02 Mar Lyon Overproof Oak Rum + Last Shore Cocktail Recipe

Posted at 07:00h in Blog, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail Recipes: R&J Original, Liquor 101, Liquor 101: Liquor Reviews by Roberts & June

Lyon Overproof Oak Rum

This week we’re celebrating the fresh, clean-slate revival of American rums by tasting and mixing with some rums given to us by Lyon Distilling, a craft rum maker in Saint Michaels on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Today, we’ll taste their overproof oak rum, and then mix it in a Last Word variant we created just for it.

This is the fourth Lyon rum we’re tasting, and before we proceed we just have to acknowledge how remarkable it is that in less than a handful of years Lyon has managed to produce a slate of rums that has kept us going all week. Any of these rums is well-worth trying, and if you see one of their bottles of any variety you should grab it. They’re made in small batches, and available in short supply; so don’t take them for granted.

In light of the overall high quality and interest, it seems a bit petty to pick favorites among them. And yet, as we spend the week focusing on them, that is indeed what we find ourselves doing. With the whites, we found ourselves favoring the intense but still pleasant overproof variety. With the darks, our preferences went in the other direction. The overproof oak has a spicy quality as compared to the standard proof dark version, and tends in a fruitier direction, as compared to the caramel tones of the standard. Tasting them side by side as we did, we couldn’t help but feel a bit of resentment about the way the overproofing and finishing got in the way of the full-bodied, luscious sweetness of the standard dark. If we look at it on its own, though, the overproof oak has a lot to recommend it. It’s a pleasantly complex mix, and the extra spiciness created by the alcohol kick made us think that the overproof oak could hold its own quite well in the company of Maryland’s historic spirit, rye whiskey.

In fact, while we enjoyed the overproof silver in a classic recipe, without any tampering, we found ourselves wanting to design a custom drink to highlight the overproof oak’s rye-like but still rummy character. We landed on a slight variation on the Final Ward, the rye member of the Last Word family.