Lemon Hart 151 is coming back ... AGAIN! - Tiki Drinks and Food

HH Hurricane Hayward Grand Member (1 year) 16 miles from The Mai-Kai Joined: Jun 07, 2008 Posts: 1867	HH Hurricane Hayward Posted posted on Thu, Apr 14, 2016 10:26 AM I spoke to Martin Cate at The Mai-Kai on Tuesday during the Miami Rum Festival party, and he helped clarify what's going on as far as the blending goes. Here's the explanation: Pernod Ricard bought the Lemon Hart brand as part of the Seagrams purchase in 2000 and continued to produce the 151 rum as it had been for decades. Bulk rum from Demerara Distillers (DDL) was shipped to Canada, where it was aged, blended and bottled. This is the beloved "yellow label" blend that we all know and love. This document from Ed Hamilton provides some great details on the history: http://www.caribbean-spirits.com/prodsheet/LemonHart151.pdf This all changed in March 2010, when Pernod sold the Lemon Hart brand to Mosaiq of Montreal. This is when Hamilton came aboard as the U.S. importer. After exhausting a large supply of yellow label that was found in a warehouse, production began on the new "red label" Lemon Hart. Introduced in 2011, this rum was reputed to use the same formula as the yellow label but with one major change: It was now being aged and blended in Guyana at DDL by a different blender. Martin thinks that even though the blend may be technically the same specs, things like climate and water can have a great effect on the end product. Hence, the different taste of the red label rum. Fast forward to May 2014, and Mosaiq decides to stop production of Lemon Hart 151, supposedly because it thought it was a niche product for a small group of Tikiphiles and not worth the effort. Hamilton took matters into his own hands in early 2015, bringing his Hamilton 86 and 151 rums from DDL to market. http://caribbean-spirits.com/page.php?typ=91 His rum is also blended and aged at DDL, but using a different formula than LH151. According to Martin, Ed took the red label Lemon Hart rum and had it decoded to produce a similar product. So now apparently Mosaiq thinks differently about the U.S. market and plans to bring back LH151. Martin says it will almost certainly be produced in a similar manner than before (aged and blended in Guyana at DDL). The old yellow label blending process went away with Pernod. So pending any tweaks to the blend, Martin believes we'll be getting something more like the red label than the yellow label from the next generation of LH151 from Mosaiq. So while it's true that LH151 will still use the same formula as it always has, the blending and aging location has some impact on that. Apparently U.S. distribution is already set up, and Florida will be one of the first states to get it. No word yet on the Mosaiq site: http://www.mosaiqinc.com/en/producer/lemon-hart-rum [ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2018-05-31 11:15 ]

I spoke to Martin Cate at The Mai-Kai on Tuesday during the Miami Rum Festival party, and he helped clarify what's going on as far as the blending goes. Here's the explanation:

Pernod Ricard bought the Lemon Hart brand as part of the Seagrams purchase in 2000 and continued to produce the 151 rum as it had been for decades. Bulk rum from Demerara Distillers (DDL) was shipped to Canada, where it was aged, blended and bottled. This is the beloved "yellow label" blend that we all know and love. This document from Ed Hamilton provides some great details on the history: http://www.caribbean-spirits.com/prodsheet/LemonHart151.pdf

This all changed in March 2010, when Pernod sold the Lemon Hart brand to Mosaiq of Montreal. This is when Hamilton came aboard as the U.S. importer. After exhausting a large supply of yellow label that was found in a warehouse, production began on the new "red label" Lemon Hart. Introduced in 2011, this rum was reputed to use the same formula as the yellow label but with one major change: It was now being aged and blended in Guyana at DDL by a different blender. Martin thinks that even though the blend may be technically the same specs, things like climate and water can have a great effect on the end product. Hence, the different taste of the red label rum.

Fast forward to May 2014, and Mosaiq decides to stop production of Lemon Hart 151, supposedly because it thought it was a niche product for a small group of Tikiphiles and not worth the effort. Hamilton took matters into his own hands in early 2015, bringing his Hamilton 86 and 151 rums from DDL to market. http://caribbean-spirits.com/page.php?typ=91
His rum is also blended and aged at DDL, but using a different formula than LH151. According to Martin, Ed took the red label Lemon Hart rum and had it decoded to produce a similar product.

So now apparently Mosaiq thinks differently about the U.S. market and plans to bring back LH151. Martin says it will almost certainly be produced in a similar manner than before (aged and blended in Guyana at DDL). The old yellow label blending process went away with Pernod. So pending any tweaks to the blend, Martin believes we'll be getting something more like the red label than the yellow label from the next generation of LH151 from Mosaiq. So while it's true that LH151 will still use the same formula as it always has, the blending and aging location has some impact on that.

Apparently U.S. distribution is already set up, and Florida will be one of the first states to get it. No word yet on the Mosaiq site: http://www.mosaiqinc.com/en/producer/lemon-hart-rum

[ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2018-05-31 11:15 ]

Post #762389 by Hurricane Hayward on Thu, Apr 14, 2016 10:26 AM