New trick for us old dogs

Paul B and DFW.TX Blackwell is definitely not Spiced. It has 0gpL sugar or additives. It has been tested for additives by multiple different testers. http://rumproject.com/rumforum/viewtopic.php?t=1683

LostSoul: Wow! I now feel so very fortunate that I can just drive a few miles to Walmart and buy as many 17 ounce cans of Goya coconut water as I want for less than $1 US each. However, I cannot get the kind of rums that you are able to get. But since I have rated more than 300 rums and only a few of those are no longer available, I think I have enough data to govern my repeat purchases. The thought of the extra cost and trouble of mail order would not appeal to me, even if it were allowed where I live.

DFW.TX: I also originally considered Blackwell's Reserve to not be a spiced rum, especially since it beat out another sample at a bar when compared to Appleton 21. However, after several bottles of Blackwell's at home, my internal plumbing does not lie. It is slightly spiced. Chis Blackwell is a legend in the music industry and could probably get away with this. By the way, he had Joy Spence come up with four different possibilities for his rum to be marketed. He took the first sip and liked one of them. The other four tasters on his panel all unanimously chose one that was different, which is what we have on hand. His musical tastes does not match his rum tastes.

DFW.TX: Thanks for the clarification on the 15 year old Barbancourt. Next month, I will buy a full bottle and update my review from more than two years ago that was based upon a one ounce sample from a bar. As for Blackwell's Reserve, I have that one classified as a spiced rum, but slightly spiced. Since I no longer have any spiced rums in my group of rums in stock (notice that I never call myself a collector), I could not perform the coconut water ice cube test on it. For what you did, why even bother going through the trouble of freezing the cubes and then letting them completely melt into the Blackwell's rum? Once the cubes are out of their tray and placed into a container, it does not take long for them to turn very sticky with the sugar trying to find it's way to the top. Just add the coconut water to the Blackwell's and save yourself the trouble. I keep several large cans of Goya Coconut Water on hand at all times. This is much healthier than sodas when being used as a mixer.

Richard: I seriously doubt that the two different names are the same 15 Year Barbancourt. My guess is that they wanted to shake away the bad vibes from the post-earthquake rums and get a new start with a new name. However, it could still be the same rum in the bottle. They are so secretive over there in Haiti that we will never know for sure.

Paul B: Isn't the Estate Reserve and the Reserve du Domaine the same rum? Just labeled differently for English and French?

Mujuru: You did successfully swap your 15 year Barbancourt review. After sorting the Reserve du Domaine reviews by date, it appears to have been available from 2-8 years ago. The Estate Reserve appears to have replaced it and that is the one that I sampled one ounce at a bar about two years ago. I was not all that impressed, but back then I had no idea how important it is to allow a rum to breathe. I really should give that one another try and update my review next month (because I am now on a roll for zero alcohol expenses this month!).

Paul B My initial review of the 15 Year Reserve du Domaine that you may have briefly seen was in error. I meant to review the 15 Year Estate Reserve. I have since deleted my erroneous review under the Reserve du Domaine and correctly put it under the Estate Reserve. Please let me know if you still see my review under the Reserve du Domaine, it shouldn’t be there. All that said I love the 15 Year Estate Reserve, it’s one of my favorites. Oddly I do not like the 8 Year at all but that’s because it’s just too intense and peppery for me. The 15 Year mellows it out while bringing the other flavors to the forefront. Also I just came across a dusty Dictator 12 sitting on the back of a shelf in a tiny store here. I promptly bought and am waiting to pop the top on it. I see it is one of your top rated rums. I really look forward to getting into it.

Mujuru: Where on earth did you find the Barbancourt Reserve du Domaine? All I have seen available is the Estate Reserve. Both are aged 15 years and both are two entirely different rhums.

Paul B - that is some juicy info. I love Barbancourt 15 Year (I have it rated a 9). The only reason it isn’t a full 10 is because of the intensity of the Limousin oak. It also has 0gpL. I will bet that it would elevate that to nectar of the Immortals. Thanks for testing and sharing beyond the suggestion. That helps further solidify the usefulness and applicability of this “hack”.

Mujuru: Those first two rums that I tested with coconut water ice cubes were both from R.L.Seale. One worked great and the other not so great. With that little bit known, I stayed away from sherry casks or sweetened rums. My next test was with Appleton Reserve Blend 8 Year. This was also an improvement for a good rum. Then I chose Ron Alegro XO, which is made from cane juice in the Dominican Republic. Technically, this is an aged agricole that does not bide by the strict rules for agricoles in the French West Indies. This rum was just slightly mellowed out with these unique ice cubes. I then tried my 896 8-Year from Barbados. These ice cubes also mellowed it out. I was doing quite well so far and then I dared test my second favorite rum of all, Dictador 20 Year solera. Whoooa! The coconut ice cubes took a fantastic rum and made it even better! So in conclusion, only use this test for bone dry rums having 4 gpl or less of added sugar. The reason that it did so well on your MGXO is because I have that rated as an overly priced cheap rum. However, I would venture to say that this test would work well for anyone still having a bottle of Mount Gay Eclipse.

Yeah, glad to be of help. I had MGXO rated as a 7 but was really frustrated because I loved most of it except that specific taste of sour on the finish, but I disliked that specific sour note so much that it took what I was going to rate a 9 all the way down to a 6-7. But...a single large coconut water ice cube removes that sour note completely and ratchets up the other notes that I love and turn that rum into a straight 10 - as in one of the best things I have ever drank level. I told the poster on the r/rum reddit that gave me that tip that he was a genius. I suspect it may not work well with sweeter rums or rums with specific cask finishes, but man does it ever elevate dry bourbon aged rums.

Mujuru: I finally took your suggestion after digging through all of these threads to see where the idea originated. Since my one bottle of MGXO is long gone and rated in my lower 5% overall, I had to pick another bone dry Bajan rum from what I have on hand. It was time to open up one of my bottles of Alleyne Arthurs Special Barbados Rum, which I have ranked in my upper 25% of all that I have reviewed on here. Two ice cubes made from premium coconut water elevated this budget rum into something worthy of being served at a fine restaurant. I also tried this with Doorly's XO, but that did not work as well, probably due to the sherry cask aging conflicting with the coconut water. A word about coconut water. The ones that contain coconut bits taste a lot better than those without. I actually did a side-by-side comparison on those. So I keep the premium Goya Coconut water on hand at all times, and simply strain all of the coconut bits out before using the water in drinks. Now when I made the ice cubes, one large can of Goya made 24 cubes. It was hell getting them out of the tray where they were stuck. I will be forever thankful to you for this tip!!!!

LostSoul - this is the one that costs $44. The one that is commonly available. vomi1011 - specifically freezing the coconut water into large ice cubes creates a different experience than just mixing with coconut water. It’s hard to explain but you get less dilution and a richer, fuller mouthfeel. I bet this would work great with any dry rum but especially with very dry and very oaky rums.

I keep low calorie Goya coconut water in my fridge for mixing up a whole bottle mixed with about 8 ounces of rum. Freezing coconut water as ice cubes? That is a new one on me and thanks for the tip! When I came back from Alaska, I started buying glacier water for the purpose of making glacier ice cubes. Those can save almost any low grade rum.

Coconut water with rum is a damn good classic mix :) In the book "How to drink rum" from Dave Broom Mount Gay XO got three points with coconut water. Other classic mixes are clementine juice, ginger beer, coke and old fashioned. Cockspur VSOR, Havanna Club Seleccion de Maestros, Flor de Cana 12, Don Q Gran Anjeho, Brugal 1888 Gran Reserva Familiar, La Hechicera, Bacardi 8, Abuelo 8 got five points with coconut water in the book.