The Lone Caner – Page 60 – A Solo Reviewer's Take on Rums

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

Apr 252011

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…]

Appleton Estate Master Blender’s Legacy Rum – Review

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Jan 212011

Appleton Estate Master Blender's Legacy Rum - Review

First posted January 21st, 2011 on Liquorature. Tasted April 2009 and again December 2010. Good rum, solid mid-tier sipper, but if you like something a bit more biting and clearly defined my take is for you to stop messing around and get the 21-year old, which is one of the cores of this one. It’s like buying a Boxster just because you’re too cheap to get the 911, and hoping the ladies don’t notice. Watch for the twitchy ride in either case. The heart of this Jamaican rum produced by J. Wray and Nephew is a 21 year old rum [Click here for the full review…]

Flor de Caña Centenario “21” 15 Year Old Rum

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Jan 182011

Flor de Caña Centenario "21" 15 Year Old Rum

First posted 18 January 2011 on Liquorature. A better than average presentation, for a rum that supercedes its age The Flor de Caña 21 is a good example of ensuring you know what you’re buying before you fork out your hard earned pieces of eight. I’m being redundant here (most other online reviews make mention of this), but I note the matter because all other Caña products have their age statement clearly and unambiguously front and center: 4 yr old, 5 yr old, 7 yr old, 12 yr old, 18 yr old. You can hardly avoid that: it’s on the [Click here for the full review…]

Robert Watson’s Demerara Rum – Review

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Jan 152011

First posted 15th January 2011 on Liquorature I’ve never hidden my affection for the Young’s Old Sam Demerara rum: for its rich dark character, thick nose and excellent mixing qualities. Here’s a variation which simply blows it out of the water, because, unlike that simple mixer, Watson’s is in better balance overall, and is equally good as a sipper or a cocktail base. People, I think are entirely too disbelieving of coincidences: when you consider that there are six billion plus people on the planet, I am actually amazed that there aren’t more coincidences. One of the best in recent memory was [Click here for the full review…]

Legendario Ron Añejo – Review

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Jan 032011

A blended rum given enhanced flavour by the addition of Muscatel wine prior to final ageing. This creates an unusual almost-sipper that is not entirely to my taste but cannot be denied for what it is – an intriguing essay into the craft of playing around with the basic brown-sugar sweetness of rum to get something quite unique. First posted 3 January 2011 on Liquorature. Legendario Ron Añejo is a Cuban rum, but makes no concessions to people North of 49 who don’t habla, since nothing on the label is English (or French). Fortunately, as a travelling vagrant, I have [Click here for the full review…]

Appleton Dark 151 Overproof Rum

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Dec 252010

Originally Posted 25 December 2010. Photo courtesy of Chip Dykstra’s Rum Howler Blog Let’s assume that there is a place where goodness reigns, the evil get punished, all kittens get rescued from trees and lotteries are won by the deserving. Trust me when I tell you that the Appleton 151 does not hail from here. This raging brown liquid is the Rum of Sauron. No, it’s Sauron’s dark effluent after he drinks the Rum of Sauron. Wussie whiskies such as the cask strength 60-percenters run crying to their mommies when the 151 approaches. Appleton 151 is a dark, sinful, bottled [Click here for the full review…]

A.D.Rattray Caroni 1997 13 Year Old Rum – Review

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Dec 222010

A.D.Rattray Caroni 1997 13 Year Old Rum - Review

I wrote the full review for Michael Streeter of the RumConnection website in December 2010, and here is the summary : The price is reasonable, the colour, body and nose are lovely, and the taste is unique, if a bit harsh: if the rum fails at all, it’s in the decision not to mess with it – this has led to the prescence of oak maintaining an influence not all will appreciate. Are other similarly aged rums better, tastier, smoother and more complex? Yes, absolutely. But I also think that the Caroni is one of a kind, a rum lover’s [Click here for the full review…]

Cockspur 12 Year Old Rum – Review

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Dec 152010

First posted 15 December 2010 on Liquorature Amusingly named rum which is solid all the way through and that fails through some ineffable lack of chemistry in the final stretch, where the individually excellent elements just don’t quite come together into a perfect whole. *** Okay, let’s get the funny stuff out of the way. “I like going to bed with the C—…”. “Drank some C— last night and boy, was that good.” “Really satisfying, there’s nothing like a good C–…” “As a hangover cure, nothing beats a solid red C— in the morning.” And so on. I can just [Click here for the full review…]

Whaler’s Rare Reserve Dark Rum – Review

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Dec 112010

Whaler’s Rare Dark Reserve Rum is all characteristics and no character: smell without nose, burn without body and aggressiveness bordering on the obnoxious without actually delivering on any of the promises it makes. Don’t let the tempting scent fool you. That’s most of what you’re gonna be getting. (First posted 11th December 2010) Whaler’s Rare Reserve Dark rum is not, as its advertising might imply, made in Hawaii. Its website certainly suggests the connection by touting the traditional recipe used by whalers in the old days, copied from native islanders’ own rum production on Maui and perhaps infused with vanilla [Click here for the full review…]

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