19
LOUNGER
MALAHAT SPIRITS CO
KEN LEE
Handcrafted San Diego Rum
We seek out extraordinary ingredients, combine traditional
techniques with experimentation, and handcraft it all from
scratch to make the finest spirits. We are proud of every drop
and will only produce what we love to drink ourselves.
The Malahat
The Malahat was a five masted schooner. She sailed down the
West Coast during Prohibition. Capable of carrying over 60,000
cases of spirits, she delivered more contraband liquor than any
other ship in the Pacific. Anchoring off the coast of Southern
California, she delivered her spirits to rum runners who would
take the precious cargo to shore to awaiting patrons. She
quickly became known as “The Queen of Rum Row”. If you drank
your liquor in San Diego during Prohibition, chances are your
booze came from the Malahat.
We searched for every molasses we could find and combined it
with every yeast that we thought might work. For months, we
distilled every combination on the experimental still. After
many dozens of runs, we developed our proprietary combination
of multiple types of molasses and an unexpected strain of yeast
that has resulted in one of the finest rums we have ever tasted.
We believe strongly that the best products can only be made
from scratch. From raw material to bottle, we do it all. And we
knew it had to be right, since it was the base for all of our rums.
The nose is sweet with a hint of the tropics. It is smooth, clean,
and crisp from start to finish. It comes only from the finest cut
of the distillation run, making it smooth neat or on the rocks
with a clean finish. That also makes it the perfect base for a
wide range of craft cocktails.
Three friends
We set out to create the finest spirits for ourselves, our friends
and our families. Our shared belief that the spirits industry
could benefit from an infusion of innovation, experimentation
and good old handcrafting brought us together to found the
distillery.
To execute our vision, we commissioned two copper pot stills.
The large dual column copper pot still was custom designed to
fit into the skylight of the production facility, the only spot in
the distillery tall enough for the towering copper columns. A
smaller “experimental” copper still was designed for small
batches for research and development to create our innovative
recipes.
Malahat Spirits is currently focused on producing rum and
whiskey. Fortunately, the production still is capable of
producing any spirit, and more innovative spirits are on the
horizon.