LOCAVORE LIQUOR

Peek Around the Corners of Drum Circle Distilling

By Rebecca Robinson, Photos By Herb Booth

Mixed with sugarcane syrup and a squeeze of fresh lime; sipped neat or chilled over ice, rum is Troy Roberts’ drink of choice. It’s also the product of his latest business venture and the key ingredient to one killer rum cake.

Hidden in the warehouses of Sarasota’s industrial park, Drum Circle Distilling does artisanal, and local, to a T. From the paint on the walls to the bottles labeled by hand, his Siesta Key Rum production is a labor of punch-drinking love. Just two years ago Roberts and his father built the entire distillery by hand: buffing the floors, painting the walls, constructing the scaffolding and varnishing the tasting room table, they built the foundation for Roberts’ third professional venture.

Caught decaffeinated for an early morning interview, his typically fervid pace is tempered by fatigue: the distillery is on the cusp of releasing its first, small batch of premium white rum. Judging by his Converse and jeans, one would never guess Roberts built his professional resume through corporate America.

Upon graduating from Riverview High School, Roberts abandoned his Sarasota haunts for California’s corporate world. Despite his own success, Roberts “never really fit the corporate world.” Trading sneakers for suits, he left the corporate world in 1999 never to return.

An eight year stint in dot coms for sports car junkies followed, at which point Roberts confronted a life-changing decision: a winery in California or a distillery in Florida. Lucky for Sarasota he chose the latter.

After two years of fermentation formulas, yeast analysis, and bureaucratic red tape, Roberts is ready to distribute his first batch of sugarcane gold. Hand-crafted, swarthily smooth, and locallyformed, this rum layers quality on quality. Along every step of the fermentation and aging process, Roberts makes key decisions that ensure high-end results.

Roberts starts with molasses made from organic sugarcane, sourced from the grasslands of Florida’s everglades. His organic penchant shouldn’t be construed as trendy green-ism; Roberts is a Florida boy who wants to see the landscape flourish, pesticide-free. The other main flavor component, apart from molasses, is yeast.

The specific yeast used has “an enormous effect on flavor,” so after months of sampling various strains of yeast, Roberts selected none. Perfectionist to all business points, Roberts creates his own yeast by combining two. One strain contributes traditional rum flavors, the other more “bright, upfront qualities,” resulting in complexity from start to finish. Armed with high-quality molasses and yeast, the science begins.

Fermentation, settling, sills, hearts, and tails result in thousands of liters of glistening booze. At this point, Roberts bottles a portion for the Siesta Key White Rum and transfers the rest to small, new American oak barrels destined for the Spiced Rum bottling.

“In twelve to eighteen months time, the warmth of a Florida climate produces a rum that tastes like a four or even five year aged rum,” Roberts states. Many rum distillers rely on large, used oak barrels for aging, whereas Roberts opts for small, new American oak barrels, resulting in a greater spice intensity and flavor profile.

When ready for packaging, Roberts fills each bottle by hand, smoothing the label along the bottle’s contours before sealing with a true cork. Based off a local Ringling art student’s design, even the label beams Sarasota love.

For many, a white and spiced rum bottling would be success enough; many are not, however, as savvy or dream-reaching as Troy Roberts. Flavored rums, maybe a vodka and gin, all locallysourced when possible, are potential components of Drum Circle’s future. Rum tastings, a concentrated retail presence, and high-end representation in Sarasota bars…Roberts and his imagination are limitless.

Peek around the corners of Drum Circle Distilling to glimpse what lies beneath Roberts’ entrepreneurial swagger: Nerf balls. Father of four, Troy Roberts integrates his work and personal life like the ex-corporate figure he is; he lives each day alongside his father and kids, knowing that life is too short not to breathe what he loves. If in search of the rum-wizard himself, look towards the beach. At sunset, of course. Siesta Key Ti Punch in one hand, a book in the other, Roberts is a drum circle man. And quite a rum cake baker, so we understand. Just don’t ask him for the recipe.

For more information visit www.drumcircledistilling.com