Photo: Rachel Vanni/Tasting Table
Born to Rum by Alison Spiegel
Royally Cool: The Queen’s Share Method
Spirits are typically “cut” into parts after distillation: heads, hearts and tails. The hearts usually get bottled, while the heads and tails may be discarded or blended into new batches. Mixing subpar portions with the hearts helps produce higher yields. But Privateer and award-winning, Pittsburgh-based Maggie’s Farm Rum use a method called Queen Share. They collect batches of tails only—“the really heavy, funk, oily portions,” Maggie’s Farm Rum owner Tim Russell says—and redistill them for a smooth, rich and intensely flavored rum.
Excerpt from article by Rachel Spiegel.