This past weekend Pat and I went to Kingman, Arizona. Historic Route 66 passes through Kingman and it's just a short hour and a half drive from Las Vegas. On Saturday night we attended the Roll out the Barrel Dinner event at the Diamond Desert Distillery. This local distillery makes Vodka and Rum. The dinner was to celebrate the opening of their next barrel of rum and watch the uncorking.
Upon arrival we went and found our table. Having never been to one of these events we were a little nervous when we realized we would be sitting with 6 other strangers. We were afraid everyone else at our table may be locals who knew each other and it would end up feeling like when you are at a wedding and with a couple of people who all know each other and you don't(awkward!) Luckily, the three other couples at our table were really nice and all of us turned out to be from out of town. One of the couples was even from Canada, I guess they came to the desert to escape their winter.
After finding our table we enjoyed a large array of Hors d'oeuvers. They had an antipasti tray, a wide assortment of cheeses, some delicious special European Tradition Hams(I don't know what made them special), as well as some fruits and vegetables. We also visited the bar. They had two mixed drinks for the evening. I drank a delicious Apple-tini made with their Gold Miner Vodka and Pat had the Manhattan made with their Gold Miner Rum. The Apple-tini was fantastic and according to Pat the Manhattan was very good too.
The dinner was made by a local Italian restaurant Lombardo's Sicilian Grille. It started with a salad and was followed by a Pasta Salad. Our table also received a nice selection of rolls and I had a great wheat roll. It was nutty and had a nice texture. They offered two main courses: Osso Bucco with a dark rum glaze and Stuffed Salmon in a Vodka Sauce. They were both good although the sauce on Pat's Osso Bucco was delicious. It had flavors almost as big as the dinosaur sized bone his Osso Bucco came on. My Salmon was very delicious. The salmon was cooked well, which has been an issue with me and salmon for a while(why restaurants feel the need to overcook it is beyond me). Both dinners were served with sides of asparagus and German scalloped potatoes.
Dessert was a bread pudding served with an Agave sauce and rum balls. Now neither Pat nor I have had a rum ball before. They were EXCELLENT. I was skeptical as to how much I would like them, after all I like alcohol that doesn't taste like alcohol. And even though I am Italian, I cannot stand rum cake. It has the consistency of a wet sponge, so I was a little apprehensive about tasting the rum balls. But they were delicious. The rum flavor was not overpowering(probably due to the high quality of rum in them), and the texture was nothing like rum cake. They were the consistency of cookie dough(which I like). They were so good, I think I need to try my hand at making some....maybe they would be a great use of some of the bottle of the Gold Miner's Agave Rum we bought there.
After dessert we got to watch their barrel #3 get uncorked and the first official tastes were taken. The owner John drew the rum out of the barrel and mixed it to the correct proof and then we all were given a shot of this rum to toast the new barrel with. The rum was very good and had a nice burn to it. And you know it must have been good if I could drink it straight.
All in all it was a great evening. I learned a lot about rum and we found a great new local distillery. And even better they have distributors in Las Vegas, one that even ships it out of the state, should you be in need of some awesome rum. So if you are in need for a new rum or vodka supply, I HIGHLY recommend the Desert Diamond Distillery. It's excellent, award winning spirits will not let you down.
