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

Appleton Estate Master Blender’s Legacy Rum – Review

Jan 212011

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…]

Tanduay Superior 12 year old – Review

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Dec 052010

First posted 5th December, 2010 on Liquorature. Some rums just upend all expectations, and maybe even redefine your assumptions. Smooth, amber-dark, just sweet enough, and with a body and a finish that simply don’t give up, Tanduay Superior 12 year old is like that. Where on earth has this rum been, and why can’t I find it in Calgary? A very affable individual from my office named Rainerio was heading off home to the Philippines the other day, and knowing there were interesting rums to be found there (though unashamedly confessing ignorance of exactly which ones those were since [Click here for the full review…]

Bacardi Black Rum – Review

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Dec 032010

First posted December 3rd, 2010 on Liquorature Bacardi Black is a deep, dark rich mixer’s drink just the right side of sweet enough, but lacks the cojones to be a decent sipper on its own merits. The mainstays of Bacardi’s massive sales are, to my mind, the low-enders: those rums not good enough to stand on their own, but which have a bold taste, a decent body and – somewhat like Johnny Walker – sufficient overall quality to be a cut above the average. The normal Joe who walks into a liquor store isn’t after all, looking for a life-changing [Click here for the full review…]

Angostura Royal Oak Select Trinidad Rum – Review

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Dec 012010

Angostura Royal Oak Select Trinidad Rum – Review

Original Post Date 01 December 2010 on Liquorature. (#013)(Unscored) Workable blend that makes for a perfectly solid mixer without shining in any other way, except to maybe pip the low-end Appletons. Best save for the 1919 version. *** Royal Oak Select Rum is another one of those annoying rums that tell you nothing about how old it is, which instantly informs you it’s a blend. I don’t care much for whisky, as my humourous posts have made clear (I think the Peat Heads are misguided, but innocently so, and may be dint of effort and tender ministrations be brought [Click here for the full review…]

Appleton Estate V/X Rum – Review

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Dec 012010

First reviewed December 1st, 2010 on Liquorature The V/X is an ostentatious shot across the bows of Bacardi – it may be one of the world’s best mixing, use-for-anything rums that you will have no trouble picking up anywhere, but the spicy sting in the tail makes it unsuitable for sipping. It’s always the same: the cobbler’s kids have no shoes, the accountant doesn’t do his own taxes, and this reviewer doesn’t review a rum he’s been drinking for years. I mean, you’d think by now I would have rounded off the Appleton section by at least attempting a review of the [Click here for the full review…]

Bacardi 1873 Dark Rum – Review

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Nov 272010

First Posted 27 Nov 2010 on Liquorature A pleasant mixer but not worth it as a sipper…like a date you want to kiss but really aren’t sure you want to bring home just yet. I’m at a loss to say what Bacardi 1873 is, based on what I’m reading. Research is maddeningly inconclusive: is it a solera, as some bottles advertise themselves to be, or a standard blend of some kind? Some sources suggest that it’s an aged blend that has now been replaced by the eight year old. I hesitate to commit myself to any of these positions, because [Click here for the full review…]

Cadenhead’s Green Label Demerara 12 year old – Review

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Nov 272010

Cadenhead’s Green Label Demerara 12 year old – Review

First posted November 27th, 2010 on Liquorature A dry, slightly overproof schizophrenic rum that is just on his side of being a whisky, and not recommended for purist rum mixologists who like their libation darker and sweeter. Rum is traditionally matured in used bourbon or other whiskey barrels, but this is the first one I’ve ever seen and tasted which was finished in a Laphhroaig cask. Was that an accident? Did it just sort of slip and fall over and said “Oops!” as it boinked into a cask of whisky? I dunno, but Cadenhead Green Label 12 yr old Demerara [Click here for the full review…]

Tuzemak Czech Rum – Review

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Nov 262010

First posted 26 November 2010 on Liquorature. Herbal, different and like few other rums (we’ll be generous with the term) ever made; will add variety to cocktails and cheer to any Czechs you booze with, but my take is to exercise care when you have it neat. We must establish from the outset that all labeling to the contrary, Tuzemak is not precisely a rum. This is because it was originally made from potatoes or beets, not sugar cane, and while you might find it in the rum section, it’s simply because the Czech manufacturers have in the past included [Click here for the full review…]

Bermudez Ron Añejo Anniversario – Review

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Nov 192010

Bermudez Ron Añejo Anniversario - Review

First posted November 19, 2010 on Liquorature. Bermudez is the second rum I managed to find from the Three Bs distilleries in the half-island of the Domincan Republic (Brugal, Bermudez and Barcelo), and is both less and more than its possibly better known sibling, the Brugal Ron Añejo which I took a look at the other day. J. Armando Bermúdez & Co., C. por A. is a distillery located in Santiago de los Caballeros in the north central region of the DR. It was founded in 1852 (hence the year on the label of this Anniversary edition) by Erasmo Bermúdez, [Click here for the full review…]

Brugal Ron Añejo – Review

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Nov 182010

First published November 18th, 2010 on Liquorature. Ron Añejo Brugal is one of two rums from the Domincan Republic which I tasted side by side last Friday. Not to be confused with Dominica, the Dominican Republic is the Spanish speaking eastern half of the island of Hispaniola…the western half is Haiti. Three distilleries known as the Three Bs operate in the DR: Bermudez in the Santiago area, the Santo Domingo distillery called Barcelo, and Brugal in the north coast. Brugal, founded in 1888, seems to be the largest, perhaps as a result of being acquired in 2008 by the UK [Click here for the full review…]

Rivers Royale Grenadian White Rum – Review

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Nov 022010

Rivers Royale Grenadian White Rum - Review

First posted 2nd November 2010 on Liquorature. My trip to Toronto last October permitted me to taste rums that never would have made it to Calgary (one or two would never have made it anywhere), and since my circle of friends is admittedly small, and few of those travel to rum producing states, it’s not as if I would have gotten any of the last five subjects of my reviews from them either. So kudos and thanks one last time to John, who opened his cabinet to my inquiring snoot, and let’s get to the review of the last rum [Click here for the full review…]

The Matter of Ratings

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Nov 012010

(First posted on Liquorature November 2010; edited October 2014) What makes a Bacardi 1873 superior to, or a dog when compared against, a Santa Teresa 1796? On what basis do I compare my loving, cheerfully nostalgic review of the Clarke’s Court overproof “bush” variation with the disdainfulful yark-my-guts-out review of the Bundie? What exactly is the rating of the Bacardi 151, which, when you read it, is remarkably short on facts and long on humour. If I were to make a top five list of any kind – top-enders, dark rums, spiced rums, premiums etc – is there a consistent methodology backing up my assertions, or is it all [Click here for the full review…]

J. Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum – Review

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Nov 012010

J. Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum - Review

First posted 01 November, 2010 on Liquorature Raw white overproof, fun to drink mix or celebrate with…as the Jamaicans have long since known. To be honest, I’m not entirely clear why people – aside from binge drinkers, students and serial alcoholics, whose motives are clearer — bother to drink white overproofs straight on a regular basis. The taste is simply too raw for real appreciation, in my opinion (though I have had several “full proof” rums which avoid this sharp stiletto to the palate, so it’s by no means a hard and fast rule). But I suppose they’re like those [Click here for the full review…]

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