Martin Denny's "Quiet Village"

Exotica music consists of a mixture of light jazz, Hawaiian music, percussion, jungle calls, etc. Martin Denny, along with Les Baxter and Arthur Lyman, are considered the Kings of Exotica music. I found this clip last night of Denny's band performing "Quiet Village" on Webley Edward's "Hawaii Calls" program. "Quiet Village" was the biggest Exotica hit ever produced. Watching this clip gives you an understanding of the Exotica sound.

"Fetch me a Mai Tai, Ping Pong."

Following our trip to Memphis, which included visiting Elvis Presley's Graceland, we had to watch at least one Elvis movie. We chose "Blue Hawaii" this weekend and had a blast watching it. Watching movie's in the Media Room is quite an experience. With the 111" screen and the extra space, my son got to dance with Elvis on "Slicin' Sand"; very cool. Mrs. TheRumTrader and I had a good laugh thinking about how many cast members Elvis muse have slept with during shooting. Plus, we picked up our newest, bestest catch phrase from Angela Landsbury's Southern character..."Fetch me a Mai Tai, Ping Pong."

Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge (Charleston, SC)

I just found out that my old home town of Charleston, SC has its very own Tiki Bar and Lounge. I am shocked to see one in South Carolina. They have $3 Mai-Tais during Happy Hour, Volcano Bowls, Scorpion Bowls, Donkey Punch, Suffering Bastards, etc. Now they just need a Zombie and they'll be complete. It looks like they use standard well brands for most drinks (to keep cost in check I assume). For RUMs they mention using Myers Dark, Goslings Dark, Malibu and Mt. Gay. It is my hope that their well brand RUMs are not BACARDI. It's also nice to see that they have Non-RUM Tiki drinks too. I know GASP!! The Rum Trader says its okay to drink something OTHER than RUM! No, I realize that some (very unsophisticated) people prefer something other than RUM...poor souls! This Bar is a definite "check it out" stop on our next visit "home". Mrs. The Rum Trader even asked if I'd like to celebrate our 12th Anniversary @ Voodoo. Wow, now that would be cool!

Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge

RUM Collection 4/18/09

In spite of my wife's eye rolling, I thought I'd pull out my RUM collection, count its number and take a photo. On 4/18/09 I had 43 different RUMs not including a large collection of mini-bottles. Plus, after I took my photos I found a few extra bottles that made the count but not the photo. I know, that's ridiculous but to my defense a number of the bottles are nearly empty. I counted 15 that we're near the end of their lives. I need to kill a few over the long weekend!

Pittsburgh, PA - RUM Finds

The family traveled to Pittsburgh, PA for Easter again this year. It's our third Easter with our best friends The Lizottes. They actually live in Murraysville, East of Pittsburgh so we hit some local Spirit stores to see what we could find.

Buying RUM in PA is like shopping in no other place. The state (PLCB - Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board) controls EVERYTHING. What's sold, the stores it's sold in, etc. They maintain and publish an "official list" of spirits, wines, etc. available in PA online here. You can only buy what they authorize; that's it. Their monopoly is interesting to read about (from Wiki-Pedia):

The PLCB holds monopolist rights to the distribution of all wines and hard liquor in the commonwealth. To this end, the agency owns and operates Wine & Spirits retail locations, commonly referred to as "state stores," in all 67 counties. This government corporation is the largest purchaser of wine and liquor in the United States and second in the world after the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

This monolithic control SEVERELY limits the brands stocked within the state and greatly favors large RUM distilleries like Bacardi and Cruzan. So, what I found on our outings was of very little variance between stores.

Special RUMs I did buy: Ron Rico Pineapple/Coconut Rum, Strohs "80" (160 proof)

Special RUMs I didn't buy: Sea Wynde

Memphis, TN - Rum Finds

The family has been traveling a lot lately and we just got back Sunday from Memphis, TN. My good friend, Dee Sanders, took me to Memphis' largest liquor store (Buster's) for a RUM trip.

"I could spend $1000 here in 5 minutes!" I excitedly exclaimed when I hit the RUM isle. They had so many RUMs that I wanted; I didn't know where to start.

Special RUMs I did buy: Trader Vic's Gold (1.75l), Lemon Hart 151, Starr African Rum (only $20), Angostura Gold 5 Year, Angostura Dark 5 Year, Goslings Gold (375l).

Special RUMs I didn't buy: Angostura 1824, El Dorado 12 & 21 Year, Planter's RUM (all brands), Prichard's RUM (all brands), Oronoco (1.75l), Red Rum, Sea Wynde, Trader Vic's Silver.

UPDATE: I meant to buy the Lemon Hart 80 proof instead of the 151 so I emailed my good friend Dee Sanders and asked if she could bring me a bottle on her visit to Columbia this week; she said yes! WooHoo!

Update

I've been slack about posting on this blog about my obsession with Rum so I'll try to make up for it in the coming months by posting about my Rum finds and tastings. I'd like to keep a tally of all Rums tried with tasting notes. I'd also like to do some head-to-head tastings by category (i.e. Spiced, Coconut, Demerara, sugar cane, over-proof, etc.). We'll see how things go.