I’m the Bar Manager at Sparrow, a rum bar in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, IL. Sparrow is modeled after the great hotel lobby bars of Havana during Prohibition. We focus on classic cocktails that highlight our expansive rum list along with a thoughtful selection of other spirits.

I landed this sweet gig after moving to Chicago from a village in the middle of Illinois in search of new and exciting experiences and tastes. I paid for my degree in Journalism by working my way up from a barista, to a bartender, to running a couple of bar programs. Throughout that time, I was searching for a bar with a dedication to craft and hospitality, with a great team, great partners, and, with any luck, a focus on the spirit I was hungriest to work with and learn about: rum. I’m happy to say that search has ended.

We’ll often have a guest who informs us they don’t like rum and would like a whiskey recommendation. We have a nice whiskey selection, but I’ll often pour them a little sip of something and ask them to taste it before I reveal what it is. Without fail, they love it and ask for a pour. Then I show them the Parce 8yr bottle and we have a nice chat about rum.

I’ll also recommend a Rum Old Fashioned after someone finishes their whiskey version. If someone likes a Lemondrop Martini, I’ll recommend our Hotel Nacional with the sublime Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum.

Rum has such a broad and exciting selection, and I’d say most people are either unaware or intimidated by it. My biggest achievement is the day to day introduction of rum into our guests’ regular imbibing habits. Life is better with good rum in it, and I try to share that simple fact every time I’m behind our bar.

Some years ago, a bar I worked at brought in a ‘top shelf’ rum, which seemed an oxymoron at the time. I took a sip of this guy Ron Zacapa’s rum and stared at the bottle for a few moments, dumbfounded by the depth of flavor. Over the years, I’ve had that same feeling of pleasurable shock from so many different bottles of rum and take great joy in sharing it with others. I also eventually realized there aren’t just a lot of guys named Ron making rum.

It’s so much fun. New distilleries are opening, so many fun experimental rums are coming at a seemingly faster and faster rate, previously unattainable rums are opening up to distribution in the U.S., there are interesting debates within the industry about labeling, dosage, etc.

I could ramble on a long while about it, but the simplest answer is that rum is a quickly growing, fascinating industry that draws a lot of passionate, fun people together.

Rum in a cup or a Daiquiri. A Daiquiri is simple, and tames the wildest combinations of rum into something harmonious and refreshing.

2 oz Rum (Go all one rum, blend two, several, agricoles, aged and young, etc.)

.75 oz Fresh Lime Juice

1 heaping tsp Bar Sugar

Shake the daylights out of it, and single strain to get all the ice chips into the glass.

A Daiquiri is about icy cold refreshment, and the chips only add to that.

The Tiki craze has been a big boon for rum, and while that may wane a bit, I think it introduced quality rum into the common bar parlance. I’m often surprised by how many bars that previously had maybe two brands of rum now carry a modest but quality selection.

I think this is going to continue to grow and maybe in five years people will find rum bars almost as easy to find as whiskey bars are today. I’m especially excited for the proliferation of American rum distilleries. It seems you can get a whiskey from every state in the union, and I’d love to have similar options with American rum.

Education and staff trainings at bars, restaurants, etc. Many of our guests that always call for Macallan or Compass Box now call Foursquare 2004 or Criterion, and this is due directly to the bartender recommending it. The more cynical answer is to get someone like Anthony Bourdain to say he drinks fine rums, and that’ll boost sales.

Peter Vestinos is a partner at Sparrow, and the person from whom I’ve learned more about bartending and rum than anyone else. He’s a generous fount of knowledge, master of balance in cocktails, and every bartender should be so lucky to work behind a bar he’s designed.

It’d be too bold to call them mentors, but I’ve had the pleasure to meet and discuss rum with Alexandre Gabrielle of Maison Ferrand and Richard Seale of Foursquare.

Even a few short conversations with those two expanded my appreciation and understanding of rum, both the art and the industry.

Get down to the Caribbean and tour a few distilleries there.

Travel to the East Coast, for many reasons but especially to finally try some of the Privateer rum I’ve heard so much about.

And I’m hoping to spend a little more time relaxing and sipping rum, and not just pouring it for others.

If you like free rum and are in Chicago, we have a Rum Social the first Tuesday of every month. We focus on a different theme (rhum agricole, Bajan rums, etc.) each month, so it’s kind of a free course on the wide world of rum. And who doesn’t like free rum?.