A rum drinker here, and the best for me are the West indian rums - Mount Gay, Cockspur, Vat19, Hispaniola, Appleton.
White rum, you gotta mention Wray & Nephew for the heavy stuff.
White rum, you gotta mention Wray & Nephew for the heavy stuff.
Any rum lovers?
- Thread starter James78
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shavefan
I’m not a fan
Can't go wrong with authentic HC. I like the 7 but in some ways I prefer the 3 year.
Great haul! The 3 year Havana is very good, one of my favorites.
What @TexLaw said. I pick up bottles at the airport when I'm visiting Belize or Europe.
Goslings Black Seal is always in our cupboard and Dark and Stormy's here are made with Reed's original ginger beer.
That’s what I figured out when i couldn't’ find it anywhere.
2 more new ones. I hear the Barcardi 8 is pretty good.
Santiago de Cuba 11 YO is just excellent.
Flor di Cano 12 YO is my steady Rum, because the only time I can get the Santi is when I visit Cuba.
Flor di Cano 12 YO is my steady Rum, because the only time I can get the Santi is when I visit Cuba.
My first trip to Jamaica (1978) my brother and I were hanging out with locals a lot because he wanted to score weed. We'd always ask "what's the best rum." The overwhelming response was Wray and Nephew Overproof. So, that's the one I always bought. Now that I'm not drinking, my wife buys Bacardi.
I drink Zacapa 23, which a few of you mentioned. I also like Barbancourt 15. These two are almost diametrically opposed. Zacapa is very rich whereas the Barbancourt is much lighter, almost like a Cognac. I also really like Viatae's Golden Rum. Vitae is a distiller from Charlottesville, Virginia. I met the owner at my local ABC when he was handing out tastes. It is quite rich, much like Zacapa. When I asked the distiller how he made it, he told me that the distillery is next to a BBQ joint and that when he was experimenting, he took some sugar cane stalks next door and they put them in the smoker for a few hours to give it that great vanilla and smokey taste.
2 new rums...again. Ok, that’s it on the rum for awhile.
Chairman's reserve are my favorite out of St.Lucia. Hard to find around here in the ABC stores so I have to order online. It is not pricey either. So if you can find it local without having to pay shipping it is a great deal top shelf without the price tag. Their spiced rum is the best I have had since most taste like vanilla extract. Theirs is made of local spices and tastes like a spiced rum should.
Got a bottle of Kirk & Sweeney 12yr on sale a few nights ago. Really nice rum. Vanilla and raisin, and all of the things you'd expect in good rum, but also oaky, earthy, and even a little funky. I really like it.
I sip that but make cocktails with Bacardi Black, which is way better than its $12 price tag says it should be.
I sip that but make cocktails with Bacardi Black, which is way better than its $12 price tag says it should be.
I think I consumed more rum this year than in my previous 63 combined. I love just about everything from Foursquare and enjoy Appleton, Smith and Cross, El Dorado, Lemon Hart, etc. Pretty much everything from Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana.
I started making my own orgeat syrup and ginger beer, so there have been a lot of Mai Tai Mondays and Dark n Stormy adventures.
I started making my own orgeat syrup and ginger beer, so there have been a lot of Mai Tai Mondays and Dark n Stormy adventures.
Ditto, except I have not been able to get my orgeat to come out as well as, say, Small Hands' version. I agree with you list of rums, and would add almost anything Hamilton puts out. Smith and Cross, for sure. Doctor Bird is great, too. Not sure I love "The Funk" rum. Too much of a good thing. I forget how Rum Fire was.
The properly made Mai Tai is a treasure, along with most authentic tiki!
I like the funk in moderation. There’s a difference between a bottle of wine that exhibits saddle leather and ”sausage”, as opposed to barnyard and fecal matter.
Anything I have ever done that can be remotely described as successful can be attributed to my favorite technique- cheating! Trouble making a good orgeat? Slip in a little velvet falernum. Heck, throw in a touch of amaretto. It’s almond, isn’t it? Treat your cocktails the way you treat your shaving products- experiment.
The results will either be indifferent, godawful, or pleasing. Who knows? Perhaps some hotshot artisanal (remember- art is anal) mixologist will proclaim you a genius.
I meant "The Funk" literally brand-named Jamaican rum, which is intended to be very high "hogo," which is that often Jamaican rum funk that is said to be necessary to authentic tiki drinks. Seems way over the top to me and even artificial, or at least something seems off about its "funkiness." Brought to us by the Redemption Rye folks. Didn't they get in some kind of trouble for misrepresenting what was in a Redemption Rye bottle?
In any event, I tend to agree with you, that even among non-questionable rums, there can be too much funk. Although, I guess I rarely mix a drink with just a high hogo rum, such as Doctor Bird or, say, Smith and Cross. I almost always use more than one kind of rum in traditional tiki drinks that are supposed to have some funk.
And I tend to agree about, say, pinot noir/red burgundy. A touch of natural, organic smelling compounds is good and appropriate, and adds complexity. It is a natural, fermented product. But to reek of anything is a flaw, much less to reek of feces or, say, wet cardboard!
Ha! I hear you! And sounds like you experienced the same issue with DIY orgeat that I did, which is a certain lack of intensity of flavor, in particular, almond flavor. We should be making our own velvet falernum, too. Although I know it it has almond, I think of it as very clove forward. But amaretto sounds like what the doctor ordered to bring that DIY orgeat up to snuff! If the quality is good, I do not see that it is going to be god awful, not matter what!
Great thread!
I’m so interested in getting a good sipping rum. There are so many good recommendations in this thread. I have never had really good rum. Anyone want to recommend something that is on the sweeter and bolder side? I love cognac and nice tequila if that helps.
I’m so interested in getting a good sipping rum. There are so many good recommendations in this thread. I have never had really good rum. Anyone want to recommend something that is on the sweeter and bolder side? I love cognac and nice tequila if that helps.
Appleton Estate in the glass right now 
Screech, the Newfoundland tradition! Almost always neat, but in the winter I will finish an evening with several Lightkeeper's Cocktails: Screech and hot water.
I like Gosling's too, but that wonderful sweet depth redolent of the ripe thighs of tropical maidens goes away after about the second sip.
Buyin' the cheap stuff is OK if you know why you like it.
O.H.
I like Gosling's too, but that wonderful sweet depth redolent of the ripe thighs of tropical maidens goes away after about the second sip.
Buyin' the cheap stuff is OK if you know why you like it.
O.H.
Great advice. Thanks!
By the way, Velvet Falernum was Nick’s drag name. I miss that guy.
Sweet and bolder rums to sip, think of either Zacapa 23 or El Dorado 15 year. Both a little expensive, but readily available and can definitely enjoy neat or with an ice cube.
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