Admiral Rodney HMS Princessa. While St. Lucia is often associated with the Caribbean oasis of resort-life and white sand beaches, the island has a deep rum culture. This rum is part of the newly launched Admiral Rodney line from St. Lucia Distillers, which produces some of the most distinctive rums…
Hamilton St. Lucia 2006 7 Year rum. Let’s talk about St. Lucian rum! St. Lucian rum is not super common in the rum market, with Chairman’s Reserve, Admiral Rodney, and maybe a Plantation bottling making up the majority of mainstream products. Those tend to a lean a bit more “consumer-friendly”…
El Dorado 15. This post is loooong overdue. When I began my rum journey last year, it pretty much kickstarted with my first rum love – El Dorado 12, which was also my first *ever* rum bottle talk. 50+ bottles of rum later, and I’ll admit, El Dorado is still…
Grander 8 Year Rum. This is a Spanish-style rum from the Central America country of Panama. Grander rum comes from the Ingenio San Carlos distillery (same place that produces Panama-Pacific rum) and is aged for 8 years before being bottled. Grander proudly promotes the lack of any added sugar or…
Diplomatico Planas. Diplomatico is most well known for their Reserva Exclusiva rum, which is often regarded as a higher end “sipping rum.” While that one does have its fan base, I really think the true treasures in their line actually lie in their other two rums, the Planas and the…
Montanya Platino Rum. As part of my Southwest roadtrip last month from Vegas to Denver, I made sure we took a detour to Crested Butte, Colorado to visit surprise surprise, a small craft rum distillery nestled in the Colorado mountains. Let me say that Montanya Distillers is definitely worth a visit…
Hamilton 151 Overproof rum. You haven’t had “151 rum” until you’ve tried 151 rum from Guyana. I think the first time I (and probably many people) ever heard of and experienced “151” was in the context of the recently-discontinued Bacardi 151 (151 is the proof. 75.5% ABV). I literally cried.…
Cuban rum. This is a bit of a different type of bottle talk, since I don’t actually have the bottles, but here we have samples of 3 different Cuban rums that my good friend very generously offered to share with me after his recent trip to Cuba. From L ->…
Batavia Arrack van Oosten. Arrack is the historical spirit from southeast Asia (the island of Java in Indonesia) that’s often referred to as the predecessor of rum since it is also (mostly) made from sugarcane. Not to be confused with arak (the Lebanese anise-flavored spirit), Javanese arrack is distilled from…
Koloa Coconut rum. I’ll admit it, as syrupy sweet and artificial as Malibu is, it was still one of my guilty pleasures that I repurchased probably more times than I should have. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a coconut fanatic, but I just can’t deny those sweet tropical flavors.…
Ron Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23. This is one of the more popular ‘higher end’ rums that is pretty widely available on the market. It was my first ‘fancy’ rum and one that is often recommended to people venturing into rum and first entertaining the thought of rum as a sipper…
Flor de Caña 4 Extra Seco. Ah, white rum, the most popular kid in the school of rum after Captain Morgan. Thanks to Bacardi and the incredible job they’ve done at marketing rum to the world, white rum is probably what most people commonly associate with “rum” (at least in…
Goslings Black Seal rum. This spirit from Bermuda is the official rum for the Dark N Stormy, a cocktail that’s become super popular with the rising craft cocktail movement. The rum gets its name because during WWII used champagne bottles were refilled with this rum and sealed with a black…
I picked up this Plantation Stiggin’s Fancy Pineapple Rum recently and it’s seriously one of the best bottles ever. In a market where Bacardi/Malibu offer rums in every flavor under the moon (“wolf berry,” “horned coconut,” “arctic grape”), the category of flavored rums has become intimately linked to these sugary…
El Dorado 12 Year Rum. Rum, a spirit that doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as it deserves. I’ve recently found myself on the rum obsession train, and there’s very strong reason for that! Check out the Rum Series series to learn more about rum in detail. Starting with the…