Eating and Drinking with Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl: Minnesota Rum
July 15, 2015
Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine's Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl brings her extensive knowledge of the Midwest dining scene to Eating and Drinking.
Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl stops by The Current's Morning Show to talk about Minnesota rum. That's right. "You might be thinking, 'I have to go to the Caribbean to get good rum' — nope, not anymore," Dara says. "It's new, it's everywhere, it's very popular, it's sort of inexplicable, but my feeling is, 'Hooray!'"
Many local micro-distilleries are now making rum, and Dara explains that traditionally, we haven't had Minnesota rum because we don't have sugar-cane fields. "Rum, by definition, has to be made of sugar and sugar cane — those things are tropical," she says.
Sugar brokers have made the sweet ingredients more accessible to Minnesota distillers. And in addition to white and brown sugar, rum can also be made from molasses.
On today's program, Dara runs through the Minnesota-made rums she thinks are the best. Listen to the audio player above to hear thoughts from Dara, Jill and Sean as they taste rums from these distilleries:
Norseman Distillery — Northeast Minneapolis
Eleven Wells — St. Paul, Minn.
Far North Spirits — Hallock, Minn.
Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl, veteran Twin Cities food and dining authority, is a five-time James Beard Award-Winning food writer who is also at Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine and author of Drink This: Wine Made Simple.