In 2017 Jordan Morris and Turner Wathen founded Rolling Fork, an American independent bottler with a twist. They don’t just buy distillates, they also blend and finish them in a variety of casks. Operating out of Starlight Distillery in the bourbon state of Kentucky, both men seem to have a lot of passion and knowledge about American whiskey, according to their website. Jordan, a lawyer by day, sources and blends the rums. Turner is responsible for sales, marketing and operations. Why rum? I don’t know. My guess is that they saw more of an opportunity to make money with rum than with American whiskey. In 2017 the independent rum bottler scene in the US was akin to a desert, while the bourbon market was likely saturated.
Looking at their own website and sites of a few retailers, I came across the following (marketing) statements:
Through blending and finishing, we craft rums that adhere to our motto: no finer spirits can be made.
Quite the motto. It sets very high expectations. Problem is, they are not making rum. Which leads us nicely into the next “slogan”: Rolling Fork imports well-aged rum which they then continue aging in uninsulated whiskey rickhouses to achieve elevated expressions.
They buy aged rum from various distilleries. Some of the staff at these distilleries have dozens of years experience in producing and aging rum. Let’s go crazy and call them experts. An independent bottler with a few years of aging and blending experience can’t elevate a rum made by some of the best producers in the world. Changing is one thing, elevating another. It sounds very much like Planteray’s marketing and way of thinking. Not a good look at all.
Jordan and Turner honor the fine traditions of American whiskey making through the blending and finishing of rums that meet American whiskey standards.
What do American whiskey standards have to do with aging and blending rum? Shouldn’t it be about rum standards? Or are they saying they are raising the profile of these rums to the American whiskey standard? I think I figured it out…..it has to be a joke.
Let’s get to the rum. Thanks to a lovely fellow rum enthusiast, I was able to get my hands on four very large samples of Rolling Fork rums. The cast is as follows:
· Rolling Fork Barbados 11yr – Rye Whiskey Cask – 57.81%
· Rolling Fork Barbados 10yr – Toasted Bourbon – 55.9%
· Rolling Fork Barbados 9yr – Wheated Bourbon – 55.8%
· Rolling Fork Jamaica 6yr – Wheated Bourbon – 57.09%
The info from Rolling Fork on the 11 year states: 11 year Foursquare rum, finished in an ex-Kentucky rye whiskey barrel for more than 17 months. So this is a 12 year rum then? Or did they buy a 10 year rum from Foursquare? Or are they not counting their own ageing? It gets even more confusing when they also say: Finished in a used Kentucky wheated bourbon cask for more than two years. I’m assuming that last bit is a typo. Cask number is HHR-224090
The 10 year: The rum was aged for eight years in the Caribbean (Foursquare), and re-casked into toasted bourbon casks for 26 months of additional aging in an Indiana rickhouse. Elsewhere I’m reading: Woodford Reserve double-oak barrel for 26 months. Cask is WDO-224070.
The 9 year: A rum distilled in Barbados by Foursquare Distillery; aged in used bourbon casks in Barbados for 8 years, further aged in a wheated bourbon cask. Can’t find other info about it. There are similar releases with different ABVs out there, so hard to check which is which. The barrel number is WLR14-224029. On the Ohio Liquor website (where this was bought) it is described as follows: Rum aged in ex-bourbon casks in Barbados for eight years, then aged an additional 12 to 24 months in a variety of casks: wheated bourbon, high-rye bourbon, rye whiskey, and toasted bourbon.
The Jamaican 6 year: Ohio liquor (where this was bought) states: aged in ex-bourbon casks in Jamaica for three years, then aged an additional four years in the U.S. Elsewhere I’ve read: Finished in a used wheated bourbon cask for more than two years. Or: aged for 3 years in ex-bourbon casks in Jamaica and 3 years in the US in a wheated bourbon cask. Take your pick. Barrel number is WLR12-224010.
Before we go to the tasting I’d like to point out the design of the labels. They really are good looking, aren’t they?!
Nosing
Rolling Fork Barbados 11yr – Rye Cask
Strong oak, vanilla, pepper, citrus, light coconut, vanilla candy, light mango, light menthol. Mostly smells like a barrel warehouse. Everything is rather light and flat, except for the oak.
Rolling Fork Barbados 10yr – Toasted Bourbon
Tobacco, oak, leather, molasses, mineral stones, baking spices, vanilla, coconut. Thicker and rounder than the others. Nice.
Rolling Fork Barbados 9yr – Wheated Bourbon
Very flat. Oak, coconut, vanilla, raspberry candy (not nice), honey. Faint is the word. Or, mediocre.
Rolling Fork Jamaica 6yr – Wheated Bourbon
Light acetone, peary, spicy oak, banana, pineapple, raisins, light cardboard, milk?, citrus. It’s very oaky.
Tasting
Rolling Fork Barbados 11yr – Rye Cask
Is this rum or bourbon?? Very cask heavy. Lots of oak spice. Some vanilla, coconut and baking spices. Metallic note. Burnt wood. Fairly light, sweet short to medium finish. A tiny bit of bitterness pops up at the end. Luckily the finish fades quickly. One sip of water was all it took to make this rum disappear from my palate. Just buy a good bottle of bourbon instead.
Rolling Fork Barbados 10yr – Toasted Bourbon
Tobacco, leather, vanilla, lots of oak (licking a barrel), coconut, raisins, chocolate. Thick mouthfeel, I want to cut it in slices. Finish is solid with lots of tobacco, sweetness and bourbon cask notes. Not bitter. Yum!
Rolling Fork Barbados 9yr – Wheated Bourbon
This is another light one. Oak, vanilla, coconut, a little tobacco, hint of orange, baking spices. Mouthfeel is on the thin side. Lots of oak that’s battling the sweetness, with the latter winning a close match. The medium finish is very sweet and a little flat.
Rolling Fork Jamaica 6yr – Wheated Bourbon
Surprisingly, this is quite thin and a little hot. Didn’t expect that after a decent nose. Lots and lots of oak spice. Menthol, ginger, raisins, far far away there is some banana and pineapple. Not as fruity as the nose suggested. Most of it is buried by oak. Finish is completely dominated by the bourbon cask. What a waste.
Conclusion
There are people who still find it strange that some distilleries are not allowing their names to be used by independent bottlers. I’m not one of them. Take the 6yr Jamaican expression. There is no distillery name on the label. I’m assuming it’s Worthy Park, but the barrel has ruined the spirit at such a level that it is hardly recognizable anymore. When I finished tasting it during the second session, I wrote down “Jamaican bourbon”. Would the distillery be happy with their name being attached to this mediocre product? Likely not. That’s the problem. A distillery produces a beautiful product that is subsequently ruined by a failed aging experiment. Consumers buy this and think it’s a typical profile for that distillery. What a nightmare. I guess plenty of people will see this as a nice drink. Something familiar for bourbon drinkers perhaps. To me, 70% of the terroir has been killed. What a waste of good Jamaican rum.
It’s similar with the 11 year Barbados. I bet that was a great rum when it left Barbados. However, after another aging experiment in Kentucky I’m left wondering if I’m drinking rum or bourbon. If it had any complexities to begin with, you wouldn’t be able to tell anymore, as it’s all been buried under the oak. It’s turned into a poor rum, or a poor bourbon. Certainly not worthy of the Foursquare name on the label. I have no clue why this was bottled. Perhaps to confuse rum or bourbon enthusiasts when giving it to them in a blind tasting? Most of them likely won’t understand what it is. This is a fantastic gateway for the Rolling Fork owners to proudly explain this is a rum that’s been elevated to the American whiskey standard!
The Barbados 9 year has a nose that’s a whole lot of nothing. Very flat. The palate saved it somewhat, luckily. If it didn’t have as much coconut, I’d think this is a Panama rum. It’s going in that direction. People who like that style will probably enjoy this rum. For my palate it’s an easy sipper that is very forgettable.
After tasting all these, I’m left wondering why. Why this approach? Both Rolling Fork owners have a bourbon background and I’m sure they love that spirit. So it makes sense they personally like tasting that flavour profile. But why not sell bourbon then? Market too saturated perhaps? They picked rum instead and made it taste like bourbon, which assures it’s easier to sell to the vast amount of bourbon consumers. Many will say it’s a good “gateway” into rum. I don’t get that. Give someone a product that doesn’t taste like rum so that they can now be declared as certified rum lovers? “I’m tasting bourbon, but it’s called rum…….so from this day on I’m loving bourbon and rum”. Give them something that tastes like rum and they’ll be wondering what it is. “This is not rum!”. It’s all about sales of course. It has nothing to do with elevating the spirit or having any sort of rum pride. It’s similar with the bottlers that add sugar to rum. Tastes like candy, not like rum, but it gets people “into the category”, apparently. In both cases it shows a lack of respect for rum and the people who produce it.
Some will say what Rolling Fork does is innovation. Here’s a quote from the Ohio Liquor website:”Rolling Fork hopes to change perceptions of the spirit. Experimentation and innovation lead to rums with exceptional flavor profiles not found anywhere else”. Putting existing rum in another cask to appease the bourbon crowd isn’t innovation. It’s like tinkering with rum ageing in your garage in your spare time. Would you call that innovation? At least in that case the final product will likely be shared between a few friends only. Rolling Fork’s products are actually sold commercially, while labeled with the name of the country and at times the name of the distillery. If these rums were labeled as “American rum, made with foreign ingredients”, it would much better describe the contents of the bottle and it would show more respect to the producers (and the consumers).
I’d like to end on a positive note. RF’s 10 year Barbados is a very good one. It tastes like Barbados rum. The mouthfeel is thick, there is some complexity with clearly pronounced flavours and it has a solid finish. I want to say the cask influence is too strong, but no, it works for me. The ageing hasn’t been overdone. I really enjoyed it.
Scores
Rolling Fork Barbados 11yr – Rye Cask – 52
Rolling Fork Barbados 10yr – Toasted Bourbon – 87
Rolling Fork Barbados 9yr – Wheated Bourbon – 69
Rolling Fork Jamaica 6yr – Wheated Bourbon – 49
On a side note. Since 2024, the RF owners have acquired the brand “Bourbon de Luxe” and have released their first bourbon under this label. According to their website Turner and Jordan wanted to create a bourbon when they first met. “We have always wanted to do a bourbon, but knew we would not act on a brand revival unless we were able to source really high-quality Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Once we secured the trademark and the bourbon – we were off to the races.”
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