MIDDLEBURG – Making rum separates chemistry and history from bureaucratic roadblocks for Clay County’s newest rum-makers, Black Creek Distilleries.

Run by Dave and Suzette Fleming, of Fleming Signs, the story of their “Pop’s Block and Tackle” white rum has a story that resonates close to Dave Fleming’s adolescence. His father, “Pop,” had a party room with a pool table and a wet bar.

Pop questioned Dave Fleming and his cousin about why there was water in his whiskey bottle. The boys admitted they drank it, but Pop laughed and slid a tiny flask down the bar. The boys wondered what was in the flask.

“He said, ‘That’s block-and-tackle whiskey boy. You two drink that, walk a block and you’ll tackle anything,’” Dave Fleming said while laughing.

The grand opening for the 80 proof “Pop’s Block and Tackle” and two golden rums, matured on French oak, was April 27-28.

The Flemings’ warehouse has a section of Pop’s old bar and a barn door from an exterior he helped build at Disney World’s new “Avatar” theme park. Keeping with Dave Fleming’s sense of humor, there is a poster of rum-swigging pirate Jack Sparrow where the rum is made.

Next to two 150-gallon fermenting tanks are several barrels and a tall metal still. The sugar used, Panela, isn’t grown in the states. Dave Fleming buys 50-pound sacks of sugar – one ton at a time. In the process of making rum, he likens the smell of the warehouse to a cane field.

He then conducts three “stripping runs,” stripping sediment, yeast and water out of the mash, in each fermenting tank. Then he gets enough product for a spirit run, where it enters at 160 or 170 proof and collect the hearts, or the best flavorful rum collected. During distillation, Dave Fleming aims to compress his heads, the rougher first portion with the “nasties.” At the bottom are the tails, which he keeps some for flavor.

“It really goes from a sack of sugar to a labeled bottle and taxed,” Dave Fleming said.

“Right here,” Suzette Fleming added.

They both joke about being Clay County’s first legal distillery. That process wasn’t easy: making liquor is a byzantine process, and it took the Flemings three-and-a-half years. The idea began when they sampled concoctions from friends in Tennessee, then they started copiously researching about the law and equipment.

“You have to jump through hoops for this,” Suzette Fleming said.

An inspector can drop by at any time, and the Flemings have to fill out paperwork every two weeks. Previously they were limited to selling two bottles of each label to the same person at the distillery. Now it’s six. He has to find a distributor rather than visiting liquor stores. The licensing fee is the same for a micro distillery and a larger maker, he adds.

“It’s still ridiculous that Bacardi can sell you a truckload, but I can only sell you six,” Dave Fleming said. “That needs to go away.”

Noting the lack of distilleries in Northeast Florida, Dave Fleming said what he makes after his first few runs of rum is up in the air, though brandy would be interesting.

“Brandy sounds like fun. You start with wine. You can have a semi with wine pull up, get some hoses out and start cooking immediately,” he said. “You can skip a lot of process. You just have to find a good wine that makes a good brandy.”