lightly infuse it with a number of non-traditional fruits and spices to make it not only a great sipping rum, but something great for mixing as well.

KDHamptons: What inspired you to create this brand?

Jason: As a life-long rum drinker, I always wanted to make my own rum. There are these old legends around where whalers would keep their rum in old provisioning barrels as they were traveling the world where it would pick up all these interesting and exotic flavors – we set out to recreate that.

KDHamptons: Which Hamptons restaurants will be serving the rum this summer?

Jason: We launched May 1st with: Bell & Anchor, Beacon, Il Tutto Giorno, Muse in the Harbor, Sen, Cuddy, Corner Bar, Gossmans, and Claudios.

KDHamptons: Describe your perfect Hamptons day in detail?

Jason: For me, it’s a morning that starts with the beach and then ends with a sail. That’s what is so great about Sag Harbor. You are minutes from great beaches, and then right on the water.

KDHamptons: Do you like to entertain at home? Are you the bartender? Please share a sure-fire drink recipe that we can make at home to wow our guests?

Jason: Yes – we entertain and cook a lot at home. Usually, we like to make simple dishes that serve a lot of people easily — like mussels with a spicy red sauce and pasta, or jambalaya. Both of us are bartenders so we like to make a lot of different drinks with the rum. The standby is a Dark and Stormy (ginger beer and rum), but we also like to use mixers from local sources like Channing Daughter’s Vermouths

*Here’s a great recipe for a Scuttlehole, made with Vervino Vermouth:  2 oz Sag Harbor rum, ½ oz Vermouth, fill glass with San Pellegrino Limonata poured over mulled mint and crushed ice.

KDHamptons: What has been the most challenging part of the process to launch a liquor brand?

Jason: Getting the “rummies” to try a new rum, and getting the non-rum drinkers to even taste a rum. Because Sag Harbor Rum is so different, we really like to get out and give people tastings as much as possible. People tend to be very loyal to a rum they already drink, or think they don’t like rum. So we are out at just as many places as we can be trying to let people taste it and see for themselves.

KDHamptons: If you could pour a Sag Harbor Rum cocktail for any three people [dead or alive], whom would you choose?

Jason: Well in Sag Harbor – I always wanted to have a drink with John Steinbeck, but after that it would have to be some famous rum drinkers like Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson (though I think rum was just one of many imbibed spirits for him).

KDHamptons: Which East End liquor stores will carry the rum and how much does it cost?

Jason: It retails for around $35 a bottle and is in most all liquor stores in Southampton and East Hampton (we are still missing a couple), but we will keep everyone up to date on the website http://sagharborrum.com/ and Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sagharborrum