Crafting Rum in South Mississippi: Circle Hook Distilling
South Mississippi is very fortunate to have several breweries that have perfected the art of craft beer, but did you know we also have our own rum distillery?
Circle Hook Distilling in Gulfport is the first and only legal distillery in Harrison County. The couple that owns it started producing rum about three years ago and their product has already earned them several awards.
“Eli loves his rum. It is not rushed to get to a product quicker. It’s allowed as much time as it needs to go through full fermentation and then however much time it needs in the barrels for two of our products and the stainless steel for our silver.”
Co-Owner Eli Underhill said, “Circle Hook Distilling originated from a need to make a life change from being a commercial fishing boat captain in Southeast Alaska. We developed this business because we’re here in sugarcane country and rum is excellent beverage for a hot summer day.”
Co-Owner Amy Underhill said, “It’s a fun environment. You need to have someone cleaning the bottles, someone filling the bottles, someone putting the cork in and heat sealing it and then there’s the stacking and the boxing. And so, it takes a crew. When we went to go decorate the bottles, we really wanted to capture the spirit of Mississippi, the wider Gulf Coast and the way that, one of the ways we decided to do that was to pursue local artists to help with our label art.”
“Our original rum was the first product that we released and that was rum aged in New American oak barrels. And then the second was a silver rum, which is just a clear spirit meant for mixing. And then the third was Agricole style rum that was made from sugarcane. It’s got to start out with a good product. A good Grade-A molasses that still has the sugar crystals in it that we get from the sugar mill. Cane syrup is another one that we use, you know, good mineral rich well water that we get here in Harrison County. That leads to good healthy fermentation development. The addition of food grade yeast nutrients that we use from the winemaking industry, and temperature control. The barrels that we use, we source from one region in the United States all of that’s important and making a good final product. I’m trying to bring awareness to rum and the versatility of the spirit and how good it can actually taste if it’s treated well.”
Pretty impressive that in just three short years, Circle Hook has made its handcrafted rum available across three states: Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.
