Rum

[JohnnyTarr]

Ok as you all know I am tring to become a self-sufficent sailor. I am making my own boat and I will make my own sail. I doubt that I will make my own line as their is much better out there than I could make. I know that a man can only live so long on saltwater alone. So as I am in drydock now I would like to know about your tastes in Rum. I have tried Captain Morgan's, and Pyrat both straight. Now in one of my magazines I find Pusser's Rum and this past weekend I went to the store and found a sea of rum for sale. I know that this has been talked about before and I will set out for those waters soon, but I would like an updated opinion on rums. So there you go.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Well start yerself off with a tune...

She's fuddled my fancy, she's muddled me good

I've taken to drinking, and given up food

I'm buying an island, somewhere in the sun

I'll hide from the natives, live only on rum

I'm selling my memoirs, I'm writing it down

If no one will pay me I'll burn down the town

I'm buying a ticket for places unknown

It's only a one-way: I'm not coming home

She's swallowed my secret, and taken my name

To follow my footsteps and knobble me lame

Then stop by Bilgemunky's rum page. It's fabulous!

His reviews alone are worth savoring over a tankard

"Jamaica Plantation Rum is good, but not in a benevolent way. It will kick you in the face and call you sally with such an intensity of brilliantly rummy flavors that will suck you in and tear you to shreds. Respect it, enjoy it, fear it. " - Bilgemunky.com

I like Pyrat, Bacardi, Capt Morgan and I've tried Pussers but I think ye'll find tasting is the only route.

Ok now there's a book called

"And A bottle of Rum" A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 10 COCKTAILS

{“And a Bottle of Rum is a fascinating tale of cultural metamorphosis, tracing rum’s remarkable journey from colonial rotgut to SoHo cocktail.}

Like a great barroom raconteur, the author of this engaging treatise regales his audience with piquant opinions, colorful trivia, lush rhetorical turns ("the first taste washes over me and brings to mind the scene in Wizard of Oz in which the black-and-white world suddenly bursts into color") and an exalted, occasionally inflated, sense of liquor's place in the greater scheme of things. A travel writer and contributing editor to Preservation, Curtis follows rum's checkered 400-year career through various incarnations, from the cheap, caustic "kill-devil" that fortified 17th-century pirates (Blackbeard was said to enjoy a glass of flaming rum mixed with gunpowder) to today's mojitos, made from palatable, if bland, mass market rums. His profiles of rum-based cocktails (with an all-important appendix of recipes) serve as starting points for excursions on such topics as slavery in the West Indies, the temperance movement, Ernest Hemingway's epic daiquiri binges and the rise and fall of the tiki bar. Curtis's grander pronouncements ("Rum embodies America's laissez-faire attitude: It is whatever it wants to be")are true only in the groggiest sense, but readers who come along on this charming barhop through cultural history will toast them nonetheless.

I'm sure this is the first of what will be many, many well educated responses *hic* I for one look forward to reading them. Huzzah for a great topic!

[HarborMaster]

You may want to read this., it explains about Rum as well as grog., Pussers History

Also this is really worth a look., its a well done video that documents., the 350 years of the Pussers Rum aboard the English Naval ships.

Pussers Videos

Then Video on the bottom is the one about history.,

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

I use Myers original for the "everyday" rum. But for the times when I want to savor the moment and share with my brothers and sisters, I have found NOTHING that can compare with Ron Zacapa Centenario, 23yrs. old. It comes from Guatemala. I would share my link to an on-line discount service, but you guys might put 'em outta stock! :)

Seriously, if you want to try a bottle, pm me for the link.

Bo

[Bilgemunky]

I would like an updated opinion on rums.

Updated opinion? Rum - it's still good!

I won't rehash my own reviews here (and thanks for the kind words, Red Cat!), but suffice to say, try a variety! I'd avoid the rums that are clearly mixers (fruit flavored, most whites, and generally spiced) and stick with medium-shelf rums as you cut your teeth.

"Friendly" rums might include Pyrat XO and Dogfish Head. More advanced, rummy rums would be Ron Pampero Anniversario, Barbarncourt 15 year, and Appleton Extra. Or if you're on a budget and want to take the plunge, Gosling's Black Seal isn't gentle, but it's real.

I don't share Capt. Bo's love of Zacapa - too sweet in my estimation. But I'm in the vast minority on this one - many, many rum-afficianadoes consider it the pinacle of the craft, and you might well find it to your liking.

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

A good fellow at the last event was passing around a flask with a spiced rum. I don't care for spiced rums, but this one was very different. the taste was almost like the scent of a Pier One imports store. Kind of a jasmine/nutmeg cross?

He got away before I could inqire as to its origin. Sound familiar to anyone else?

Bo

[Hrothgar Addams]

For the longest time I didn't like Rum, because just about the only stuff I came across was (Cue scary music) Bacardi!!

Then I grew up and left the Utah State Liquor Stores behind --- and --Lo and Behold! There were more kinds of rum than you can shake a stick at (if thats your idea of having fun)

Bilgemunky has a great list, But I would also like ta add the following:

Lamb's Royal Navy Rum, Whalers Hawaiian (the dark stuff), And ifn ye have a friend in England, Get them ta score a bottle of Captain Morgan Jamaica Rum (no relation to the American marketed spiced stuff).

Last summer I got marooned in Omaha, and All I could find was: (cue scary music) Bacardi! It was like Utah but flat. Eventually I did find some Meyers Jamaica Rum. Its pretty good.

And ifn ye are lookin' fer cheap, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville brand makes a pretty fair gold rum--Best fer mixin with Coke or World Market brand Mojito Mix. (Best when th in-laws come by: tastes good, is cheap and mixes well, and you're not wastin' the good stuff on yer wife's dorky brother.

Bo I don't like spiced rums--they're kind of like spiced vodka (covering the kerosene taste of bad distilling) But what you're describing sounds like one of the few I tasted and liked I think it was called Admiral Nelson Spiced Rum.

[blackjohn]

I like Goslings... but one of my shipmates gave me a bottle of Cruzan Black Strap rum as a housewarming gift and I have to say it shivered my timbers like no rum has in years (not since that 173 year old shipwreck rum...). If you like molasses, you'll like the black strap.

Now another shipmate at the same time gave me a bottle of 10 Cane Rum. It's the extreme opposite of the Black Strap. The 10 Cane is clear, and packs a punch without much extra flavor, and is every bit as good, just in the opposite way!

The only answer... try different rums until you find one you like.

[Red-Handed Jill]

I LOVE Cruzan's Black Strap rum! It seems to me the essence of rum. I'm also a big fan of demerara rums - Lemon Hart 80 proof and El Dorado in particular.

[Ransom]

I'm still in the experimental state when it comes to rum. Like others, my only experience was with (Yuck) Bacardi - high school cheap binges on Bacardi and coke.

I learned about Captain Morgan's Tattoo here on the Pub, and mixed in hot drinks (hot chocolat, egg nogg) it's killer. I've also, true to my "usual" newcomer request, mixed a shot of it into champange ( I egotistically call this a "Ransom"), and that's good as well.

I also picked up a bottle of Pyrate rum, as it was on sale at the time. It worked out really nice for summer Mojitos.

As for drinking it straight, I need more practice. I'm a wine drinker at heart, and most rum is just way too strong for me without mixing it with something else.

[Red Cat Jenny]

A bit of RUM history for you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The precursors to rum date back to antiquity. Development of fermented drinks produced from sugarcane juice is believed to have first occurred either in ancient India or China, and spread from there. An example of such an early drink is brum. Produced by the Malay people, brum dates back thousands of years. Marco Polo also recorded a 14th-century account of a "very good wine of sugar" that was offered to him in what is modern-day Iran.

--

After rum's development in the Caribbean, the drink's popularity spread to Colonial America. To support the demand for the drink, the first rum distillery in the colonies was set up in 1664 on current day Staten Island.

Boston had a distillery three years later. The manufacture of rum became early Colonial New England's largest and most prosperous industry. The rum produced there was quite popular, and was even considered the best in the world during much of the 18th century.

Estimates of rum consumption in the American colonies before the American Revolutionary War had every man, woman, or child drinking an average of 3 Imperial gallons (13.5 liters) of rum each year.

The popularity of rum continued after the Revolution with George Washington insisting on a barrel of Barbados rum at his 1789 inauguration. (I KNEW there was a reason I liked this guy!-actually one of many..)

(To interject some info here... a lot of the Pirates on Long Island where I live, were involved in some Rum Running..more on this history to come on my website which is in process at www.theredcat.net) now back to our regular broadcast....

Eventually the restrictions on rum from the British islands of the Caribbean combined with the development of American whiskey led to a decline in the drink's popularity in the US.

Until the middle of the 19th century most rums were heavy, single-distilled spirits, considered less elegant than the refined double-distilled spirits of Europe. In order to expand the market for rum, the Spanish Royal Development Board offered a prize to anyone who could improve the rum making process. This resulted in many refinements in the process which greatly improved the quality of rum.

AAAAND before you discount Bacardi..One of the most important figures in this development process (above) was Don Facundo Bacardi Masso, who moved from Spain to Santiago de Cuba in 1843. Don Facundo's experiments with distillation techniques, charcoal filtering, cultivating of specialized yeast strains, and aging with American oak casks helped to produce a smoother and mellower drink typical of modern rums. It was with this new rum that Don Facundo founded Bacardi y Compañia in 1862, and the great rums of the 19th and early 20th centuries date from this time.

--------------------

Now for those of ye with deeeep pockets I have found a place a while ago which specializes in rare liquors for purchase I don't share me plunder wit just anybody!

A remarkable cache of rare Fine Old Jamaica Rum circa 1870-1890

Also has anyone found the following Aussie rum

Bundaberg Rum Black Label - discontinued, extremely rare, 40.0% alcohol, 80 proof

Drink responsibly, watch yer drink so no one steals it!

[Jacky Tar]

I'm wit' Ransom, an hav not acquired the taste fer rum. I too prefer wine or ale.

However, Red Cat's history of rum, has inspired me t' persevere an try t' find a rum which agrees wit my palate.

[Blackfoot]

I am a big fan if Bilgemunky's website and their is excellent choices. One of his recommendations was Angostura 1824. My philosophy is like Bilgemunky. If they are going to put out a good rum, the way it is packaged / presented is very important to me. The Angostura 1824 is pricey and bottled old world style. It is strong and really meant to "sip it slowly and enjoy." I have had my bottle almost a year and still have over half of it left over. It is excellent and very "smooth."

For the people who have a hard time drinking rum, or you want to get to drinking the rum at a party or club, I really like Captain Morgan's Tattoo MIXED with soda. The only way I can describe this is "delicious." I would never try Tattoo alone. It is really a mixing rum and drinking it alone would be like taking a swig from a strangers tobacco spit cup.

[Bilgemunky]

I like Goslings... but one of my shipmates gave me a bottle of Cruzan Black Strap rum as a housewarming gift and I have to say it shivered my timbers like no rum has in years (not since that 173 year old shipwreck rum...). If you like molasses, you'll like the black strap.

Now another shipmate at the same time gave me a bottle of 10 Cane Rum. It's the extreme opposite of the Black Strap. The 10 Cane is clear, and packs a punch without much extra flavor, and is every bit as good, just in the opposite way!

Blackjohn's post perfectly illustrates the one great dilema in seeking rum recommendations - tastes vary. Blackstrap and 10 Cane are two rums for which I hold zero value - both taste of molasses (blackstrap sharply so, 10 Cane only because every other flavor has been filtered away) to such a degree I may as well drink molasses straight up (something I've never cared to do.)

HOWEVER (and lest anyone think I'm bashing Blackjohn) there are scores of rum fans that disagree with me on these opinions. And scores of others that wouldn't feed these rums to a spaniard. Tastes vary.

The only answer... try different rums until you find one you like.

And there's the solution!

btw - Blackjohn, you can't just mention 173 year old shipwreck rum and then walk away, mate. Details!!!

[blackjohn]

Blackjohn's post perfectly illustrates the one great dilema in seeking rum recommendations - tastes vary.

And my tastes vary... I like quite a few different rums. Though I will admit I'm usually not fond of flavored rums. Since you have done us a great honor by coming up with a list, I should work my way through it. How's that for a New Year's resolution!?!?

btw - Blackjohn, you can't just mention 173 year old shipwreck rum and then walk away, mate. Details!!!

Therein lies a tale... the tale of my descent into piracy!

It all began many, many years ago, when I was an honest enlisted man in the Continental Army...

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

For the "winos" like me... The Ron Zacapa is a sweet rum, and that is probably why I favor it over the others. It is a sipping rum, not for shooters or mixing.

I used to be a terrible drunkard in my youth, but I got better at it with time and practice.

I went dry for several years, and came back as a wine drinker, and so also became fond of the finer examples of drink. Kind of out of place here among the rednecks and hillbillies I am descendant from!

Bo

[Salty]

Capt Morgans tattoo rum is dark and spiced and very good plain or mixed

[Red Cat Jenny]

Bilgemunky...you're welcome The reading was my pleasure!

BlackJohn, I am right behind ye wit that New Years resolution! What a great idea! ...and we WILL get that story from ye..heh heh hmmmmm

For rum novices, mix. I still find plain old Capt Morgan mixed in diet coke tastes just like cream soda. So much so that one day I...... well let's just say oops that was embarassing!

I like trying the odd little ones. Barbadian, West Indian...something with a deep dark secret. I love going into a good liquor store that has wines divided by country and that cage of rare and expensive vintages. It's fun just to window shop and every now and then you find something really good. Usually those are the guys who will expound you with a huge amount of info if you ask.

[Red-Handed Jill]

Ah... rum and coke - like mother's milk to me. In this case, almost literally.

Not sure if I've shared this amusing little story, but when my brother and I were kids (as in as young as five years old) we used to go over our grandmother's house occasionally so she could babysit us. We were typically active kids and weren't into sitting around and watching Lawrence Welk, much to my grandmother's chagrin. So she used to open a can of Coke for each of us, pour out much of the soda and replace it with rum. We would drink this elixur, get downright placid and sit quietly, watching whatever it was my grandmother wanted to watch (i.e. Lawrence Welk.)

Now my brother and I weren't allowed soda (other than the very occasional root beer) so I had no idea what Coke without rum tasted like until I was about fifteen years old. The first time someone handed me a can and I had a sip, I spat it right out, yelling, "what the hell IS this stuff?! THIS isn't Coke!"

To this day, Coke without rum just tastes wrong.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Ahhh, no wonder ye turned pyrate!

[Jacky Tar]

Aye, Red-Handed Jill, true t' her name, tells great stories. Her grandmother was as fine a pirate as Captain Hook!

[Red Bess]

Capt Morgans tattoo rum is dark and spiced and very good plain or mixed

I did not find Tattoo good straight (cough-syrupy) and never found anything good to mix it with. I do like original Capt Morgans (very good in eggnog) but my favorite rums (so far) are Pussers, Pyrate XO and Lambs Navy. I admit I do mostly mix with Coke or Sprite (I'm still young at rum drinking -- I'm an old gin-and-tonic gal) and all make excellent grog.

And I do agree that Bilgemunky is a great resource for rum reviews.

[Quartermaster James]

Aye, there's no substitute (and no accounting) for taste...

As to my taste...here's a brief list of tasting notes:

Tattoo? Strikes me as Captain Morgan's answer to Jaegermeister.

Pyrat XO? Mighty tasty, but more a cordial or liquer than a rum.

Gosling's Black Seal? Now there's a fyne rum. Don't be messing it up with mixers, water, or ice.

Prussers? Nice spicy note.

Cruzan 2 Year Old Estate Dark Rum? Economical choice for mixing, making toddies, or sipping with ice. Nothing stellar here, just a good workhorse of a rum. :)

And there's plenty more rum out there! Of course, I am going to keep reading Bilgemunky's reviews, and trying new (to me) rums!

Anyone ever had the chance to try Tanduay?

[Red-Handed Jill]

Aye, Red-Handed Jill, true t' her name, tells great stories. Her grandmother was as fine a pirate as Captain Hook!

My grandmother was an alcoholic (surprise surprise...) I'm just amazed that neither my brother or I turned out to be so. All the same, my upbringing has been fodder for lots of interesting stories.

[John Maddox Roberts]

A bit of American rum trivia: Rum wasn't especially popular in America during the 20th century until WWII. Reason? With the war imported liquor became scarce. People just had to do without Scotch, Irish whiskey, French wines and brandy and so forth. Even domestic liquor was hard to get because of sugar rationing. But there was always plenty of cheap rum from Cuba and Jamaica. This was when rum and Coke became an American favorite and bartenders began to specialize in exotic rum drinks like the Zombie (shudder).