Calwise Hazard Reef Navy Strength Rum

Hazard Reef is a real place — a treacherous stretch of rock off Morro Bay on California's Central Coast that's claimed its share of ships — and Calwise named its rum line for it. Aaron Bergh founded Calwise Spirits in Paso Robles in 2016, becoming at 25 one of the youngest master distillers in the world, a century after Prohibition shut down his great-great-grandfather's moonshine operation, and he makes everything from scratch. Navy Strength is the boldest Hazard Reef: distilled from molasses made from US-grown sugarcane, fermented with native microflora — the wild yeasts and bacteria of the Central Coast — for a tropical, Jamaican-style funk, and bottled at full navy strength, the historic proof at which rum-soaked gunpowder would still ignite; check your label for the exact ABV. The Rum Geography guide to Southern California singles it out for that wild fermentation. Expect a big, funky nose of overripe banana, tropical fruit, molasses, and a savory ester note over the heat, opening into a dense, oily palate of brown sugar, cooked fruit, and cane with a peppery warmth that builds, finishing long and hot in the way navy strength should, and opening beautifully with a splash of water. Honest note: this is a high-proof, funk-forward rum for enthusiasts and tiki bartenders, not a gentle sipper. For a Navy Grog, a Jungle Bird, a Mai Tai that needs a backbone, or a serious Daiquiri, it's the Central Coast's answer to Hampden. Small-batch, California-made, and named for a shipwreck.

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