This Premium Ernest Hemingway-Inspired Rum Is Meant to Be Sipped Like Fine Whiskey

Jonah Flicker
·4 min read
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Just a few blocks away from the clamor of Key West’s main drag, Duval Street, you’ll find Papa’s Pilar, a tiny distillery making excellent rum in this southernmost American city. The distillery just launched an ultra-premium new bottle with outsized flavor to celebrate the 124th birthday of its namesake and inspiration, Ernest Hemingway, and Robb Report traveled there to get a first look and taste.

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Papa’s Pilar was founded by Steve Groth, who also launched Angel’s Envy in 2010. Production is led by seventh-generation master distiller Ron Call, a Kentuckian by birth who spent years working in the bourbon industry for Jim Beam before moving into rum. He worked under the tutelage of the legendary master distiller Booker Noe early on, which he says was an invaluable to his career. He then worked for Cruzan for more than two decades before joining Papa’s Pilar in 2012, and he has countless stories to tell about both the whiskey and rum industries.


At the distillery in Key West, Shawn Martin heads up distilling, blending, and innovation, working with a small pot kettle still to produce rum, some of which is matured onsite. Call oversees blending of the different Papa’s Pilar expressions at the brand’s main facility in Lakeland, Florida, where rum from partner distilleries in Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela, and of course the brand’s Key West home are used. Dark and Blonde expressions anchor the lineup, with sherry and rye-finished rums rounding it out.


But Ernest is something truly special, a limited-edition rum consisting of just 400 bottles that comes in a minimalist decanter inside an ornate case. The liquid is a blend of 4.5-, five-, and 23-year-old rum from South and Central America that was double-finished and bottled at 100 proof. First the blend was put into heavily toasted American oak barrels made from staves that were air dried for 36 months, and then the rum was given another finish in Cognac and Armagnac barrels for less than a month. This is an excellent sipping rum, with deep tannic notes from the toasted oak finish, along with almond, dried fruit, coconut, spice, and even some hints of cotton candy on the palate. “We really wanted to push the envelope on what the category has seen before,” said Call in a press release. “This is what led to our decision to double finish the rum in new heavy-toasted American white oak barrels made of 36-month air-dried staves, a process that enhances the deep natural vanilla and slight cocoa notes that carry over into our rum and create an extraordinary sensory experience.”


At the distillery, Call told Robb Report that it is a challenge to present a high-end rum to consumers who are more used to seeing this type of price and presentation for single malt whisky and Cognac. “Typically, people view rum as light or something for ‘foo-foo’ drinks,” he said. “But I think they are ready for this.” The rum looks like an expensive bottle of Cognac, with the liquid housed in a crystal decanter with the name Ernest written in script on the front. The brand says that the inspiration came from a photo of Hemingway taken around 1940 in which you can see a similar decanter containing some mysterious spirit. The teal box slides open to reveal a photo of Hemingway at Finca Vigia behind it, the author’s Cuban home where he wrote part of books like For Whom the Bell Tolls. Finally, there’s a crystal topper you can use to replace the cork with if you decide to display the bottle.


Ernest will be available starting July 21 from the Papa’s Pilar website for $599, and you can join the Hemingway Social Club here if you want to get early access to this new release. In the meantime, you can find the core lineup available to purchase from websites like Total Wine. Even if you can’t write like Papa Hemingway, this rum gives you the chance to drink like him.

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