Red Eye Louie's Rumquila

The nice kind of two-headed monster.

Listen to the crazy but true story of three magical creatures named Vodquila, Rumquila, and Whisquila. It was the year 2010 in Birmingham, Alabama. One summer afternoon, the Arora family was hanging out in the basement bar of their family house. (Note to self: Marry someone who’ll share a basement bar with me.) Chander was just making cocktails for himself and his wife Sodhi when their daughter Nina who was looking into college final paper topics suddenly had a brilliant idea: Why not blend together two Spirits rather than diluting them with a mixer?

It’s such an obvious idea and yet, how many Rumquilas have you seen so far? Obviously, you can’t just pick up a bottle of Rum and a bottle of Tequila from your shelves and mix it by hand. But Chandler was a former chemist and knew a thing or two about thermal blending techniques. He, his daughter Nina and his son Romie got themselves into Florida Caribbean Distillers where these freakishly wonderful hybrids are now made.

On paper, Red Eye Louie’s Rumquila sounds like a two-headed monster. It goes against everything we knew about Spirits but somehow, it more than works. It’s an exotic journey where Puerto Rican Rum and ultra-premium Tequila from Jalisco meet to form an unexpectedly delicious, sweet, and floral concoction. Sip it neat or if you must, add a mixer and make a fantastic cocktail.