CategoryRoad Trip

Key West First Legal Rum Distillery

Key West First Legal Rum

Key West First Legal Rum Distillery was started by Paul Menta, a Key West local and avid kite boarder. They feature 8 different types of rum: Legal, Local, Vanilla Brulee Dark, Duval Street Spiced, Devil’s Rum, Key Lime, Raw & Unfiltered and 105 Simonton. All of the rums are distilled 6 times and are made with pure Florida sugar cane. All of the ingredients are all natural and they do not use any added coloring or dyes.

01 Key West First Legal Rum Distillery 02 Key West First Legal Rum Distillery

They are open 10am to Sunset daily and we host free tours Monday-Saturday at 3:00 and 3:30pm. The distillery location has a lot of history dating back to the 1900’s when it was Jack’s Saloon. It was also a Coca Cola bottling plant at one time. You don’t see Coke bottles that say “Made in Key West” anymore.

03 Key West First Legal Rum Distillery

Legal Rum “Mother Rum” – Has notes of butterscotch and pear as well as a smooth finish.

Local Rum – This rum was developed for the “Local” bars in town so they can have a premium rum that was made on the island to serve in well drinks. It is also distilled at a higher tempature.

Vanilla Brulee Dark Rum – We take whole vanilla beans, slice them down the middle then roll them in pure Florida sugar cane. We then infuse them for about 10 to 12 hours.

Duval Street Spiced Rum – We infuse cardamon, clove, vanilla beans, allspice, 3 citrus spices and its finished with basil.

Devil’s Rum – We infuse cinniamon leaf oil and finish with orange zest. Spicy yet refreshing.

Chef’s Real Key Lime Rum – We take whole Florida key limes over to Kermitts Key Lime and have them juced. We then infuse the juice and rinds for about 10 to 12 hours.

RAW and Unfiltered Rum – We barrel age the Legal rum for about 5 months. The unique thing that we do is when we swell our barrels we use sea water vs regular water to add a layer of salt to the charring on the inside of the barrel.

105 Simonton Rum – We barrel age the RAW and Unfiltered for an additional 105 days and also sell it at 105 proof.

Key West Garden Club

This is a Banyon tree that has grown over one of the archways.
This is a Banyon tree that has grown over one of the archways.

Have you ever visited the Key West Garden Club? I have lived here for 2 1/2 years and have never been inside. The Key West Garden Club is one of the island’s last remaining free tourist attractions. Plants are donated and maintained by members and volunteers. They are a non-profit organization that provides educational opportunities for the community relating to tropical gardening and to the West Martello Tower, a National Historic site where the Club is located. They are open seven days a week and are a beautiful venue for weddings and other events.I want to take a good book some iced tea and just relax under a tree for a few hours.

The Butterfly Garden
The Butterfly Garden

I also had the chance to work on my photography skills while I was there. They have so many different types of plants and trees that I wanted to photograph. Some are a little abstract and others just show the simple beauty of a flower in bloom.

01 Banyon Tree - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL Silk Floss Tree - Ceiba Speciosa - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL - Tree with Spikes

Orchid Flower - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL Pink Flower - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL Pink Flower -Plumeria - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL

The history of the tower is very cool dating back to 1822 when the land was first surveyed by the US Navy. Please visit their website for a full history. Tower History

01 Higgs Beach View - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL Old Bricks - Brick Archway - Key West Garden Club - Key West FLHiggs Beach View - Key West Garden Club - Key West FL

4 Parks … 3 Days! – What were we thinking…

TOR and Mel W Mickey Mouse - Walt Disney World - Orlando FL Florida - TORsAdventures www.TORsAdventures.com

It might have taken me a full week to recover from my 4 parks in 3 days adventure I had! We walked more than 30 miles according to our Fitbits, a new record for me. After checking into the hotel I went to the airport to pick up my partner in crime Melissa. We decided to stay at a non-Disney resort because she is a Marriot rewards member and earned a bunch of points. With that said both of us agree you should stay at a Disney resort and also do the meal plan. If I ever go back I know that is what I will be doing.

Our schedule was as follows:

Friday, Day 1: Hollywood Studios

Saturday, Day 2: Animal Kingdom then Epcot

Sunday, Day 3: Magic Kingdom

And then there is what really happened… We did hit Hollywood Studios first then somehow ended up going to Magic Kingdom, riding some rides catching the fireworks show all before we crashed into our hotel beds after walking more than 10 miles. Disney is no cake walk that’s for sure … I like to think that we got our moneys worth from our 3 day – park hopper – fast pass tickets.

We then drug out butts out of bed and headed over to Animal Kingdom. Personally this park and Magic Kingdom were my favorites. I think they did a really good job building the different parts of the world and the way they have it all surrounding the Tree of Life is really cool!

TOR and Mel - Walt Disney World - Orlando FL Florida - TORsAdventures - www.TORsAdventures.com - Fastpass Wristbands - Fitbit Flex - Fitbit Charge HR

Somethings that you might not know and you should … Fast passes are AMAZING. If scheduled for your first 3 hours of the day. Once you use your 3 Fast passes for the day you can go to a kiosk and register for another and then another and then another. Do you see the trend here? We ended up getting ride a few rides more than once and also didn’t wait the 120 minutes to meet Cinderella. We also got to Magic Kingdom before the park opened on Sunday morning and it turns out they do an opening show complete with fireworks. After that we made a mad dash to Space Mountain, which we rode 3 times before we had to use our first fast pass of the day without a wait.

As always, Peace, Love and Tweeting!

-tOr