DREAM AWAY Update 02-07-2014
Greetings,
January has been a fun month with some social activities, and continuing work on DREAM AWAY. The work on DREAM AWAY is covered in the January Maintenance Log.
Some of the social activities centered around our new cruisers Johnal and Cindy off of the sailing yacht RUTHIE. We have enjoyed showing them Acadiana, and all of the unique aspects of this area. They arrived in December, but went off for a week over Christmas to be with their family. So, when the weather permitted at the begining of January, we took them to see the sights.
Our first outing was right here in Delcambre. We went to Cafe Jefferson for lunch. Before we went into the Cafe, we watched the film on Jefferson Island, home of the Rip Van Winkle Gardens, and the Lake Peigneur disaster. After a scrumptious lunch and a wonderful visit, we took Johnal and Cindy on the tour of the Joseph Jefferson Mansion .
After the lunch and the tour, we ran a couple of errands, and drove around Abbeville and Erath a bit, then we headed back to the marina.
Another day we did what we call our “New Iberia day" with Johnal and Cindy.
We left Delcambre and drove to the Konrico Rice Mill. We all watched their wonderful video about Acadiana in general and rice production in particular. Then Johnal and Cindy took the tour of the mill. When the tour was completed, they did some shopping in the company store, purchasing some of the goodies available.
We then drove into downtown New Iberia and had lunch at Victor's Cafe, which is a much visited place by the fictional character Dave Robicheaux. He is the main character in the series written by James Lee Burke, who grew up in the New Iberia area. It was a very tasty meal, and we all had left overs to take home.
After lunch, we went to the Shadows On The Teche home. Kitty and I watched the video about the house with Johnal and Cindy, and then they took the tour while Kitty and I read our books. When the tour was completed, we headed back to Delcambre, stopping for groceries on the way.
We were planing a trip to New Orleans to pick up two sheets of King Starboard and two pieces of Optix acrylic sheet for the hard dodger.
We decided we would make the trip a mini vacation. It had been forever since either of us had ridden the famous street cars in New Orleans, and both Kitty and I wanted to see the National World War II Museum.
I knew there was a rum distillery in New Orleans. Our friends, Jimmy and Barbara from Houston, had told us about it many years ago, so we decided to put a visit there on our itinerary. This got me thinking about rum distillerys in general so I did some research on that subject. This research will be covered further on.
On Sunday morning the 12th of January, we finished our packing and loaded the Black Beast to drive from Delcambre to New Orleans. We got to our hotel, The Sleep Inn in Metarie, dropped off our stuff, and then rode the famous street cars. We rode the Canal Street street car from the cemeteries to Cafe Du Mode at the French Market. Kitty had never been to the Cafe Du Mode for coffee and beignets, so we experienced that! We finished off the day by riding the famous St. Charles street car through the Garden District.
On Monday, we spent the entire day at the National World War II Museum complex. What a place, and all very well done. We did not see it all, and we will go back to finish off the total experience.
On Tuesday, we drove to Piedmont Plastics to pick up the two sheets of King Starboard and the two pieces of Optix acrylic sheet. When we finished, we drove over to the Celebration Distillery for the tour and tasting. It was a very informative tour, and we enjoyed the tasting. While there, we purchased a bottle of the Old New Orleans Cajun Spice rum. We left the distillery and drove back to Delcambre in time to attend the Twin Parish Port District meeting.
My initial distillery research took place well before the New Orleans trip. My thoughts were that since we are living in the heart of sugar cane country, there should be at least one rum distillery in the area. After all, Louisiana is the second largest producer of sugar cane products in the United States. A distilled spirit can not be called rum unless it is distilled from a sugar cane product. That includes either molassas, sugar juice, or a combination of both.
To find the closest rum distillery, I went to my goto source on the Internet, Ministry of Rum. This was rather disappointing as the two closest rum distilleries listed were the Celebration Distillery in New Orleans and the Railean Distillers in San Leon, Texas. When I went on the Internet just searching for distilleries in Louisiana I was fortunate to find three, and all three are in the heart of Acadiana!
This is when I thought it would be great to put together a "Rum Tour of Acadiana". Of course, before the tour could be put together, I would have to test the "waters" so to speak. We contacted our friends, Jimmy and Barbara, in Houston, and put together a plan to do the practice tour.
Before we did the complete tour, we arranged to visit the Rank Wildcat Spirits distillery in Lafayette with the new cruisers, Johnal and Cindy. The Rank Wildcat Spirits distillery is a small operation. They had been out of production for the holidays, and would not start production again for another week. At mid-day on January 11th, we drove to the distillery. When we arrived, Dave and Cole, the founders, were there to greet us and give us the “tour”. Even though it is a small operation, their hand-crafted product “Sweet Crude” white rum is excellent! We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, visiting with the founders, and viewing the two awards they have already received, not to mention the rum tasting.
After our trip to New Orleans, we had scheduled a total "Acadiana Rum Tour" with our frinds Jimmy and Barbara. On January 16th, we left Delcambre and headed west down highway LA14 to Lacassine, LA.
We met, Jimmy and Barbara at the Louisiana Spirits Distillery for a tour and rum tasting.
This was the first stop on our Great Acadiana Rum Distillery Tour! They showed a very interesting film before the tour, and the tour itself was very informative. The spirits they are presently producing are distilled from a raw sugar and blackstrap molasses combination, both purchased from a local sugar cane mill, M.A. Patout & Sons. It is the oldest sugar company in the United States still owned and operated by the original family. The company opened in 1825.
The distillery is definitely planning to be a very large operation. They would allow no pictures to be taken during the tour, so I do not have any to add to the log.
We went to the tasting room after the
tour and had samples of their
Silver Bayou white rum and the
Spiced Bayou dark rum. Neither rum is aged.
The white rum had
a nice, unique flavor that comes from the distilling process. I purchased a bottle of the
Silver Bayou white rum to have for a future
rum tasting at home.
We spent the morning getting caught up
with Barbara and Jimmy. Then we left
Delcambre,
around 1330, to head east to
Thibodaux,
LA, so we could visit the Donner-Peltier
distillers. We arrived at the distillery at about
1530 and met Austin, who would be our tour guide, and Tess, who
explained a bit of the distillery’s history. Tess told us the
legend of the Rougaroux.
Like most legends, there are many variations. Austin and Tess also described the
products distilled by Donner-Peltier
Distillers. As we were waiting for others to join the
tour, we decided to do the tastings before the distillery tour. The
first product offered by Donner-Peltier
distillers was a vodka
under the brand name of Oryza, which is the Latin word for rice. They
distill the vodka from fermented rice. Using the same base alcohol as is used for
the vodka, they also produce a gin
with the same brand name, Oryza. The vodka
had a nice flavor to it. I am not a gin person, so their gin
did nothing for me. It did taste very good when it was mixed with
tonic. Next, we tasted all three of their
rums, all under the brand name of Rougaroux.
The first rum is
Sugarshine,
which is their white rum. The second rum is
Full Moon Dark Rum,
which is aged, and flavored using oak chips. The third rum is
13
Pennies Praline Rum, which is aged and flavored with spices and pecans. The
Sugarshine
white rum has a nice flavor, and is not sharp. The
Full Moon Dark Rum
is a nice rum with a bolder flavor. The
13 Pennies Praline Rum
has a nice and very unique flavor, which makes a nice sipping rum. The other folks did not show up, so we went on the tour, guided by
Austin. He explained how they use raw sugar and blackstrap molasses,
purchased from Lafourche Sugars, which is also located in
Thibodaux,
as the basis of their rums. They use separate fermenting tanks for
the vodka and rums. Their still, “Big Betty”, is very
sophisticated, as it is a pot still and a reflux still combined. It
is also automatically cleaned after each run. We got to see Austin add the distilling
yeast to a fermenting tank that had settled out and was ready to
continue the fermenting process. Before leaving the distillery, I
purchased a bottle of the 13
Pennies Praline Rum because Kitty really liked the
flavor and we thought it would go great mixed with the Swamp Pop
Cream
Praline Soda. When we left the distillery, we went to
Bubba’s
II Poboys and Seafood. We had a nice seafood dinner,
with a very good gumbo, and then headed back to
Delcambre. On the morning of January 18th, we had a great breakfast,
then climbed into the
Black Beast and drove into
Lafayette
to visit the Rank
Wildcat Spirits Distillery which, again, is a small artisan
micro-distillery, and the second fully licensed rum distillery in
Louisiana since prohibition. We were their first “production
tour”, and were again hosted by the founders, David and Cole. Their still
is a reflux still, hand
crafted by David and Cole, and named “Lulu”. David
named Lulu after a pot-bellied pig that had been a neighbor’s
family pet when he was young. The rum they produce,
Sweet Crude white rum, is made from
only sugar cane juice. There is no
molasses in it. The adjustments they make to the juice, and their
fermentation process, are the secrets to their excellent product. The cane juice they are using is
purchased from a local sugar cane mill, M.A.
Patout & Sons. As I mentioned, it is the oldest sugar company in
the United States still owned and operated by the original family, and was
opened in 1825. Sweet
Crude rum is not aged. It goes from the still to the
proofing containers where ionized water is added to bring the proof
down from 170 proof to 80 proof. We tasted the
Sweet Crude and found
it to be an excellent sipping rum. I
was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed sipping a white rum. They are planning on introducing two
aged rums in the future. One will be called
Black Gold Single Harvest,
and the other will be called
Black
Gold using the Solera
process. The Single Harvest product will be a
single batch of three to four barrels of aged rum blended together to
create a special flavor. Once this product is gone, it will never be
repeated. The Solera
process will be repeatable and will be an ongoing
product. It will be their signature aged rum. We are all looking
forward to both products. After the tour, we drove over to
E’s Kitchen so
Jimmy & Barbara could purchase a bottle of “
Sweet Crude”.
The Rank Wildcat Spirits distillery does not
yet have a license
to sell the product at the distillery. Kitty also purchased a four
pack of Swamp Pop
Cream Praline Soda.
We drove back to DREAM AWAY, and had a
bit of a rum tasting before dinner. The first drink was the
13 Pennies Praline Rum
from the Donner-Peltier Distillery and the Swamp Pop
Cream Praline Soda
mixed together. The drink tasted just like eating a pecan praline. It was very sweet,
and would make a great dessert cocktail, or good poured over ice cream. The second drink was the
Old New Orleans Rum Iced Tea. It is
made with sweetened ice tea and the
Old New Orleans Cajun Spice
rum. It is quite a flavorful drink and very refreshing. We had a great dinner that night using a new recipe
for us all. It was roasted sausages and grapes. We all enjoyed the dinner. On the morning of January 18, we had another great breakfast,
after which Jimmy and Barbara headed back to Houston.
The Great Acadiana Rum Distillery Tour was a complete success, so now all I have to do is
write an article about the distilleries. I realized I had not mentioned the
tender, inflatable, or outboards in the
About DREAM AWAY page
of the web page. They are now explained in the
Mechanical Equipment & Engine
Details section of the
About DREAM AWAY page. Because of the amazingly cold winter we are having
here in South Louisiana, I have put together a section called the
North Pier Marina Winter Freeze. This
covers the two winter storms we have had in January. As much as we love living here in
Acadiana, those two
storms have convinced us we will be much closer to the equator come next winter. No certain
date to leave, but I would like to be on our way by the end of June, 2014. Hope everyone is surviving these blasts of winter
weather we are having, and looking forward to a warm spring.
Mardi Gras is ramping up here in
Acadiana. There are parades and parties of
one nature or another pretty much every weekend until
Mardi Gras. We are sampling many varieties
of King Cake. The battle against a trim
waistline is in full force! Laissez les bons temps rouler. regards, jimk
