Above: Dancing Pines Distillery’s Cask Rum at CJ Headquarters in Miami (CJ Photo)

MIAMI — THE UNITED STATES is seeing a boom in craft spirit production, with an upsurge in the number of boutique rums now on the market, some from the unlikeliest of places.

These rums, like Siesta Key and Miami Club Rum for example, which we’ve covered in previous Rum Journals, are part of what many hope will be a new rum renaissance in the States.

It’s refreshing to see the Noble Spirit expanding its reach across the globe and showing the uninitiated exactly why it’s so popular within the Caribbean.

Another such small-batch producers is the Loveland, Colorado-based Dancing Pines Distillery, led by Kristian and Kimberly Naslund, which produces three types of rums among a portfolio of 10 spirits, including several liqueurs, bourbon, gin and brandy.

For the latest edition of Rum Journal, we tried the top of the line Cask Rum from Dancing Pines (DPD also produces light and spiced varieties).

It is, as Dancing Pines calls it, a “mountain rum.” The process is simple and true: sugar cane molasses, slowly fermented, then twice distilled in a handmade copper pot still.

The excellent Cask Rum has a light amber colour. It has an aroma of oak and citrus, with a complex flavour profile including hints of caramel, orange peel, oak and spice, with a very smooth finish.

Despite being from wintry Colorado, Dancing Pines has created a product that would be right at home on a Caribbean beach.

— CJ