The Real McCoy

A bright and complex three-year-old Barbadian Rum that’s been charcoal-filtered to pour nearly clear from the bottle.

"The Real McCoy" — this phrase has become synonymous with authenticity and quality. Bailey Pryor is a writer and documentary filmmaker who was researching the man behind the phrase — a Rumrunner named Bill McCoy who skirted the edges of the law during Prohibition. The 2012 documentary was titled "The Real McCoy" and it won Bailey five Emmy Awards. But he wasn’t done. He went back to Barbados and struck a deal with Richard Seale of the famous Foursquare Distillery to develop a line of rich, unadulterated Rums that would make ‘ol Bill McCoy proud.

What do you do if you want to have a great cocktail with all the smoothness and flavor of an aged Spirit, but you do not want to have the color get in the way. The Real McCoy Three Year Old Rum is a real, Caribbean-aged Barbadian Rum that has been charcoal filtered to remove most of the color — there is still a faint shade that remains — without altering the flavor profile. It’s quite the neat trick. But in its soul, this dram is still molasses Spirit crafted in column and pot stills and aged in ex-Bourbon casks. It just arrives without the Caribbean tan.

SmartassCorner:
Bill McCoy would take his boat to the Caribbean and return to New York loaded with Rum. He’d park the boat strategically — just over the three-mile limit to stay in international waters. He never watered down or added flavorings to his contraband, which earned him a reputation for quality… his products were "The Real McCoy" and his customers would come to him.