November '13 Grand Cayman Vacation Bonus - Seven Fathoms Rum Tour

No good vacation is complete without a nice tour, for me those tours preferably include the creation of wine and/or spirits. We decided to take a jaunt to Grand Cayman, given that our other new yuppie activity is diving. Dive trips are great for several reasons, one being that normally you dive in the morning, then have the rest of the day to explore the area. In doing some research on Trip Advisor, I came across Seven Fathoms. Being that I'm interested in both drinking and nerding out about drinking, it seemed like a solid choice.

Cayman Spirits Company ($10 tour, rums $24-$40)
Governor's Reserve Rum line (Coconut, Banana, Gold, Spiced, Dark), Seven Fathoms Rum
The lobby and tasting room is decorated with interesting old diving equipment and locally made goods - spices, etc. When we arrived, Walker Romanica was finishing up with another group, so we poked around while we waited. Walker is the co-founder and the head distiller, so we were excited to have him as our guide. He seemed a bit tentative about getting too technical with us, but we assured him that we were definitely into geeking out about the rum-making process. He poured us samples of the various Governor's Reserve rums, and we headed to the distilling floor.
Walker and his partner Nelson got started with the business only seven years ago, and the warehouse that we visited had opened just a few

months prior, so Walker was very proud to show off the new equipment and to explain their methods. As the first and only distillers to make rum in Grand Cayman, the goal is to make a spirit that captures the essence of the island. Walker was born and raised in Cayman, so he is driven to represent his home well. They try to source as much of the sugar cane (which is the central component of the rum) from local growers, though because there's not huge sugar cane farms on the island, they do import some. As well, the coconuts that are used in the coconut rum and the spices that are used in the spiced rum are locally sourced. Walker did a bang up job explaining the distilling process, and I got a good sense that they really care about making a good quality product. Briefly we discussed the aging process, which varies for the different rums, but is done in old Makers Mark barrels. The unique process that we chatted about was the Seven Fathoms Rum, which is barrel aged for one to three years 42 feet underwater in a secret location off the island. We had a number of questions about this process, such as: Do the barrels ever leak and get the fish drunk? How well concealed are the barrels? etc. Walker was a bit cagey in response to these questions - apparently they are quite worried about people figuring out where the rum is and stealing it.
We went back to the tasting bar and tried the rest of the offerings. I have to say that all of the rums were quite delicious. We tried the Governors Reserve Rum line - Coconut, Banana, Gold, Dark, and Spiced. The Coconut was great quality - a true flavor that was well integrated. The Dark Rum was very enjoyable - subtle and serious. The Seven Fathoms was awesome. The idea of the unique aging process is to have the underwater waves agitate the rum so that it gains a depth of character from that constant activity. I've never had a rum with such complexity. It reminded me of a good quality whiskey. Walker asked us if we wanted to try a few new items. Being game drinkers, we were up to the task. First up was a new product that's just about to be rolled out: their Gun Bay Vodka (the name Gun Bay refers to the site of an important historical event in Cayman - the Wreck of the Ten Sail), the Vodka was extremely smooth and enjoyable. Finally we tried a seasonal product, their white rum infused with Scotch Bonnet peppers - it had the perfect amount of spice, enough to make you snap to attention, but not so much to blow you away.

I'm limited in my knowledge about rums, but I was very pleased with our visit. Walker was a great host, we learned tons on the tour, and the rum was great.

Wine Tasting Etiquette Quandry

Since I've to a number of tasting room recently, I've come up against a bit of a sticky issue. Very often, the tasting room attendants will ask the question "So what do you think about that wine that you just had?"
Sometimes I can answer both honestly and positively, "That was excellent, I really liked the blah blah blah, etc."
But sometimes the wine that they ask about does not taste good and/or have redeeming qualities. What's the proper way to answer? I see three potential options:

1) Be completely and bluntly honest. One of the first times I ever went wine tasting I went with my buddy Cal. Cal would take a sip of wine, make a disgusted face, and say "I do not like!" directly to the attendant (in his thick Syrian accent). This can be hilarious and frank, but more often uncomfortable.

2) Admit that you didn't like it but blame yourself for not liking it. This would be something like saying "This seems like it's really good quality, I just don't like Syrahs." In instances this works well, but not very helpful when you have to come up with excuses for not liking all of the wines that are being poured.

3) Lie like there's no tomorrow. Act as though you enjoyed every last drop. Honestly this is my go to technique. No matter what the winery's size or style is, they are in the business of making people happy, so it's easier to act as though they've accomplished their goal. Though I can't help feeling disingenuous when I do it.

So my question is - how do you handle this? Blunt honestly, deferred blame, or outright lie? Or perhaps something else? I'm certainly open to new ideas, so lay them on me.

Why Wine is Better than Fantasy Football

Recently I decided to give up playing fantasy football. I had really enjoyed it for a long time, but my enjoyment had decreased significantly. Being a dork, I needed a new hobby. Somehow wine became that new hobby. So with about one year of wine hobbying under my belt, I can see a handful of reasons why I prefer being a wine dork over a fantasy football dork.

Reason #1: Wine is less about luck

Without going into detail - I'll simply state that fantasy football is largely about luck. The person that wins at the end of the year is the person that had the most good things happen for their team and the least bad things. Which means that all of the preparation  that one puts into putting together a team can be wasted when one player gets hurt.
The worst piece of bad luck with wine is paying good money for wine that turned out to be corked. Which I guess can be pretty upsetting, but that happens rarely. I'd much rather spend my time on something that doesn't make me have wild mood swings.

#2: Wine stories are not insufferable

Easily the second worst thing about fantasy football are the stories that people tell about their teams and the crazy things that have happened. It goes something like this:
"Oh man it was so nuts, my team was down 30 points going into the Monday night game. The only player that I had starting that night was Antonio Gates - and he came in huge for me! It was awesome!"
These stories are not worth telling, and horrible to listen to - but let me tell you: it's impossible to not get exciting and tell these horrible stories when they happen to you. It cannot be avoided. You get swept up, and tell these boring-ass stories.
A wine story, of any kind, can never be worse.

#3 Wine encourages traveling

Fantasy football encourages people to sit at home, or at best at a sports bar, all Sunday, while continually checking stats on a computer or phone. Friends may come together to watch the games, but even then it's a pretty solitary activity. Crappy food is consumed - day-drinking occurs. Evening hangovers ensue.
Wine encourages exploration. It's fun to check out new wine bars and wine stores in town. Its great to take a weekend trip to a nearby wine region. Exploring wine country is a great time. It's also a good opportunity to kick it with friends. Day-drinking may ensue as well, but the quality is likely going to be better.

So that's that. I've persuaded myself. Perhaps next year I'll be pitting wine against exotic big game hunting, or debating the pros and cons of stamp-collecting. Until then - wine it is.