What is your favorite rum to drink/ sip or enjoy 'neat'?

[Silver]

when i was in charlestown this april dropped by a small distillery called fire fly distillery. i bought a bottle of their spiced island rum and a bottle of their java rum. the spiced island was great smooth neat or with coke. the java was something you had the work up to, very coffee like a liquor(java! go figure), after i killed the spice island, i found that the java was at it's best neat. when i visit again i'll go my limit with the spiced island. i also have just enjoyed capt. morgan's original spiced, C.M. black and private stock and the cracken. were does the rum go!

[Captain Jim]

Mt. Gay. Neat, wrecked (on the rocks ) or mixed with a little ginger ale and lime (sort of a fizzy grog, if you will.)

Extra Old is quite good.

The Exra Old is above my pay grade. Must try it sometime when celebrating something special.

[Pixel Pirate]

Looking for recommendations on a smoother variety of rum. I'm so used to Cap. Morgan's or Goslings Black Seal that I almost can't stand the stuff (then again, I am more of a beer guy...). I've been eyeballing Kraken and other darker concoctions to hopefully get me enjoying rum once more!

[Coastie04]

Pyrat XO Reserve is generally my favorite, but on the rocks. I've out grown C.M. Private Stock (though it's still a good mixer), and have recently been very impressed by Kraken (though I usually stay away from spiced rums). However, if I want a good all-round dark rum, Gosling's is extremely good, especially for the price point-easy to drink neat, but cheap enough for a good mixer as well. And I still have fond memories of Black Strap, though more for the company I was in than the rum. Been quite a while since I've had Pusser's, but I did always enjoy that when available.

Arrrgh!

[Quartermaster James]

I tried some Matusalem Gran Reserva recntly.

Not a bad rum for sipping neat, and not too dear for cocktails either.

[Jib]

Most of you pick up your rum at the corner liquor store?

[Captain Jim]

We here have an outfit called "Norman's". Cannot beat the price.

[Quartermaster James]

Most of you pick up your rum at the corner liquor store?

Sort of. We have state controlled stores here. (A pox on the OLCC!)

When I need something a bit further afield than the approved potations, I order from http://www.drinkupny.com/

And then, of course, there is always this concern: http://www.finestandrarest.com/ (which I like to look at while sipping my Thunderbird White Port).

Edited November 14, 2012 by Quartermaster James

[Jib]

Curious if some of you special order your rum from a local liquor store or go on a "rum hunt".

[Silver]

have been on a run of sailor jerry lately neat or mix, got tired of the sweetness of capt. M, it's has a mild but not sweet taste also a good kick.

[William Brand]

To be fair, it's less about the rum for me, because one of my favorite foods is bananas foster.

[Bright]

Angostura has created the world’s most expensive blend of rum, Legacy by Angostura. One bottle of the luxury blend will go on sale in New Zealand in November. With only twenty 500ml bespoke decanters available worldwide, the bottle is expected to fetch NZ$30,000 via Webb’s Premiere auction house.

Like all exceptional blends of spirits, the production of this rum involves just as much art as science and has been a labor of love for the Angostura Master Blenders who have fifty years experience. The project has taken six years of meticulous work with seven of the brand’s most rare and precious rums making the final recipe.

The youngest rum is 17 years old and all of the rums in the blend have been aged in once used American Oak Bourbon casks on site at Angostura’s distillery in Trinidad.

John Georges, Master Distiller at Angostura said, “There was no set recipe when we started this process. We have experimented with a number of rums that had the characteristics we felt deserved to be prominent.

With the average [25ml/one ounce] drink setting you back US$1250, Legacy by Angostura is guaranteed to be the greatest sipping rum ever produced and the ultimate celebratory tipple of Trinidad’s culture and Independence.

Not only is the rum of the highest standard in the world, the decanter, stopper and presentation box are also unique collectors’ items. Angostura has engaged Asprey of London, jeweler to the Prince of Wales, to develop the twenty limited edition decanters, which each took over 56 hours to complete using ten different master craftsman.

The auction will be held at Webb’s fine & rare wine auction – 18 Manukau Road, Newmarket in Auckland onNovember 4th at 6.30pm.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Bright

[Coastie04]

Fancy decanter and going out of the way to blend the most expensive rums. When all's said and done, IT'S ONLY RUM!!! There are plenty of very good, affordable rums for the average pirate. Heck, there's no guarantee that this will even taste like rum as the rest of the world knows it. For all we know, it will be a brandy/cognac "respectable" spirit. For me, I'll stick with my Pyrat XO Reserve, Pusser's, Kirk and Sweeney (a new favorite of mine), and whatever new is on the shelf for a decent price when I'm feeling adventurous.

[madPete]

Curious if some of you special order your rum from a local liquor store or go on a "rum hunt".

It's usually a rum hunt. Tho these have been few and far between of late as I havin't been drinking much.

still have a half bottle of Private Stock sitting here waiting for me.

mP

[Jib]

I do the rum hunt when I spy a new liquor store. I always check my favorite haunts just to see if they get something new.

[Coastie04]

I check my local stores for new rums when they get them. Otherwise, I go 'down south' and occasionally pick up something new that I can't get in town. The next town over isn't really an option either, because my mainsail is under repair/being maintained this season and there aren't any roads to the next town. I have tried a new one that I enjoy quite a bit called Kirk and Sweeney. It's a more mellow, sweeter rum and I must admit that the ex-coastie in me really likes the name. I recognized it immediately as the name of a famous rum running schooner. She was captured by the Coast Guard, lengthened, and renamed 'Chase'. She served as the barracks and a training ship for the USCGA cadets for a few years. Once she was ready to be retired, the CG decided that every cadet should serve in 'Chase', so they named their barracks at the academy 'Chase Hall'. I have too many memories in her passageways (and thanks to this history lesson, everyone who goes there can understand why there aren't bathrooms, floors, ceilings, or walls in that building, but instead their nautical equivalent; while there, I thought it was just to train the cadets about proper nautical nomenclature, but it likely stems from the origins of serving in 'Chase'). Additionally, the bottle is very nice (we now occasionally use one for a flower vase on our dining room table). Overall, I also really liked the rum-otherwise it would not get this kind of praise from me.

[Dread Pyrate Greyhound]

Captain Morgan all the way.

[MisFire]

English Harbour 25 Year Old Rum, Antigua, by far the best I've had, but at $360 a bottle it a tad bit out of my price range

http://thelonecaner.com/english-harbour-1981-25-year-old-rum-review/

favorite "affordable" rum, Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva, $30 a bottle

http://rumdood.com/2010/01/07/rum-review-ron-diplomatico-reserva-exclusiva/

[Red-Handed Jill]

Cruzan's Black Strap, El Dorado demarera or Pyrat Pistol (when I can find it).