The Lone Caner – Page 59 – A Solo Reviewer's Take on Rums

Momento Amber Rum – Review

Oct 012011

First posted 01 October 2011 on Liquorature A strange rum from Alberta’s Highwood Distillery, Momento is aimed at the high end market without having the cojones to put its quality where its marketing leads it. It’s clean texture and originality of make are its best features, but I can’t say it really works for me. There are some cases where a distillery looking to go in a different direction begets some kind of bratty, youthful rum that dances on your tonsils and tries out its chubby biceps on your palate. Bruichladdich comes to mind, or the reblenders and rebranders like [Click here for the full review…]

St. Nicholas Abbey 12 year old rum – Review

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Sep 022011

St. Nicholas Abbey 12 year old rum - Review

First posted 2nd September 2011 on Liquorature A worthy successor to the 10 year old which was also expensive and extremely well made. Succeeds, in my opinion, on just about every level: presentation, nose, taste, finish and aesthetics. This is the point where you start telling yourself maybe two hundred bucks may not really be that much to blow on a single rum…but ensure the spouse concurs. You’ve got to hand it to the Abbey. Not being content to rest on their laurels with the very excellent 10 year old I was so taken by, they issued the dark gold [Click here for the full review…]

St. Nicholas Abbey 8 year old – Review

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Sep 022011

First posted 2nd September 2011 on Liquorature Much as I loved the St Nicholas Abbey 10 year old (and I have yet to meet a soul who doesn’t like it), I must concede that the corresponding 8 year old is not in its league. This is not to say it’s a bad rum…just not as good as its older brother(s). And that’s a shame, because left on its own, had I never tasted any of the Abbey’s other products, I might have given my pen rein, gone to town with loads of colourful metaphors, and in all ways harped on [Click here for the full review…]

Pusser’s 15 Year Old Navy Rum – Review

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Aug 162011

First posted 16 August 2011 on Liquorature A solidly impressive aged product from Pusser’s. Though it’s “only” 40% ABV, you might compare it to a barbarian using a fork – snickering, but all the while appreciating the strength and the quality. West Indians probably snigger into their shot glasses in every beer garden, corner store or rumshop whenever the name of this Navy-style rum comes up. In fact, I’m pretty sure of it, and if you don’t get that, find a guy fresh off the boat or the plane and get him to explain it to you. Like many Caribbean [Click here for the full review…]

Juan Santos 21 Year Old Antigua Reserva Colombian Rum – Review

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Aug 062011

Juan Santos 21 Year Old Antigua Reserva Colombian Rum - Review

First posted 06 August 2011 on Liquorature. A steal at the price, the 21 holds its own against rums costing twice as much, and might be better known and sell more if the tag was higher. I think of it like I do a Nissan GT-R – too cheap to be taken seriously as a supercar, but a performer that can give any of the top dogs a run for their money. If you see it and you have the cash to spare, my recommendation is to get it. The Juan Santos 21 year old is the epitome of the [Click here for the full review…]

Pyrat’s Cask 1623 – Review

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Jul 112011

First posted 11 July 2011 on Liquorature and the Rum Connection This review first appeared in two parts on the Rum Connection website, here. It is reposted here with minor corrections and amendments. It’s a bit of a rant, I’m afraid, and somewhat overlong…it speaks to my disappointment in what has been touted as an ultra-premium, but isn’t. I enjoy the Pyrat’s XO rum about as much as I do the leisurely explorations of my favourite proctologist: the thing is a perennial dust-gatherer on my shelf, and I finally traded it away to the Arctic Wolf in Edmonton. And when one considers the [Click here for the full review…]

Ron Diplomatico Añejo – Review

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May 252011

First Published 25 May 2011 on Liquorature A puzzlingly schizophrenic rum – I can’t quite make up my mind about how good it is: an undistinguished bottle containing a so-so tasting rum with both a lovely nose and a finish to savour. I’m going to go back to this one, for sure, just to nail my opinion down more precisely. The Diplomatico Añejo I had on the night of the last Liquorature club was one of those weird rums that I couldn’t quite categorize, because it had both good elements I liked and others by which I wasn’t entirely enthralled. However, [Click here for the full review…]

Flor de Caña Centenario 12 Year old – Review

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May 232011

Flor de Caña Centenario 12 Year old – Review

Original Review 23 May 2011 on Liquorature Outclassed by its older siblings as a sipper and given better dollar value by its younger ones for mixing, Flor de Caña 12yr old’s singular characteristic may be its quickness (insert vulgar and raunchy joke here). This isn’t to say you won’t enjoy yourself, or that you’ll have a bad experience – just not a lingering one. Clint of Liquorature very kindly allowed me to pilfer his bottle of the Flor 12 in order to write about it, once the March 2011 session wound to a close. We’ve looked at the 5, 7, 15 and 18 yr [Click here for the full review…]

Juan Santos Añejo 12 Year Old Gran Reserva Colombian Rum – Review

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Apr 252011

Juan Santos Añejo 12 Year Old Gran Reserva Colombian Rum – Review

First posted 25 April 2011 on Liquorature Smooth, soft and unprepossessing, this may be one of the best 12 year old you never heard about. Coming from a maker formed less than two decades ago, it’s quite an achievement to create a rum of such overall worth. It seems that sooner or later one always makes a discovery both unexpected and wholly pleasant. In recent months since I first tried the excellent 9 year old, I’ve realized that Juan Santos rums have been one of mine, and with the exception of the coffee infused underproof, which I do not really regard [Click here for the full review…]

Flor de Caña 4 year old Extra Dry White Rum – Review

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Apr 252011

Flor de Caña 4 year old Extra Dry White Rum - Review

First posted 25 April 2011 on Liquorature Astringent as a Brit’s sense of humour, shot and sharp and crushing as Mrs. Jagan’s put-downs in primary school when I was being a smartass, this is not a rum to have by itself; but in a mix of any kind, it rises to the occasion and emerges as one of those quiet and unsung stars that one’s bar simply should not be without. It’s that different, and that good at what it is. Right out of the bottle, Flor de Caña’s white rum bats you with one malicious spirituous paw (is that [Click here for the full review…]

Juan Santos 7 Yr Old Cafè – Review

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Apr 162011

First posted 16 April 2011 on Liquorature A homunculus of a rum, this – it’s got all the hallmarks of a rum – the background taste, the nose, a bit of bite; but at end, you’ll either think it’s a strong liqueur or a weak rum, and in either case it works better as a dessert drink than a true sipper in your glass. “Bloody mouthwash!” my esteemed and geriatric sire sneered years and years ago, as I sipped a Crème de Menthe in the days when I was still searching for a drink to call my own and clutch [Click here for the full review…]

Havana Club Añejo Reserva Rum – Review

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Mar 262011

An excellent Cuban rum: it starts out low-tier, and then the taste just blows your ears back. I could take it neat or with just a smidgen of something else, but alone or in company, it’s a worthy first step into the products of this company and its older siblings. First posted 26 March 2011 on Liquorature I think of this particular iteration of Havana Club as a starter rum. No, not a starter for your evening, an apertif, or getting the girl (I like your thinking, mind), but as a beginning for the entire line of enormously palatable rums [Click here for the full review…]

Angostura Premium Dark 5 Year old – Review

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Mar 122011

Angostura Premium Dark 5 Year old – Review

First posted 12 March 2011 on Liquorature Simple, rough, surprisingly tasty….good value, I think. You are going to get hit with a molasses club at the inception, and if you stick with it, it’ll reward your patience. I’d say mix it, but a brave soul may take it as is. Like most average folks I grew up watching bartenders mix drinks with Angostura Bitters; and one of the enduring memories of my first years in Georgetown was pouring a couple of drops into a cream soda to make a “rockshandy”. It was years before I realized that the Angostura company [Click here for the full review…]

Renegade Grenada 1996 11 year old Rum – Review

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Mar 122011

Renegade Grenada 1996 11 year old Rum - Review

First posted 12 March 2011 on Liquorature One of the acclaimed limited edition bottlings from Bruichladdich, it will remind you of a dry rye, and is a rum worth your buck; deep, tasty with complex flavour and taste. It’s long lasting on the palate, but not in the company of your friends. A few days ago I was on the Ministry of Rum, and a guy there proudly announced that he had just bought all twenty bottles of the current Renegade line. All twenty!!? I’ve only ever seen four in this whole country. You can imagine with what envy I [Click here for the full review…]

St. Nicholas Abbey 10 Year Old Rum – Review

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Mar 052011

St. Nicholas Abbey 10 Year Old Rum - Review

First posted 5 March 2011 on Liquorature This rum is one of the best rums of it’s kind I’ve ever had, and it will dent your wallet to show it’s no accident. Everything about it works: presentation, nose, taste, finish. Even the place it’s made has a romantic cachet and youthful exuberance that enhances the aura surrounding it. You see this, you buy it, and buy it now. St Nicholas Abbey 10 year old is one of the unsung Jedi Knights of the Universe. It succeeds without seeming to try. It embodies a grace and style many rums aim for [Click here for the full review…]

Juan Santos Añejo 9 Year Old Rum – Review

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Feb 202011

Juan Santos Añejo 9 Year Old Rum - Review

(First posted 20 February 2011 on Liquorature) A rum that doesn’t seem to be trying, and yet, when you’re done and you try to analyze your experience, you unexpectedly find yourself admiring it more and more, surprised by its overall quality. The other day a lady from my department quit: an overseas posting came up, and she’s upping anchor and bailing with her family. I’ve thought of Cecilia often in the days since her resignation. She took no crap from me, did the work of a full time employee in half the time, and was quiet, efficient and professional. She [Click here for the full review…]

Ron Barceló Añejo – Review

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Feb 092011

First posted 9th February, 2011 on Liquorature This is a weaker than usual, unloved product of a distillery that has better products up the food chain, but apparently refused to pay the same attention to this one. It passes muster as a rum, but barely, and if you have choices and like stronger wares, this one won’t get you to part with your cash. If you want something stronger than a port or liqueur, but weaker than a real spirit, well, I guess this is for you. Right out of the bottle you get a sense of the relative weakness [Click here for the full review…]

El Dorado 12 Year Old Rum – Review

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Feb 042011

As long as you like a darker, heavier profile of fruity and dark sugar notes, this is a rum that gets better and better as you compare more and more rums to it. First posted Feb 4, 2011 on Liquorature The median of the el Dorado range exhibits a schizophrenic character, in line with its uncertain position as neither the entrance level rum (that honour probably belongs to the five year old), or its other bastard brother the single barrel, or any of its two superior sipping cousins, the 15 or 21. It’s kinda left alone to sink or swim [Click here for the full review…]

Raucous Rums Tasting (03 February 2011)

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Feb 032011

Andrew Ferguson illustrates a point Thursday 3rd February was bit of a milestone for me: it marked the first tasting I had ever attended, and it suggested that perhaps rum really does have a future when it comes to being seen as a viable alternative to whiskies in Alberta. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Rum isn’t dethroning that obscure Scottish drink any time soon (either in volume, cachet or pricing). And this modest little do at Kensington Wine Market was not presided over by some famous ur-swami of matters molasses who’s tasted four thousand rums and smiles benificently and condescendingly [Click here for the full review…]

Favell’s London Dock Rum – Review

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Jan 282011

First posted 28 January 2011 on Liquorature An overproof harking back to maritime days of the Empire, Favell’s lacks enough ageing or serious taste to compete with more carefully made and better aged examples of the craft, and will appeal more to whisky drinkers who like cask strength offerings, than those who like lesser strength rums to sip neat. Favell’s London Dock Demerara rum plays on the maritime heritage of the British empire’s trading days: sailing ships, foggy stone wharves, the slow slap of the waves against the wooden hulls of old windjammers and clippers anchored alongside, and West Indian Trade in rum and [Click here for the full review…]

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