Wicked Dolphin Distillery

Named USA Today’s No.1 Craft Rum Distillery in 2019 and still in the top three, Wicked Dolphin continues to “Be Wicked!”

Wicked Since 2012

Family-owned and operated, Wicked Dolphin crafts small-batch spirits from locally sourced ingredients. Owner JoAnne Elardo realized the rums she was drinking lacked any unique characteristics. They were ho-hum--overly sweet and cloying. So, she moved into the rum market.

In her 2014 interview with Got Rum! she says the plan was “to make rum we can be proud of, using the best ingredients we could get our hands on.” As her libation empire has expanded, she continues in the same vein with local ingredients for her spirits, 98 percent of which are Florida grown.

Local Florida Sugar

Just a fun fact, Florida produces 52 percent of the sugarcane grown in the U.S., with the majority of fields situated in Palm Beach County. So, most of the sugar Wicked Dolphin uses as the base for their rums is grown just up the road, a mere 35 miles from their distillery.

The Heart of the Run

Elardo prides herself on taking just the “hearts.”

“Hearts” are the sweet stuff, the distillate collected from the middle of the run. They lack the aldehydes and ethel acetates found in the “heads” and the fusel oils from the “tails.” Some distillers choose to add these “heads” and “tails” back into their spirits. Elardo chooses not to. To purify her spirits further, her rum is distilled up to ten times in a 750-gallon American copper pot still dubbed “Harriet.”

Joan Elardo

Wicked Sippable Spirits

Wicked Dolphin Gold Rum - 80 Proof

Their Gold Rum uses a molasses fermentation process. It’s great whether you feel like sipping or mixing. The body is warm, and the taste has hints of oak along with overriding molasses notes. And the finish is worth the wait--long and silky with just a hint of oak.

Wicked Dolphin Silver Reserve Rum - 80 Proof

Wicked Dolphin's Silver Reserve Rum is a standout with its signature blond tint from aging in used bourbon barrels. It has consistently won awards at the International Rum Conference. It won a Bronze in 2019 and a Gold in 2014. At the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, it won a Bronze in 2019 and a Silver in 2014.

The aroma of the Silver Reserve is butterscotch with a whiff of vanilla and oak. Flavors of butterscotch and vanilla predominate and finish off with just a bit more oak as a final flourish.

Wicked Dolphin Bottled-in-Bond Florida Rum - 100 Proof

Their Bottled-in-Bond rum is aged for six years in American white oak bourbon barrels. It is distilled in their copper pot still and is yet another winner. It took Silver at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2020. And the American Distilling Institute gave it Gold.

The nose is heavy with oak overlayed with butterscotch. The bourbon barrels add caramel, baking spices, and vanilla to the classic rum flavor and finish.

Wicked Sippable Spirits

Fascinatingly Wicked Flavors

Wicked Dolphin Spiced Rum - 80 Proof

The Spiced Rum is blended rum aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels. The rum is flavored with a complex spice mixture topped with Florida orange peels, then sweetened with local honey. Cask Cartel noted “orange peel, light cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and a hint of clove” on the nose, and a smooth vanilla finish.

Wicked Dolphin Coconut Rum - 80 Proof

Their signature Coconut Rum is made with organic coconut water rather than coconut meat, making it lighter and less sweet. Drink Hacker observed that the “body offers a mild departure from the expected — with the distinctly milky, creamy notes of coconut water vs. the harsher, biting notes of more widely used coconut extracts. This makes for a fairly gentle rum in a world where not a lot of nuance is the norm, fresh on the finish, with lightly nutty notes lingering as it fades.”

Wicked Dolphin Black - 80 Proof

With its deep brown color and notes of vanilla and caramel, Wicked Dolphin Black is another winner. It took Best in Class Gold at the Miami RumXP Festival in 2016. Then it took Gold again in 2019’s Rum Conference. They recommend mixing it with ginger beer for a Wicked ’n Stormy.

Wicked Dolphin Pineapple Rum - 60 Proof

Continuing to add to their innovations on classic rum flavors, Wicked Dolphin flame chars their pineapple. This creates a delicious, caramelized pineapple flavored with more depth and brightness. They like to compare its finish to an upside-down pineapple cake. It works just as well over ice as mixed in a cocktail.

A Wicked Slant on ‘Shine

A Florida original, RumShine is a 100-proof play on moonshine. The traditional corn mash is substituted with local Florida sugarcane. The rum is then mixed with local berries. Wicked Dolphin recommends enjoying their RumShine straight up or with a mixer.

Like its sibling moonshine, RumShine is sold in wide-mouth mason jars. And it’s topped off with a handful of whole berries.

From Wicked to Wild

Although the odds are we will never get to taste it, in 2015, Wicked Dolphin created an unprecedented rum spirit. Ever heard of Sunken Barrel USS Mohawk CGC Reserve? It was sold as a  limited-edition rum as a fundraiser for Lee Reefs and Special Operations Bionic Warriors.

The USS Mohawk is submerged 90 feet below sea level. It’s a U.S. Coast Guard cutter that was sunk in 2012 off the coast of Sanibel Island to create an artificial reef. To begin the creation of this singular rum, five rum barrels from Wicked Dolphin were filled with reverse osmosis water. Then, they were placed below the deck of the ship. This rum-infused water was then mixed with an aged rum which was aged further in the “sunken” barrels.

E-man Booze was lucky enough to get his hands on a bottle. His assessment? Near perfection!

Incredibly refined, this rum sports dark sugar, vanilla, caramel, toffee, nutmeg, marzipan, soursop, star apple, light oak, and a touch of saltiness and pineapple to embolden the natural sweetness of the cane sugar. Tropical fruit tones elevate this spirit to near perfection!

Final Notes

Wicked Dolphin is available from Total Wine, Cask Cartel, and other online retailers. Even if you can’t make it to Florida, you can get a taste of the tropics. Sip it straight or use it in your favorite rum cocktail.

Let us know which Wicked Dolphin rum you like best or what you thought about their Strawberry RumShine. Just drop us a note in the comments.

~ Cheers!