Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/687399
june 2016 / the tasting panel / 121 RIDING AROUND WITH TAILDRAGGER RUMS june 2016 / the tasting panel / 121 Going Pig WITH SQUEAL RUM "Go Pig or Go Home." With a motto like that, it has to be rum made for a good time. The ultimate goal, though, is that it is also a rum which can be sipped. Husband and wife team JP and Monika Krause started the company in Colorado and combine their backgrounds—as a seasoned chef and a spirit appreciator from Poland, respectively—to create this special rum. Desiring a hotshot label and a high-quality product, they introduced Squeal Rum. At 90 proof, Squeal Rum (SRP $31) is dark in color and has just the right sweetness on the palate. Great as the lead ingredient in cocktails or on its own with an ice cube, Squeal Rum strives to show that rum, too, can be sipped like Scotch or Cognac. From its deep, espresso hue to a nose of molasses and mocha latte, this 90-proof powerful spiced black rum has a peppered palate that dives deep into an earthy chocolate core. Baked peaches and burnt toast form an exotic finish. —Allyson Gorsuch PHOTO COURTESY OF SQUEAL RUM When brothers and commercial pilots Toby and Jamey Beall set out to reclaim American rum, they flew across the Caribbean, sampling and draw- ing inspiration from the flavors of the islands. Flying is in the Beall blood: Their dad served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and grandfather in World War II. Toby's wife Jillian, a co-founder in the company, is featured on the pinup-style bottle art, a call back to war times when fighters would paint their wives or girlfriends from back home on their planes. The brothers and Jillian launched Tailwinds Distilling Company in the southwest suburbs of Chicago in June 2012 and "haven't had a day off in four years," Jamey says proudly. The company's Taildragger Rums are crafted from high grade sugarcane molasses that is never charcoal or chill filtered, to preserve the raw cane characteristics. The 40-proof Taildragger White Rum (SRP $29) undergoes a unique fer- mentation and distilling process that yields a grassy rum with tropical fruit notes. Taildragger Amber Rum (SRP $34) ages for more than one-and-a-half years in American oak barrels, emerging with vanilla and toasted oak notes with a hint of rye whiskey at 40 proof. Taildragger Coffee Flavored Rum (SRP $34) combines the White Rum with Ethiopian beans from Two Brothers Coffee Roasters; the resulting 60-proof spirit is as sweet as it is smooth. After Dark Rum (SRP $37) is an overproof spirit made for mixing—dark copper in color, rich in aroma and taste of dark roasted nuts and coffee, it weighs in at 115 proof. The company has doubled its growth every year since its founding, but the brothers continue to fly full-time as charter pilots for the rich and famous. "Most of our work's done at about 30,000 feet," Jamey says. —B. T. TAILWINDS DISTILLING COMPANY