The State of Utah’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage control has accepted delivery of the first stocking order of Antelope Island Rum. The rum should be on store shelves this week. Distilled by Utah’s own Dented Brick Distillery, Antelope Island Rum exclusively uses Organic Green Cane Sugar and non-GMO molasses as its base.
“The rum category has seen significant growth over the past three years, specifically with bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts, so we made it our mission to create the right product that would satisfy their discerning palates,” said Marc Christensen, manager at Dented Brick.
“We know authentic rum flavor and taste come from innovating while honoring the history of rum and rum making. Firmly rooted in the tradition of the finest rums, we mash, ferment, and distill on site using only the highest quality ingredients – organic sugar cane, non-GMO molasses, aromatic yeast, and chemical free water from our artesian well, drilled by the original property owners, to make our Estate distilled craft spirit. From the expert manufacturing process to the quality organic and non-GMO ingredients, this liquid stands above other white rums on the market today. Dented Brick’s Antelope Island Rum is what the label says it is. No GNS. No chemicals or flavorings. Nothing but organic green cane sugar and non-GMO molasses.”
Dented Brick Antelope Island Rum will carry an MSRP in the US of $26.95 for a 750ml bottle.
Antelope Island, the inspiration for our rum, is in the southern part of the Great Salt Lake. Rum generally requires an Island or a Pirate for inspiration, and our own local island provides plenty of history and characters for inspiration. In 1845, Kit Carson and John C. Fremont were the first non-natives to visit what is known today as Antelope Island State Park. This Great Salt Lake island is home to the Fielding Garr Ranch, where the 1848 homestead is not only the state’s oldest Anglo-American building still on its original foundation, but is also the oldest building continuously lived in for the longest amount of time. Located near the Dented Brick Distillery, the island is home to numerous pronghorn, for which it was named and, at one point in its ranching history, imported a Bison herd of 12 when there were fewer than 1,000 bison left in all of North America. Since then, the island’s herd has grown to around 600 head and is one of the oldest publicly owned bison herds in the United States. The herd is also recognized as a heritage breed, with desirable traits important to maintaining foundation stock.
Pronghorn and bighorn sheep were reintroduced to the island in the ’90s to restore the populations of the island’s original wildlife, which include mule deer, coyote, and numerous species of birds and waterfowl. For a number of years, the waterfowl population even included a pink flamingo that had escaped from a nearby zoo.
Today bricks from the well-driller’s original home represent the Dented Brick Distillery brand and are a part of the distillery, creating the juxtaposition of history and technology, the history of craft spirit and the improved technological components of today’s distilleries. The hi-tech tools of the trade are the 28-foot tall Vendome Copper Still, stainless steel fermentation tanks, temperature gauges, and pumps – but it still takes the passion and skills of our head distiller to produce the exceptional small batch taste of Antelope Island Rum – white rum in the finest rum tradition.
From the beginning, the 14,000 square foot building was designed and built to be a distillery, set up to meet the coming demand for high quality, competitively priced, Estate produced craft spirits. The initial design will produce up to 3000 9L cases a month, but future capacity expansion has been integrated into the plans. Dented Brick Distillery can support large domestic and international distribution supply chains.