Rum Connoisseur
Interview of The Week:

DANI DE LUNA
Brand Manager Boukman Rhum

1. Who is Dani De Luna?

I’m Dani De Luna, a lady from Marin County, California living in Brooklyn, NY. At the beginning of my 20’s, I realized that living in California was like living in another country and decided to explore more of the good ol’ USA by moving to Birmingham, AL. I studied Music Technology at UAB, played in bands, started DJ’ing, and met some folks who were really into cocktails. I moved to New York to pursue music but like so many of us, found that I was far more passionate about learning how to make great drinks than I was playing in a bar til 4 am.

I’d been studying, making, and writing about cocktails for several years under the name Home Bar Girl when I stumbled upon the Tiki era and huge array of Rums used in those drinks. Instantly hooked, I dove all the way into Rum as a category and haven’t looked back since.

2. Biggest achievement you personally feel you have accomplished for the rum industry.

As someone who loves Caribbean & Tropical drinks I founded a little Instagram party called “Tiki The Snow Away” in 2015 along with the help of another cocktail maker on Instagram named Nic Titze. Every January, we post Tiki drinks and re-post other people’s tropical Rum drinks to try and lighten the mood during what is otherwise the most depressing month of the year. There seem to be a lot “winter Tiki” things happening now, so the trend has caught on! I’ve also started a Rum group in NYC called Cane Club Collective with some of my other cane-obsessed friends from Brooklyn. We teach classes about all different styles of Rum, hold events, and do some consulting. Lastly, and perhaps most dear to my heart, I’ve been working with Boukman Rhum for the past two years and have helped spread the word about the rich tradition of Haitian Clairin Trempé.

3. What made you fall in love with rum and when did it happen?

It is so hard to answer that question because I feel like I continue to fall in love with Rum every time I start talking to someone about the myriad of styles within the category. Before I give any examples, I will say that all of the experiences I’ve had that make me fall in love with Rum have happened in the company of others. Rum is best passed from person to person, Rum is best accompanied by a story, and Rum is convivial. Here are some vignettes:

I and a group of bartenders from NYC are in a sugar-cane-plantation-turned-museum on the western coast of Haiti. Our tour guide holds nothing back about the horrors of slavery and the back-breaking work involved in Rum production. We walk into a room with paintings from the 16th century and I see my distant cousin Queen Isabella of Spain, regent of the island of Hispaniola. I realize that my family is partly responsible for the Caribbean sugar & Rum industry. I am shaken as I think about what part we played in destroying this part of the world and rebuilding it in our own image. I begin to realize that I am bound to Rum in a deep & historical way and am thankful that I get to play a part in telling the story today. Rum is definitely a spirit with a lot of shame and “skeletons in the closet” but in this era of history, it is a source of pride for all who make it.

I and a group of bartenders from NYC are standing in a field in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. We’ve just witnessed a meeting between sugar cane farmers, cane cutters, and a distiller who works with an organization that aims to introduce modern farming techniques. The farmers have passionately aired their grievances about not having enough water to plant cane, about their sons moving away to the city and not having enough hands to cut cane, about not making enough money to continue to farm cane. After the meeting is over, my friends and I step away and talk about how we’ve just realized that all Rum is agriculture and that we need to bring more transparency to the sugar cane industry. Cane Club Collective is born.

-Members of Cane Club Collective and a couple of friends visit distilleries in the volcanic island of Martinique. We are blown away by the huge differences in terroir and microclimate on the island. We visit a distilleries on the northwestern side of the island, located in a little valley beside the Caribbean Sea. We walk to the room where all the Rums are resting in steel tanks and aging in barrels, and then it hits us: the smell. I still think about it from time to time. Salt, grass, minerals, tropical fruits, yeast, all swirling about together. I cannot get enough of this smell.

4. What is that thing that makes you want to continue in the rum industry?

There are so many stories to tell, so many traditions to talk about, so many styles to try. Rum is magnificent due to its diversity, its tie to history, and because the juice is (often) so damn good!

5. Favorite Drink + Recipe

Dude, this question is nearly impossible because it depends on my mood, the weather, “what’s hot right now”. hahaha! If I was pinned down, I’d have to say ‘Ti Punch because when the limes are good, and the Rum is good, it’s the best way to taste every ingredient.

6. Where do you see the rum industry today and in the next 5 years?

Well, right now the buzz is happening for Rum to (finally!) be the next hot thing. There is a whole lot of excellent Rum coming into the USA these days and perceptions are slowly starting to change. We still have a long way to go before people stop thinking of cheap brands when they think of the category, but I feel hopeful! I feel it will have to be word of mouth, so that means more bartender education because they’re on the front lines of getting people to try new spirits.

7. What do you think needs to happen to grow the premium category of rum?

Actually, that end of the category is experiencing growth. The buzz created by aged Rums from high end Whisky producers and importers have gotten the attention of spirits enthusiasts and people are starting to collect rare releases for their home libraries.

8. Which rum would you recommend a person that:

Drinks Whisky:
My first answer to the “what’s a good starter Rum for whiskey drinkers” question is always: any of the Foursquare line of Rums (robust but easy, no sugar added, attention to barrel aging, etc). Then I encourage Mount Gay and Appleton 12 Year. But for scotch drinkers and especially for the Islay variety, I actually like to send them off in the Boukman direction, or even aged Agricole direction because they already like unique, intense, possibly caustic flavors. Now that we have the Habitation Velier Rums, I would push the high end scotch drinkers off in that direction so they can explore styles from multiple islands.

Drinks Bourbon:
The Bourbon people often like sweeter Rums but I try to steer these people back towards unsweetened, aged Molasses Rums like Pussers, the Hamilton Rums, or Foursquare Rums.

Drinks Gin & Vodka:
For the Gin people, well obviously Boukman, but also Blanc Agricole. For the vodka people something like Brugal Extra Dry because it would be more similar to their current drinking style and help introduce them to the category.

Drinks Cognac:
For the Cognac people- Agricole all the way or maybe also Foursquare.

9. Share some (2-3) of your mentors and how they have helped you.

My mentors are my peers: Shannon Mustipher and Austin Hartman. They have both shared with me passion for cocktail making, passion for the cane juice category, and passion for research. We all read a lot of books, articles, and anything we can find about Rum. I would then have to include a couple of author mentors: Dave Wondrich for his book Punch: The Delights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl which really helps put the whole Rum category in perspective as the first worldwide proto-cocktail ingredient. Also Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s book Potions of the Caribbean for expertly weaving the history of Caribbean Rum along with cocktail recipes and hilarious writing.

10. What 3-5 things do you have in your bucket list for the next 12 month?

I have mostly been to the French Caribbean so I desperately need to go to Jamaica and Barbados to further my education in molasses style Rums. Jamaica for the funk. I literally cannot wait to experience the smell at Hampden Estate. Barbados for the art of blending and aging. Also, I’m dying to get my hands on another bottle of Trois Rivieres 55º Blanc, so if someone from France or Martinique wants to send me a bottle, I would be suuuuuper grateful!

11. Any last words?

“Oh but have you tried this Rum?”

12. How can people learn more about you? Website? Social Media Page

Hit me up on Instagram! I am at @homebargirl but help run pages for @caneclubco, @tikithesnowaway, & @boukmanrhum.