A rum company named after one of Key West’s favorite literary giants has plans to open up in Old Town, where the island’s first legitimate rum distillery sits about 400 feet away.
Hemingway Rum, which makes Papa’s Pilar rum, has filed its first application with city hall to start the approval process required to turn 201 Simonton St., the old Key West Hand Print Fabrics building, into a “light industrial rum distillery.”
The move comes less than six months after Paul Menta opened the island’s first legal rum distillery in the old Coca-Cola bottling plant at 105 Simonton St. His company makes the rum from scratch in a still and from only local ingredients. He cures the barrels with saltwater from Simonton Street beach.