THE STORY OF RUM ...the movie !

[JOHN REEKIE]

A Video about rum has been released.

The much awaited video release !.... Technical Advisor ED HAMILTON.

I know little about the details of this video except that Ed has been working

on it for a while as technical advisor, with an european film company.

I have not looked up previous web pages to find other information,but wanted

the forum to realise that the video is now available. Its 26minutes long and costs

$16.95, shipping extra.

From the Ministry of Rum web page

......." Filmed entirely in the caribbean, 'The Story of Rum' reveals some

of the Magic behind the best rums in the world."...

......"The Story of Rum also features rare footage of rum making in illicit stills

in the islands."

Judging on the experience involved and the quality in Ed's books , I consider that

this video will be very interesting and should be in every rum lovers library.

I have ordered mine and wait in antisipation on receiving it in due course.

www.ministryofrum.com scroll down to last item in the store.

[Kristian]

I think I actually saw this document in the Finnish TV only two weeks ago! It was in a Swedish documentary series (three-parter), called "Three noble spirits" (translation mine). I was elated to notice that rum had been included and had received a place amongst the three top spirits...

It was a good documentary, even though I was a bit taken back by the fact that they had a chart in there about the different distillation procedures etc. only in Swedish.... The Finnish TV network had not bothered to translate it...

One thing that could have benefited from some further work was the ending of the document. The last few minutes were dedicated to various drinks (mojitos etc.). I would have preferred to have them handled in short order somewhere in the middle of the document and have the ending deal with real rum connoisseurs. But that's only my preference...

I kept my eyes sharp when the end titles rolled and noticed Ed's name in there! Good work, Ed!

[joynme]

Hi

I'm Joy the webmaster for the Ministry of Rum site. We have a quicktime type file on the video we hope to be uploading soon, either to our site or a site which allows uploading/downloading/streaming etc.

I'm not a rum drinker but Ed gave me a copy of the video and I found it to be very professional. You can see the back of Ed's head in a few shots -- he's the

tall guy! Anyway, it provides a great ambiance for the Story of Rum.

They've integrated the illicit rum maker (I just loved her!!) throughout, and gave a lot of the history and processing. As a novice, I thought it was excellent. As a Photo Major in college, I thought the filming was excellent!

But ... rum processing, at least to me, is not so appetizing, the shots of crushed sugar cane look like corn husks to me ... but then you know what they say about sausages ... if you saw what went into them, you wouldn't like that either.

But I agree with the previous person who posted on this subject, it would have been really neat to see conneisuers (sp?) at the end of the vieo. It would have taken the edge off of the sludge stuff you see in the middle and left a more palatable feeling.

I do recommend it highly, with all my biases, but thought they did a very nice job. The video package is very rich looking and I will be posting a picture of that on the home page of the site soon.

There are also more details about purchase at our yahoo store. But no question, the video is very well done. After watching, I felt I had been there and back. Lots of local color and commentary. I would recommend.

Buy it! Buy it1

[Ed Hamilton]

I can honestly say that I'm very proud of the work, both technical and artistic that went into this video. There are clips from Martinique, Marie Galante, Guadeloupe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Antigua and Barbados.

I've worked with several film makers in the past and this crew were great, once they agreed to travel the extra miles to include the best of the islands. Even if you've been to more than a few distilleries I doubt you've seen rum making like this, from the smallest, two or three bottles a week, to the biggest who bottles over eight bottles a second.

As the historical consultant and the location manager, I picked most of the locations, except the bar scenes in Cuba and the distillery shots in Puerto Rico. You won't see any canned photo shots from the tourist office files and you won't find an island still like this anywhere else.

Divided into three sections, history, rum making, and enjoying rum, The Story of Rum fits the very successful format of the other films in the series The Noble Spirits. The other noble spirits are whisk(e)y and cognac.

One of the best things about this video is that although there are a few rum logos scattered throughout the 26 minutes, there's none of the product placement that we have come to associate with media today. There are a couple of mistakes in the narration but they don't really distract from the video, even if you are a connoisseuer of the best rum in the world.

This whole project was produced and paid for by Matine Films of Sweden so they could do what they wanted in terms of editing. After three weeks of intense filming, 14 hours a day, the final video was narrated in English for the rest of the world to enjoy. Congratulations to my friends at Matine.

[Kristian]

This whole project was produced and paid for by Matine Films of Sweden so they could do what they wanted in terms of editing. After three weeks of intense filming, 14 hours a day, the final video was narrated in English for the rest of the world to enjoy. Congratulations to my friends at Matine.

Are there any editing decision that you would have done differently if you had been in charge of the project?

As I said above, I'd like to have seen a bit more emphasis put on the aged rums and their enjoyment as compared to drinks and their mixing...

[Ed Hamilton]

As for editing, sure I would have done some things a little differently but then I probably wouldn't have ended up with such a good video. I use parts of this video in almost all of the rum presentations that I do now.

When you consider that this was made for an audience that isn't nearly as interested or knowledgable about rum as the members of this forum, you'll have to agree that they did a great job.

[Kristian]

[. . .] you'll have to agree that they did a great job.

That I do. In fact, I'll watch it again as soon as I get a chance!

[joynme]

Here's the case the video comes in

[joynme]

And if you want to download a .zip or .sit file of the trailer for this video, go to this website address:

http://www.ministryofrum.com/rumvideo.html

[Jason Perlow]

Ed, do you know if they plan to release the Noble Spirits collection on a DVD? I really want to buy your video but I dont use VHS anymore!

[Ed Hamilton]

There was a lot of discussion about DVD but to date that isn't going to happen. But I suspect it will, eventually. Like you, I don't even own a VCR but can watch DVDs on my computer. DVDs also take care of the compatibility problems around the world.