J. Bally Rhum Vieux Agricole Millésime 1993

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May 212017
 
J. Bally Rhum Vieux Agricole Millésime 1993

Rumaniacs Review #042 | 0442 The first of six Bally rums (no relation to me), which we’ll also post faster than usual, since they are, again, part of a series. Let’s start with the most recent. For those who are interested in agricoles (which these assuredly are), J. Bally from Martinique has been around since 1917 or so (land prices after the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee were low), but the sugar estate of Lajus goes back even further, to the mid-1600s. Alas, Bally has been closed since 1989, but their stills continue. The Simon distillery now owns them, and supposedly the original [Click here for the full review…]


Hamilton St. Lucia 2004 Pot Still 9 Year Old Rum – Review

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May 182017
 
Hamilton St. Lucia 2004 Pot Still 9 Year Old Rum - Review

#365 Just about everyone in the rum world knows the name of Ed Hamilton. He was the first person to set up a website devoted to rum (way back in 1995), and many of us writers who began our own blogs in the 2000s or early ‘teens — Tiare, Tatu, Chip, myself and others — started our online lives writing in and debating on the forums of the Ministry of Rum. He has written books about rum, ran tasting sessions for years, and is now a distributor for several brands around the USA. A few years ago, he decided to [Click here for the full review…]


Appleton Estate 50 Year Old Rum (2012)

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May 162017
 
Appleton Estate 50 Year Old Rum (2012)

Rumaniacs Review #041 | 0441 Note: The initial full length review can be found in the main reviews section. Everyone knows about the 50 year old rum which Appleton pushed out the door a few years ago. Not only because of the age, which they touted as “the oldest rum ever” even though that was patently untrue, but because of the stratospheric price, which even now hovers around the US$4500 mark (give or take). I’m not sure if they still make it — it was specifically commissioned for Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of Independence in 1962, so I suspect it was [Click here for the full review…]


Appleton Reserve 20 Year Old Rum (Ceramic Jug)(1960s/1970s)

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May 152017
 
Appleton Reserve 20 Year Old Rum (Ceramic Jug)(1960s/1970s)

Rumaniacs Review #040 | 0440 As with the 12 year old ceramic jug, I don’t think that Appleton is exaggerating in the slightest when they call this a “Rare Old Jamaican Rum,” – at the time it was issued in the 1960s or 1970s they might have been hyping the product a tad, but now? Not likely. Still, you can actually find it if you’re prepared to pay Masters of Malt, who name this a 1970s era rum, the £700 it costs. And that’s more than the Longpond 1941 fetches these days. I must confess that for an aged artifact bottled [Click here for the full review…]


Banks DIH XM Supreme 15 Year Old Rum – Review

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May 142017
 
Banks DIH XM Supreme 15 Year Old Rum - Review

#364 Until the release of the XM Golden Jubilee 20 year old rum in May 2016 for the occasion of Guyana’s 50th anniversary of independence, the jewel in the crown of Banks DIH’s XM line was the fifteen year old. Over the last five years or so it suffered, in my all-seeing rearview-mirror opinion, by simply following the party line, being bottled without regard for the emerging trend of stronger rums in the minds of the tasting public, and also perhaps from being a indeterminate, mostly column-still blend without a really good barrel strategy. This relegated it to being an [Click here for the full review…]


Wray & Nephew Private Stock (1970s)

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May 132017
 
Wray & Nephew Private Stock (1970s)

Rumaniacs Review #039 | 0439 A rum like this makes me want to rend my robes and gnash my teeth with frustration because there’s no information available about it aside from what’s on the label, and that’s hardly very much. Still, it’s Jamaican, it’s a J. Wray (Appleton) and it’s from the 1970s and that alone makes it interesting. Imported by another one of those enterprising Italian concerns, age unknown. From the colour I can only hope it was a real oldie. Colour – Dark red-brown Strength – 43% Nose – “Dirty” might be the est way to describe the nose. [Click here for the full review…]


Appleton Reserve 12 Year Old Jamaican Rum (Ceramic Jug)(1960s/1970s)

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May 112017
 
Appleton Reserve 12 Year Old Jamaican Rum (Ceramic Jug)(1960s/1970s)

Rumaniacs Review #038 | 0438 A “Rare Old Jamaican Rum” the ceramic jug says, and I believe it. In all my travels around the world, I’ve never seen this kind of thing for sale (and buying beer in a glass jar at a kiosk in the Russian Far East don’t count). We’re living through an enormous upswell of interest in rums, with new indies and new bottlers popping up every time we turn around…but stuff like this shows us that even back in the day, there was some amazingly well-presented juice floating around. Here, cool factor is off the chart. As [Click here for the full review…]


Banks DIH XM Special 12 Year Old Rum – Review

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May 102017
 
Banks DIH XM Special 12 Year Old Rum - Review

Quite a good rum, which unfortunately fails to carve out a distinctive Guyanese profile of its own. #363 When one thinks of Demerara rums, Guyana and DDL immediately spring to mind. That company has so dominated the global rum scene for such rums in the past two decades that it may come as a surprise to many that it is not the sole maker of such products, nor the only inheritor to the Guyana rum moniker, and in fact, is somewhat of a late arrival. Before it was consolidated from the distilleries that were once the property of Bookers McConnell [Click here for the full review…]


Appleton Estate 12 Year Old Rare Jamaican Rum (1980s)

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May 092017
 
Appleton Estate 12 Year Old Rare Jamaican Rum (1980s)

Rumaniacs Review #037 | 0437 Tasting all these Appletons together and side by side is an instructive exercise. The profile remains remarkably stable at its core, while presenting some interesting diversions from the main theme, like a James Bond movie or a Sherlock Holmes short story. We smile at and are comfortable with the similarities, know the form, and sniff around for variations. This 12 year old is from the 1980s, still retains the tinfoil screw-on cap, and its provenance can be gauged from the barroom style bottle and black label, instead of the current consistent presentation and callypigian shape (I [Click here for the full review…]


Appleton Estate V/X Jamaican Rum (1980s/1990s)

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May 082017
 
Appleton Estate V/X Jamaican Rum (1980s/1990s)

Rumaniacs Review #036 | 0436 The second in a small series on a few older Appletons. The V/X is not a sipping rum (and never was), but more of a mixing agent with just enough jagged edges, undeveloped taste and uncouth to make it shine in a cocktail (and always has been). This may be why it was my tipple of choice in the years when I first arrived in Canada: it was clearly a cut above the boring Lamb’s and Bacardi cocktail fodder that flew off the overpriced LCBO shelves, even in those simpler times when two-ingredient hooch was [Click here for the full review…]


Cadenhead Caribbean Distilleries Ltd “PDW” 1972 Guyanese 29 Year Old Rum – Review

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May 072017
 
Cadenhead Caribbean Distilleries Ltd "PDW" 1972 Guyanese 29 Year Old Rum - Review

Think of the great and noble Demerara rum marques and a few initials come to mind. PM. EHP. VSG. ICBU. PDW. PDwhat? I spent days trolling around trying to find out what those initials meant and came up dry. I was left thinking that if Cadenhead doesn’t get its act together, it’s going to be a running joke that they’re clueless as to how to name their rums, and maybe I’ll solicit lottery entries for best guess what these initials represent. But that’s just me and somewhat irrelevant, so let’s just rewind to the beginning. Caribbean Distillers Limited was and [Click here for the full review…]


Appleton Estate 21 Year Old Jamaican Rum (1990s)

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May 042017
 
Appleton Estate 21 Year Old Jamaican Rum (1990s)

Rumaniacs Review #035 | 0435 This is the first of what will be seven Appleton Estate historical rums, which I’ll post faster than usual, because they’re of a series. In going through them, what they all go to show is that while Appleton may be losing some ground to other, newer, more nimble upstarts (some even from Jamaica), their own reputation is well-deserved, and rooted in some very impressive rums…some of which are even extraordinary. My first pass at the Appleton 21 year old came around 2012, and I wasn’t entirely in love with it, for all its age. Rereading my review (after [Click here for the full review…]


Cadenhead Sancti Spiritus “ADC” 1998 Cuban 14 Year Old Rum – Review

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May 022017
 
Cadenhead Sancti Spiritus "ADC" 1998 Cuban 14 Year Old Rum - Review

#361 The Sancti Spiritus distillery in Central Cuba, also known as Paraiso, has been making rums since 1946, and other than its history (see “other notes” below) there is remarkably little hard information about its operations, its size, volume or exports on hand. Aside from what must be substantial local production which we don’t see, they may be better known for the relatively new Ron Paraiso brand, as well as from the labels of independent bottlers like Compagnie des Indes, Kill Divil, Bristol Spirits, the Whisky Agency, and, here, W.M.Cadenhead. Based on what one sees for sale online, barrels seem [Click here for the full review…]


Havana Club Añejo Reserva (1980s)

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Apr 302017
 
Havana Club Añejo Reserva (1980s)

Rumaniacs Review #034 | 0434 By now we are all aware of the two different kinds of Havana Club. This rum is the one from Cuba, not the Bacardi version made in “not Cuba” and hails from the 1980s which, coincidentally, is when I started drinking DDL’s King of Diamonds (a useless factoid, I know). No point rehashing well-known details of the brand, so off we go. Colour – Amber Strength – 40% Nose – Oh well, very nice indeed, quite a few steps ahead of the Facundo Paraiso. Dare I say “the real deal”? Better not. Initially it smells very [Click here for the full review…]


Velier La Bonne Intention (LBI) 1998 Full Proof Old Demerara Rum – Review

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Apr 272017
 
Velier La Bonne Intention (LBI) 1998 Full Proof Old Demerara Rum - Review

#360 The LBI 1998 starts out with a nose that is on the good side of remarkable, but not quite edging into wow! territory. That’s not at all a criticism, just an observation that it lacks the sort of rabid uniqueness that characterizes many of Velier’s legendary rums, and therefore this one may be among the most accessible “regular rum” profiles ever made by the company (if one discounts the earlier 40% offerings like the LBI 1985 or the Enmore 1987 that were bottled by Breitenstock and can’t really be considered part of the oeuvre). It starts with deep acetones, nail [Click here for the full review…]


Cachaça Agacana – Review

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Apr 242017
 
Cachaça Agacana - Review

#359 “Aguacana” is as good a term for this cachaça as any other, denoting as it does “water of the cane” There are few titles more appropriate, because at 37.5% you’re really not getting very much out of the Brazilian drink, and even in a mix I sort of wonder what the point is and how well something this frail would fare in a caipirinha. I’m aware that it’s somewhat snobby, but seriously, 37.5% is edging out of spirits territory altogether and into some kind of never-never land of “please don’t hurt me” for the timid, and my preferences don’t [Click here for the full review…]


Ron Canalero Añejo – Review

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Apr 202017
 
Ron Canalero Añejo - Review

“Dale paso al placer” reads the bottle label, which translates into “Give way to pleasure.” Obeying that would encourage me to give away the bottle. #358 If the Panamanians (and other rums made in the light Spanish style), don’t up their act soon, I have a feeling they’ll be left behind in an era where tougher, more muscular, and more original rums — many of which are pot still based — are being made both by independent bottlers and more farsighted big distillers in other parts of the Caribbean. There’ll always be a market for standard strength rums – low price [Click here for the full review…]


Zuidam Flying Dutchman White Rum – Review

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Apr 172017
 
Zuidam Flying Dutchman White Rum - Review

#357 The blurbs about the rum refer to this as being made from “very pure” cane molasses (as opposed to, I’m guessing, very impure or merely pure molasses). Said molasses are fermented for two weeks using two different yeast strains, triple distilled in copper pot stills; from which the rum is taken at 80% ABV, diluted down to 60% and then laid to rest for a minimum of six months to a year in charred oak barrels before being filtered to within an inch of its life to produce this 40% clear mixing agent. It’s a relatively new rum on [Click here for the full review…]


Svenska Eldvattan Weiron Super Premium Aged Caribbean Rum – Review

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Apr 132017
 
Svenska Eldvattan Weiron Super Premium Aged Caribbean Rum - Review

“Super Premium”? Not at all…but still quite a tasty dram. Surprised they didn’t call it a “Navy”. #356 Bottled at an assertive but not excessive 50%, the Svenska Eldvattan Weiron is a blended rum out of Sweden made by the same happy bunch of guys who are behind the Rum Swedes lineup, which I’ve never tried but about which I’ve heard many good things. That said, they don’t limit themselves to rum, and are primarily into bottling various whiskies, with a gin and a tequila or two for good measure. This one is rather daringly called the “Super Premium Aged [Click here for the full review…]


Bacardi Facundo Paraiso XA

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Apr 122017
 
Bacardi Facundo Paraiso XA

Rumaniacs Review #033 | 0433 The Facundo rum series from Bacardi which was launched in 2013, is an attempt by the company to insert itself into the premium market with a series of aged blended rums. Strictly speaking, it’s not a true Rumaniac vintage (the idea is to write about old stuff that isn’t actually in production any longer), but every now and then a more current expression slips through the cracks without having gone through the process of being recalled only by the elderly, filtered through their fond recollections of where they had been when they first tried it. You know [Click here for the full review…]


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