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Posted: 4/18/2021 4:43:55 PM EDT
Talk to me about rum.
I have been intrigued lately by rum and contemplating venturing into it. I have been a single malt drinker for around 20 years as well enjoy a good sipping tequila and mezcal on occasion. I prefer my single malts from the highland and speyside region mostly and 14-21 years in age.. Tequila I prefer anejo and extra anejo. Love smokiness in my Tequila. Now rums. I know age statements vary on what's in the bottle. Some are minimum aged while others have a range up to what's on the bottle. Also how do regions and different countries influence the flavor profile? Would love some suggestions on where to start. Thinking El Dorado, Appleton estate, Flor de Cana, and maybe something else. |
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As I type this I am sipping on some koloa rum. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive. The Dark Koloa rum is fantastic.
If you want something a little more garden variety, I think Pyrat is good benchmark. Seriously though, do yourself a favor and buy a bottle of Koloa coconut and dark |
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I'm looking for a sipping rum like I do with scotch and tequila. Really don't want a flavored, spiced or sweetened rum. Would love to talk about how region and typ of still influence flavors in the spirit.
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Flor De Cana 4 Silver for mixing, 7 silver or gold for sipping.
Brugal Anejo (from D.R.) is great also for any way you prefer. |
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Flor de Cana for sure
Real habana club if you can get it Papa's Pilar dark is ok / |
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Quoted: I'm looking for a sipping rum like I do with scotch and tequila. Really don't want a flavored, spiced or sweetened rum. Would love to talk about how region and typ of still influence flavors in the spirit. View Quote Pyrat is a good benchmark for a sipping rum that won't break your bank. No joke, I'm sitting a couple feet away from 30+ bottles of top shelf scotch many old enough for me to legally have a relationship with. I'm a scotch drinker by trade but when the sun comes out I like to have a little bit of rum. I think if you go down the road of looking for rum like you do whiskey you're going to be dissapointed. It's sugary by nature and no amount of aging or craftsmanship is going to give you that same feeling as sipping on a high end bottle of single malt. I put rum in the same camp as vodka in that once it hits a certain level of quality a lot of it is fairly indistinguishable from the rest. YMMV but you should buy a bottle of Pyrat (or maybe one of the Pyrat anniversary bottles) to give yourself a benchmark of a good sipping rum. There is diminishing ROI's when you go from a 40$ bottle to a 800$ bottle. I would have to go a couple years back on my search history but IIRC correctly I bought a $500 + bottle of very old rum and was unimpressed. YMMV but Koala (most aren't flavored but I like coconut) is considered very good rum |
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Zacapa Sistema Solera 23 from Guatemala for about $50 bucks a bottle is about as good as it gets for the money. I tried the $100 Zacapa and determined that I didn't find an extra $50 in value.
I can't argue with Captain Morgan Private reserve for 27.00 a bottle. Competes with more expensive rums. My preferred go-to is 8 year Cihuatan rum from El Salvador because a find it has a pleasant vanilla aroma that i love with my mixed drinks. I have not tried the top shelf Flor De Cana, but the run of the mill, bottom shelf Flor De Cana tastes like crap to me. I thoroughly enjoyed sipping on a bottle of St. Marten's Guava berry Rum that I brought back from vacation years ago, then a few years later found the same rum without the guava berries and it tasted horrible. Buy several different brands and have fun comparing and finding the one that tickles your tastebuds the best. |
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Quoted: I can't get habana club, but it's on my list to try some day. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Flor de Cana for sure Real habana club if you can get it Papa's Pilar dark is ok / I can't get habana club, but it's on my list to try some day. We brought a bunch back from Cuba good stuff and cheap |
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Quoted: Zacapa Sistema Solera 23 from Guatemala for about $50 bucks a bottle is about as good as it gets for the money. I tried the $100 Zacapa and determined that I didn't find an extra $50 in value. I can't argue with Captain Morgan Private reserve for 27.00 a bottle. Competes with more expensive rums. My preferred go-to is 8 year Cihuatan rum from El Salvador because a find it has a pleasant vanilla aroma that i love with my mixed drinks. I have not tried the top shelf Flor De Cana, but the run of the mill, bottom shelf Flor De Cana tastes like crap to me. I thoroughly enjoyed sipping on a bottle of St. Marten's Guava berry Rum that I brought back from vacation years ago, then a few years later found the same rum without the guava berries and it tasted horrible. Buy several different brands and have fun comparing and finding the one that tickles your tastebuds the best. View Quote You should send me a bottle or sample lol. |
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A 7th Group bubba that doesn't know rum?
Centenario 7 or older (up to 25 is "reasonable). Flora de Cana likewise. "Real" Havana Club 7, obvio. I drank the shit out of all three my 5 years in Costa Rica. Plantation Original Dark Double Aged is a good "every day" on the rocks rum (equivalent to Centenario or Flora de Cana 7). And won't break the bank. I've had some very high end rums courtesy of some well-to-do folks, but you can't go wrong with the above. |
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Quoted: A 7th Group bubba that doesn't know rum? Centenario 7 or older (up to 25 is "reasonable). Flora de Cana likewise. "Real" Havana Club 7, obvio. I drank the shit out of all three my 5 years in Costa Rica. Plantation Original Dark Double Aged is a good "every day" on the rocks rum (equivalent to Centenario or Flora de Cana 7). And won't break the bank. I've had some very high end rums courtesy of some well-to-do folks, but you can't go wrong with the above. View Quote Yep rum never interested me unless in a mixed drink. Cigars, tequila, mezcal, and scotch on the other hand did. I wasn't so picky when in the Latin America countries when we were there. |
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Hopefully I'm headed to liquor store on Wed and pick up a bottle or 2.
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Been mixing them lately trying to chase a flavor profile...
Currently drinking 10%myers 20% Appletons 40% Copper bottom beer barrel aged (chocolate mead) 30%Cooper bottom Rum Agricole Decent.... |
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Somewhat of a rum connoisseur myself. Rums from Central American nations, Venezuala, and Colombia tend to be a bit richer and smoother than most Caribbean Island counterparts, but there are exceptions. Some of my collection:
I would suggest that you try a bottle of Diplimatico Reserva Exclusiva rum first. Its a great neat sipping rum. If you try the Ron Abuelo or FLora De Cana rums, get at least a 12 year old version. Some of the other rums that are worthwhile sipping rums are Centenario 20, Plantation 20th anniversary edition, Eldorado 12 or 15 year old, Kirk and Sweeney 18 or 23 year old, Richland Rum, Ron Medellin 12 year old, Botron Solera 1893, Bacoo 12 year old, Atlantico Private Cask, Don Pancho Origenes, (any age) Real McCoy14 yr old, Zafra 21 year old and Ron Zacapa 23. There are others , some of them listed above. Rums that don't make the cut for me or are for mixing are Capt. Morgan, most Appleton Estate, most Mount Gay, Bacardi, Cruzan, Admiral Nelson, Brugal Anejo, Sailor Jerry, Siesta Key, or Blue Chair Bay. An interesting rum with a smooth flavor is Dos Maderas PX 5+5. Its aged 5 years in the islands in oak casks then aged 5 more years in used sherry casks. Its Goood. If you state allows mail order. Here are 2 stores that i have had good success with: Leukins Liqours and Sunset Corners - Miami HTH |
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Avoid at all costs Bundaberg rot gut.
Tastes like turpentine. |
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Quoted: Hopefully I'm headed to liquor store on Wed and pick up a bottle or 2. View Quote No Centenario. Flora de Cana is on the state list (sometimes it's there, at least in Cumberland county). Plantation they generally have. 90% of the rum in NC ABC stores is white. But they got 87,000 types of flavored vodka! |
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Zafra 21.
It is fantastic. Zafra 30 is great too, but not worth the price difference. |
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Quoted: County ABC store? No Centenario. Flora de Cana is on the state list (sometimes it's there, at least in Cumberland county). Plantation they generally have. 90% of the rum in NC ABC stores is white. But they got 87,000 types of flavored vodka! View Quote Went by today and selection really sicks. Picked up a bottle of Flor de Cana 7 and not really impressed as of yet.they had a bottle of el dorado 15 but didn't feel like spending 80.00 on a bottle of rum when it's my first bottle. |
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Quoted: Went by today and selection really sicks. Picked up a bottle of Flor de Cana 7 and not really impressed as of yet.they had a bottle of el dorado 15 but didn't feel like spending 80.00 on a bottle of rum when it's my first bottle. View Quote Try the Plantation Original Double Aged. I think it's better than Flor de Cana or Centenario 7 (which you'd have to hunt up in SC since NC ABC doesn't have it on their list) and it's getting near the currently unobtainable "real" Havana Club 7*. I've had many of the rums mentioned by those in private liquor store states** courtesy of guests when I was living in CR. But NC has limited selection. Whiskeys are getting better but the main focus is 87,000 varieties of flavored vodka. *Which was never obtainable in NC since JFK! **NH is an exception. |
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Hey OP, as I mentioned above, Leukins Liqours in Tampa, and Sunset Corners in Miami will ship to you. You really NEED to try the Diplimatico Reserva Exclusiva rum. Its very good, but not very expensive, sort of an undiscovered gem.
That 7 year old stuff you bought just doesn't get there. |
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Quoted: Hey OP, as I mentioned above, Leukins Liqours in Tampa, and Sunset Corners in Miami will ship to you. You really NEED to try the Diplimatico Reserva Exclusiva rum. Its very good, but not very expensive, sort of an undiscovered gem. That 7 year old stuff you bought just doesn't get there. View Quote I'd drive to SC first (private liquor stores) after calling to see what they had. |
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Quoted: Their shipping is insane. The sample $33.99 liquor item I put in my cart was $22.39 UPS ground! I'd drive to SC first (private liquor stores) after calling to see what they had. View Quote If you saw the way they pack it against breakage, plus insurance, you would understand that cost. Also, it gets cheaper per bottle up to about 6 bottles due to the carton size. But yes, if the OP is close enough to drive to a sizable town in SC, he can find a lot of these suggestions. I can tell him where around Columbia, SC to find some of them. |
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The fun thing about rum is that there are almost no rules and you can have wildly different products that are all called rum. If you're looking for something different there are a few options I really enjoy.
Jamaican pot still. These are generally naturally fermented in a big open pit for like three weeks. This gives a very nutty with an overripe fruit flavor. Smith and Cross or Rum Fire(don't be fooled by the comically bad label) are good cheaper bottles to see if you like the funkiness. Rhum Agricola. Made from sugar cane juice rather than molasses and almost exclusively distilled in column stills. It has a very clean flavor often described as grassy. Cachaca. Cachaca die hards will argue that it's not rum...but it's totally rum. I find it to be an interesting cross between Jamaican and Agricole. It's distilled from sugar cane juice like Agricole but it's often fermented naturally like Jamaican. You get that clean grassiness up front with the fruity funk flavor on the back end. I like Novo Fogo. |
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When we deployed to Haiti after the invasion that didn't happen, one of the ODAs I gave a courtesy call to (since it was their turf) was planted almost on top of a local Haitian rum distiller's plantation.
The young captain there asked if I drank. I answered, "Like a fish." He kinda furtively offered (since General Order #1 Puritanism is now institutional) a healthy pouring in a canteen cup. Wow! That came from sugar cane?! The hotel where they had us bunked and fed had lobster and Barbancourt 5-Star eight-year-old that goes down smooth. One of our local liquor stores stocks it, and out of curiosity I bought some to see if it's good, or was just good because we were deployed. Now I've got some right here on the shelf. They also had a higher-grade which I haven't tried yet. |
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I'm a big fan of the Kirk and Sweeney and Flor De Cana offerings. I also like Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva, but it has added sugar and is quite sweet.
I really need to get some Foursquare. It has everything I look for in bourbon |
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I bought a bottle of Bumbu on a recommendation from a liquor store employee the other day. It's absolutely delicious...tastes like bananas and wasn't expensive...35 bucks.
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Pussers is my go to as Bundaberg isn't avialble here in the States.. Would love to find a bottle of Nelson's Blood, but don't seem to be any locally.
If you want something that like Vegimite is loved by Australians and hated by pretty much anyone else get yourself some Bundy intayamate! |
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Quoted: Bacardi #8 the Ocho Be sure the label says Made in the Bahamas. https://i.imgur.com/JFrKtUi.jpg?1 View Quote That's the run that got me into using rum for me than mixing. But I since I found good inexpensive sipping rum like Flor De Caña 7 I haven't had any Reserva Ocho. It's just not as smooth. |
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