"Where there's sugarcane, there's rum."

Is a saying you'll find yourself repeating over and over if you stay in the rum drinking game - it'll never cease to surprise me where a rum might originate, and what's beautiful about that is that with each expression, somewhere in there is a reflection of its provenance.

Today's rum comes from Hawaii - as mentioned, not somewhere you'd associate with rum. But one look at the massive natural reserves on Hawaii's islands and on second think, is it really all that surprising?

Oahu's North Shore.

Ko Hana means Working The Wood

Now as it turns out, Hawaii was actually home to sugarcane long before contact with the West. Polynesians would bring over to Hawaii aboard their voyaging canoes various varietals of canes which they would use for everything from medicinal to spiritual purposes. However, over time these ancestral / heirloom varietals fell out of favour for the more common, sturdier and more commercially viable varietals that populates Hawaii today.

It's pretty fortunate then that Ko Hana (which is taken to mean "Ko" for cane and "Hana" for work, and put together means working the cane) has set in motion the revitalisation of these heirloom varietals of cane.

Co-founders Jason and Robert of Ko Hana. (Image Source: Got Rum)

Ko Hana is a Hawaiian rum distillery producing what they term Hawaiian Agricole Rum, which is made using fresh sugarcane juice pressed from native Hawaiian sugarcane. The distillery started out as a farm in 2009, before finally launching their rum in 2014. It was started by a duo Robert Dawson and Jason Brand, with both of them having moved to Hawaii in 2008, and coincidentally first met when their children began kindergarten together. Together with researchers from the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center (HARC), the pair would begin searching for these last remaining samples of heirloom canes and began the intense effort of repopulating them on their 300 acre estate on Big Island's North Shore. Till date they've managed to re-cultivate 11 different varietals, and plan to bring back all 34 varieties that they've collected.

Revitalising Hawaii's heirloom canes one varietal at a time. (Image Source: Distilling.com)

The Juice Is Worth The Squeeze

From the fields where the canes are harvested, the workers who harvest the cane by hand also pitch the yeast so as to get a headstart on what yeast begins fermenting the cane juice, preventing unwanted yeast from doing so. The cane juice is then brought over to the distillery in central Oahu, where it is distilled using a pot and column hybrid still. Much of the process still remains somewhat experimental as the distillery continues to scale up.

(Image Source: Distilling.com)

One of the other interesting aspects of Ko Hana is also that as the distillery establishes itself from the ground up - everything is new and in that sense experimental - it has had the unintended effect of bringing along a bunch of craftsmen for the ride. From Ko Hana's distillation stills which were made by a still maker Steven Cage of Cage & Son's who was just starting out, to Seth Gonzalez of Continental Craftsmen who helped Ko Hana create the first ever Hawaiian Koa wood barrels made of the island's local hardwood. It's all grassroots and ground up!

Which leads to the final point I want to make before we get into the rum itself - which is that going back to the opening phrase, so much of the beauty of rum is its reflection of its provenance despite being produced from the same base ingredient. And to that end, so much of Ko Hana is Hawaiian through and through - from heirloom cane varietals being revitalised, to the use of the local hard wood Koa, which is a protected acacia wood that can only be harvested when fallen and cannot be taken fresh. It has the quality of being rather rigid and thus does not bend well, but yet is able to create in Ko Hana's rums a vibrant ruby red colour, along with flavours of oranges and apples, black tea and baking spices.

The Koa tree, endemic to Hawaii.

A Guide To Understanding Ko Hana's Rums

Now for all the super cool things that Ko Hana is doing, it's about to get cooler - a real rum geek's dream. 

Ko Hana divides its rum by categories and then by individual sugarcane varietals. So let's start with categories:

Kea - which means "White", and is the unaged rum.

Koho - which means "Select", and is aged for at least 2 years in virgin American Oak casks (3/6 months in new oak then 18+ months in bourbon barrels). Bottled around 45% ABV.

Kila - which means "Strength", and is aged for at least 2 years fully in bourbon barrels and bottled at a higher proof which is also cask strength.

Koa - which refers to the endemic Hawaiian acacia hard wood, and is also the wood barrel in which this expression of Ko Hana's rum is aged in for at least 2 years.

Ko Hana's diverse yet systematic selection is a rum lover's dream. (Image Source: Got Rum)

Now for each category, there are multiple varieties of cane whose juice is used for that expression - each being mono-varietal. Cane varieties to choose from include Hinahina, Kalaoa, Kea, Lahi, Mahai'ula and various others. That means for an expression like Ko Hana Koho 'Lahi', you're getting Ko Hana's 2 year aged rum that's virgin American Oak cask aged and Bourbon cask aged and bottled at 45% ABV that's made with cane juice from the Lahi varietal of cane.

Another example like the Ko Hana Kea 'Kea' would refer to Ko Hana's white unaged rum made from the Kea varietal of cane.

This allows for rum fans to choose from an incredibly diverse range of various rum expressions and varietals to try and also to compare against to better appreciate the micro-provenance of the various heirloom cane and how the different aging programs influence their flavour expressions. Truly a rum lover's dream!

So with all of that said, let's get on to today's white rum - the Ko Hana Kea 'Kea'.

Ko Hana 'Kea' White Hawaiian Agricole Rum, 40% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Clear, Somewhat Thick Consistency

Aroma: Really powerful, all emanating aromas of fermenting cane, pickled cabbage, vanilla cream, diesel, olive brine, margarine. There’s some lighter notes of black liquorice candy, fennel, and also fermenting banana peels. Some fresh grassiness as well.

Taste: Softer than you’d expect, higher tone green banana notes, olive brine, diesel, rubber, with also some tinned fruit syrup - lychees, mangosteens. There’s alot of those earthy, chewy notes of black liquorice candy. Some more fennel, margarine, vanilla cream, coconut cream. Medium-bodied but rather oily.

Finish: Clean, goes out pretty quickly, leaving just stronger raw cane slightly vegetal notes with abit of diesel.

My Thoughts

As a white rum, this contained most of the hallmarks of the category - the pickled vegetables, vanilla, diesel, brine, but here there’s abit more of a chewiness in the form of black liquorice candy and also a touch more fruitiness of lychees and mangosteens on the palate, both of which conspired to help the Kea stand out.

I particularly liked how on the palate it was softer than expected which allowed more nuances to come through rather than being purely high tone / high pitched like say high ester rums that can get alittle fume-y which makes it difficult to really go for it. It had a very cohesive flavour profile and a good buttery texture as well.

The finish was alittle bit more of a 50/50 for me - it was certainly decent insofar as there weren’t any unpleasantness in the aftertaste, but that said, it also didn’t offer too much on the finish to dissect.

While I did try this neat, I think this would do find in a rum-based cocktail - it’s not overpowering and comes across pretty versatile to work with, albeit don’t expect some high ester screeching flavour. It’s going to be pretty well balanced with a slight bias towards a more earthy and fruity flavour.

Not all that offensive, pretty well-rounded with some character of its own. Bottled at a very friendly 40%, not so over the top.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot