Mhoba has only been officially in business since June of 2015, when it was granted an operating license. Mhoba have been slowly accumulating casks, mostly 200l casks and 500l puncheons. Ageing occurs in a corrugated sheet metal warehouse and a 2nd warehouse, ‘Alcatraz’, has been recently commissioned. Evolution has been rapid and has been matched by the growth in popularity amongst rum enthusiasts around the world. The climate in this area has wide temperature ranges. While it gets hot and humid like in the tropics, it experiences much lower temperatures than would be found in the tropics at night. The interaction between the cask and the rum is very pronounced during the ‘heat cycle’. When it is warm, the casks expand and draw the spirit into their pores. When it cools down the opposite happens, the spirit draws influence from the wood. The local climate along with the local soil and water, as well as the cane varieties developed for that area, give Mhoba a unique terroir, and a case down the line, for the establishment of Geographical Indication.

Moving onto our next two issues. These are some of the oldest rums to come from Mhoba, they are 4 years old, distilled late 2016/early 2017, dumped from their barrels in May 2021, and will be bottled January 2022. They are a product of 7-10 day ferments and are a blend of single and double pot still distillates. These rums have no additives, colorants or flavor modifiers, these are pure single sugar cane juice rums. We are proud to issue these two expressions, from the same distillate but aged in two different casks. One was aged in ex-Bourbon casks (BWCR), and the other in ex-South African whisky casks, (SAWCR). We are immensely proud to be associated with Mhoba Distillery’s debut into the Canadian market.