Richland Rum

Happy Independence Day weekend.  One of the first businesses in our country was the distillery business.  The father of our country, George Washington had the largest distillery in the nation at Mt. Vernon.  In honor of this, we made a day trip to the Richland Rum Distillery in Richland Georgia.

Richland, Georgia is 140 miles North of Tallahassee and 140 miles South of Atlanta.  We started out around 8:00 am and after taking a leisurely drive on a beautiful summer day we made it around 11:00 am.    From Tallahassee it is almost a straight shot to Richland up US 27.   You have to be careful driving in Georgia since they take speeding seriously, so we traveled anywhere between 35-65 miles per hour going up.

The folks at Richland Rum have the only Estate Rum operation in the United States.  That means that they grow the sugarcane, grind it, make it into syrup and then create the rum.   They control the entire process from start to finish.  They have moved their operation from their farm 10 miles South of Richland to the old business district in town.  They have renovated several buildings from the 1900s and turned them into the distillery and the barrel rooms.

Tours are offered most weekdays and on Saturdays by appointment.  We did not have an appointment but they were offering tours due to the holiday.   We got there and met one of the owners.  The owners are a husband and wife team and know their stuff.  We asked lots of questions and they answered them with the passion they put into their craft.

As with any distillery, the odors are amazing.  A full sensory overload.   The fermentation process creates most of the smells though the aging process adds to the scents.    The stills are there and are works of art.

After the fermentation and distillation area we saw the barrel room.   They use new oak barrels made from Wisconsin oak.  Coopered and charred in Kentucky.  The rum is aged in the casks for 4 years.  After that we went to tasting the final product.   It was the best sipping rum I have tasted.  Very smooth and very sweet.  Nirvana.

We had to get some to take home.  Now Georgia does not let them sell rum.  On the other hand they can sell enhanced tours.   We purchased the collectors set enhanced tour.  

If you are in the area, stop by Richland Rum.  They have a Facebook page you can follow as well.

One other thing about Richland is that is is 10 miles or so from Plains, Ga.  Home of former president Jimmy Carter.   He has even been there and has signed a barrel to be sold when aged and ready for charity.  Since we were in the neighborhood, we went on down to Plains to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Home National Park.

We did not spend too much time since it was 95 degrees and 95 percent humidity but we did take a few photos.   We also had our first booboo in the Fuse.  We scraped the bottom and bent a piece of trim.  Those comments on Facebook about being careful about dips were not exaggerated.  Other than that, it was great trip.

As far as our trip logistics are concerned.   We traveled around 330 miles.  Various speeds, hot and humid temps.  Up and down the foothills of the Appalachian range.  The Fuse did great not even noticing the hills we were traveling over.   I did the math when we filled up and we got  16.8mpg.  The computer from Ford said 16.9mpg so we were still pretty close.