Have Spirits Will Travel

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

For those of us that love and admire history and cocktails, the past 15 years has been an everchanging landscape. We have seen the Appletini and Cosmo fall to the wayside as drinks like the Sazerac, Old-Fashioned and Manhattan break pop culture barrier after barrier. Which is what makes Probitas so exciting. A collaboration between Foursquare’s Richard Seale from Barbados and Jamaica’s Hampden Estate Master Distiller, Vivian Wisdom. Their collaboration blends unaged pot still rum from Hampden with tropically aged two-year-old pot still and unaged coffey still rums produced at Foursquare. The end result is “A style of rum that would have made your daiquiri in the 1930s”, bottled at 47% abv and proof that you can have a “white” rum with body and character and does not have to mimic a neutral spirit ala vodka.

 COLOR/ APPEARANCE

As I may have mentioned before; I tend to not concern myself with the bottle as much as what is inside that bottle. I will make an exception here. I love this bottle. The simple tan labeling and “Guardians of Rum” stamp is nearly indistinguishable from the cream soda/bone white color of the rum. The tall 750ml bottle shows some of its Foursquare heritage with its bubbled neck and slender shoulders.

NOSE

Light tropical fruits dance their way out of the glass. Subtle pineapple rind and mango interplay with effervescent brine. This is pulled together by sundried vanilla beans, nail polish and an unexpected aroma of lardon.

PALATE

Simple, but friendly character on the palate. The mango character is at the forefront here with light, starchy banana and fresh strawberries. There is a touch of a floral character as well. Something that reminds me of honeysuckle and white tea.

BODY

On the medium-light end of the spectrum. Nothing that is going make you say “wow”, but it will make itself more than known in your next daiquiri or mojito as it will not be paper thin and dull.

FINISH

For me, the Hampden component becomes apparent on the finish. The signature hogo is there, but tempered. It mingles with accents of lemon pith and vanilla crème before it finishes with dry oak and spice.

OVERALL

I first got to try this rum in its infancy during the Chicago Rum Festival in 2018. It was in a secret squirrel bottle under the table; privy to those in the know or earned a chance to be enlightened. If I recall correctly, it was “overproof” at the time and I remember gushing to Richard how much I loved it and that it wasn’t too funk forward. Richard smirked and replied that it has plenty of funk. Now that I am able to revisit this at will, I guess what I should have said is that it has an ideal level of funk to it. If you are familiar with Rum Fire which is an overproof produced by Hampden Estate, it is easy to be worried about how high the esters would be in something like this. It is a bold, intense character that will not pull punches.

This is a very appropriate amount of funk and it has been bringing a lot of cocktails to life for me as of late. The Probitas pages on Facebook and Instagram were kind enough to share my punch recipe that I have been playing around with as of recently. However; I have been loving it in my Banana Daiquiris as of late:

• 2oz Probitas
• 1oz Lime Juice
• .75oz Giffard Banane de Brasil
• .25oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and pour into a chilled glass.