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Try to get a well lit shot from the front of the rum label
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One can never go back to other spirits after rum
Paul, I was 100% with you (until yesterday). I've stuck to rum exclusively and I don't get hungover.
But my wealthy neighbor was driving by me in his Corvette convertible yesterday and asked if I liked tequila and want to drink some. It was Clase Azul for $150 a bottle. Now I see why articles now say try certain rums and tequilas for Old Fashioned's.
I'm not running out to buy a bottle, but it snapped my multi-year rum streak -lol.
Even tho I "slipped," I agree with you in principle!
RonRumHead:
I briefly got into premium tequilas a few years ago. The only one that I would still buy is Jose Cuervo Reserva de Familia in the wooden gift box. It was almost $200 and the price has gone up much more since then. And thanks to a website called Taste Tequila, those reviews steered me away from buying an overpriced bottle of Clase Azul. Thank your wealthy neighbor, but don't splurge on a bottle. It is for those who have money to burn. My price limit for one bottle of rum is now also $150 US.
Paul B,
I'd never splurge on Clase Azul ... and I love having rich neighbors with money to burn - lol.
Go Saints!
RonRumHead:
Another Who Dat fan on here?!!!!!! Wow!!! My dad took my brother and I to see the very first Saints game in Tulane stadium way back in 1967. I remember that day like it was yesterday and I met many other lifelong fans who were at that game. Being a Saints fan must be our secret to longevity!
I was trying to find some of those old flat black Dictador bottles today because the rum in those was what we all loved until they recently changed it. They are all gone, but I saw another bottle of Jose Cuervo Reserva de Familia. It now runs $224. The new wooden box is now pink. Yikes!!!!
I did score a liter of 2004 Limited Edition Bacardi Reserva 16 Year at 90 proof for only $89. That is a bargain and so much better than most of the Foursquare ECS limited edition rums.
On another note, it is very hard to maintain my Who Dat fanaticism because I have been banned from the Superedome since 2017. Long story!
RonRumHead,
I have never had Clase Azul, but I know it to be a highly sweetened and manipulated mediocre juice in a very fancy bottle, engineered to appeal to the masses who like sweet things - specifically, the American palate. Other very popular brands that use sweeteners or other additives are Don Julio (mainly the 1942), Casamigos, Adicitivo, Cava De Oro and a few others. None of these represent what Tequila should actually taste like.
You can find far higher quality Tequilas for 1/3 the price, but you might or might not enjoy them because you would have to like the taste of agave. Fortaleza, El Tesoro, Ocho, Siete Leguas, G4, all are traditionally made pure Tequila with a strong agave taste. Most of the top brands purposely age them in depleted barrels so they don't take on strong barrel flavors that obscure the agave. Patron is actually a well-made Tequila but their basic lineup is not well regarded by true Tequila lovers because they purposely produce a milder agave profile to appeal to a wider range of palates.
Paul B,
Depending on where you live, you should be able to find the Cuervo for under $200, even under $150 in some parts of the country. There are some other truly outstanding XAs in that price range - Tapatio Excelencia, El Tesoro XA and Paradiso, Suerte XA (Crown bottle is a 7 yr and Lucky Lips is 8 yr). A little more pricey is Tears of Llorona, which usually runs $225-250 but is a liter bottle and widely regarded to be the best currently available. (Best ever is El Tesoro 70th anniversary XA, of which I am lucky enough to own one full and one mostly full bottle).
i don t think that one can t go back to other spirits after rum !
as a bar owner i do try every kind of stuff i can find, after 5 and a half years i m becoming an expert,
will always drink a good aged honest spirit (with no additives),
just today there are some problems:
rums are often with added tons of sugar/other additives
tequilas are 99% mixtos (yes if you don t see 100% agave, it s 15/20% agave, plus brasilian cachaca)
and if they are 100% agave they are very expensive (more than cognac)
cognac mostly you ll find from the top 5 houses, good stuff but everything over rated and too
expensive for what you get
(you can find good brandy from every place in the world that have some grape production, it s cognac but you can t call it cognac and sometimes really good, better than many cognacs)
whisky (scotch single malt or irish, japanese) too expensive too !
bourbon also expensive because its from another continent
(and here 90% of american whiskey drinkers chose jack daniels that in my opinion is the worse of all)
vodka and gin i m not interested, just mixers, becoming too expensive after intensive marketing ...
so now my idea is: drink happily every kind of spirit you like, when you find a good
product buy it and drink it ... no matter what it costs if it s good !
in the net you ll find sites for every kind of spirit to help you chose ...
than when you try and try, you know wich brands to avoid ...
but ok rum is my preferred spirit ...
Bar la moura
i don't know how things are where you live - Croatia according to your profile - but overall there are very few mixtos on the market today, unless you look at the absolute cheapest crap on the bottom shelf. Even those must be at least 51% agave, I think you are getting confused with blended Scotch which usually are 15-20% malt and the rest grain whiskey.
no, true tequila you ll find most in few specialized stores, jose cuervo, sierra, agavita,
(ok cuervo and sierra have good stuff too but not in normal supermarkets)
such stuff are normal offerings in normal stores, and no i m not confused,
for example tio pepe have 50% tequila, other stuff way less, never heard about 51% agave is a must ...
i know the story about blended, i always have a bottle of teachers highland cream at home, it s cheap and 45% of single malt inside (ardmore)
I know it's a rum site, but since Tequila has come up, Scott T. is spot-on with the recommendations of Fortaleza, Ocho, G4, El Tesoro, Siete Leguas. I'll also add in there ArteNOM 1579 and Codigo. All of these are reasonably easy to find in, in my neck of the woods anyway... Not sure if it is universal across their entire lineups (probably), but as I understand it, these are all unmanipulated.
The likes of Don Julio, Patron (though also unmanipulated I believe), and Clase Azul seem to be marketed for a younger, particular demographic by my observations, and it can be challenging to convince them to look elsewhere or try something new.
Near me, mixtos (by definition) are definitely the exception, by probably 100:1. If wee're just talking m
I do like me this site:
https://tequilamatchmaker.com/
Bar la moura
Does google not work in your country? These definitions and regulations are very easy to find. There is one mixto I buy all the time, El Tequileno blanco, 70% agave and 30% made from piloncilo sugar, which makes a high quality neutral spirit.
https://www.insidehook.com/article/booze/mixto-tequila
ok found it, mixtos must have 51% agave destillate,
and i found some time ago that the other 49% is cachaca (brasilian sugar cane juice destillate)
now i hate just the idea of mixing 2 different spirits, so for me mixto tequilas are a big no !
was in mexico with family in january this year, brought home a gran centenario leyenda
(we don t import it here) and it is good, but i really like rum more :)
spent around 115$ for the bottle, for that sum could have been some really good rum...
but ok mexico is the tequila country ...
DB,
Codigo is a good brand (especially for a celebrity brand), but it has become far too pricey in recent years compared to its competition. I got a bottle of the blanco for $35 a few years ago, but at its current $50+ just not a rebuy. I had a mini of the anejo in a sample pack and it is very good but not $120 good, that puts it up against some good XAs. The Rosa is interesting and a kind of love it or hate it bottle, at its current $65-70 price tag just not a buy. (I did luck into a couple bottles a year or so ago for $45).
True Scott, it is a bit pricey! (But good - I always recommend giving it a try if one is willing to put forth the $$$...)
Bar La Moura - yeah, I thnk if you're gonna get a hangover, it's far more liley to happen with a mixto! But hey, it's cheap for the college kids...ha, ha...
are we speaking too much about tequila ? let s talk about rum here please
bar la moura
There are plenty of other threads about rum, feel free to hit the scroll button. Seeing as "other spirits" is in the title of the thread.
Scott T:
Good to see you back on this site after all these years. You have obviously switched to premium tequilas. I did for a while and even delved into mezcals. One brand of mezcal stands out for me, and that is Xicaru. Del Maguey may be the most popular brand of mezcal, but I just stick with what works best for me. I still returned to my beloved rums. Another really good affordable tequila is El Padrino, which I believe that it is only available from Total Wine.
Hi Paul,
Yeah I've been on a Tequila kick the last year and a half or so. Before that it was Bourbon, before that Scotch. Seems like quite a while since I really have tried many new rums. I did recently buy a bottle of Appleton 15 yr Black River cask, and although it is quite good I don't know if it is worth the premium over the 12 yr. Next time I go to TW in Knoxville I might try the Plantation Xaymaca and maybe Fiji.
I have branched out in mezcal quite a bit, trying other agave varietals than Espadin (which is what most entry level offerings are made from). Unfortunately, these can get pricey very quickly. I tried a Jabali by Bozal I found at a very good price of $70 (avg over $100 on wine-searcher.com ). I have a cupreata that tastes like minty juicy fruit gum lol. The variety and intensity of flavors in mezcal is incredible, I have only begun to scratch the surface having tried maybe 20 or 25 different ones.
I have bought a bottle of El Padrino - anejo, I think - several years ago. It seemed decent at first, but by the time I finished the bottle and tried better brands, it seemed very boring and fake tasting, so I suspect heavy use of additives. I recently tasted the blanco at a store sampling and it was not good, bitter peppery aftertaste. I have seen decent reviews from a few years back, and I suspect they have begun mixing in some diffuser juice as many cheaper brands have done in recent years. It is a TW store brand from a distillery that cranks out over 140 contract brands, many of them celebrity brands laden with additives.
Scott T:
As for wasting your money on the two fairly new offerings from Plantation, don't do it!!! The Xaymaca is a low ester Jamaican rum further ruined in cognac casks. I posted a lengthy review on it. As for their rum from Fiji, the pretty bottle fools many. It smells like a bicycle tire patch kit. Others have mentioned Magic Marker. And who would want to drink this!
Have you ever tried a pechuga mezcal? It sounded good in theory as to how it is made, but I did not think it was worth the extra money.
Paul,
I know people who love Pechugas, but I have never found the concept of distilling with a raw chicken or turkey breast to be very appealing - or lamb (borrego) or ham (Iberico) can also be used. There is a vegetarian sacrificio (general term) by Bozal using nuts, pumpkin seeds, and such that is supposed to be very good that I plan to buy next time in Knoxville. I thnk my gf will like it because it is not smoky at all and she's vegan.
Scott T:
Here in Ontario, Canada it's almost impossible to find decent additive-free tequila. It's sad because tequila is such an interesting and complex spirit. The state of cognac is also laughable here; the most basic offerings from the mass market houses (Courvoisier, Remy Martin, Hennessey, Martell) run $66-$80.
Odysseus,
I have heard about what a wasteland Canada is for Tequila - even worse than North Carolina, which has an awful selection. I load up on trips to Tennessee.
That evil spirit vodka was alway my tipple...straight up shots not polluted.
At some stage of life, RUM suddenly came into my life. I was like a new born baby! I had suddenly escaped from my mother and I was a free spirit! I've never looked back, only upwards and onwards, better rum means better life!
Paul B,
Do tell about the banishment!!!
I'm originally from Detroit. When I was 12 years old the Michigan Panthers won the USFL title & I was smart enough back then to not root for the Lions but I love football (UM grad).
Who was the Panthers QB? None other than the legendary Bobby Hebert. He started playing for the Saints when I started HS. I was the only kid in Detroit who was a Saints fan. I had a hat and everything.
Even my daughter & wife wear Saints shirts. Thinking of driving up to watch them play Tampa next season.
Who dat?!?
Interesting conversation. New to this but I've been intrigued by tequila. Rum is the new world order (we wont discuss) but tequila has interested but scared me. So, recommendations please, beer is so passe unless it harvestoun beers. Currently listening to The Rolling Stones
Can I just sat that Jimmy Cliff is an absolute God. Please listen many rivers to cros. You're all good folks.
RonRumHead:
My being banished from the Dome comes from my refusal to get a smart phone. In 2017, admission was by those cardboard season tickets or after market tickets on smart phones only. In years before that, I spent LOTS of money to buy aftermarket tickets to sit close to the field and get that section fired up making noise. It did work and I could mention a few QB's who we all adversely affected. Now since my aftermarket ticket was always a printed copy of the PDF file, I knew that these were subject to being hacked and counterfeited. I always entered the Dome when the doors opened. If someone hacked my ticket, they would not be able to enter the Dome. Well, one time a young man came up to my seat near the 50 yard line on the lowest level. A very pretty heavy set girl sat to my right. She was his girlfriend. He told me that I was in his seat. I showed him my paper ticket. He went upstairs and called his dad. Yup, his dad sold that seat online to me because he did not want his son with a fat girl. Both went storming off to enjoy the game elsewhere together. As for rum choices in the Dome, they were all pathetic. And 2017 was when they stopped accepting paper tickets, after all of that money that I spent on them in prior years. Let's just say that it was loud fans like me that helped them get to the Super Bowl. I still refuse to get a smart phone to this day.
I had my run with cognac when I worked maintenance at a local liquor distributor and found that at least with cognac you get what you pay for and including all the other guys, our go to, although on the expensive side, is Remy XO. We found that any XO is way superior to any VSOP, fact! Trust me, we tried them all except the Louis the X111, that was locked up tight, don't short yourself with anymore VSOP. And, if you don't feel the price is right stick with rum. As far as the $1 for the snifters, you may have unduly paid for what should be free. At least in N.Y. it's against the law to sell a bottle with added "gifts" for more than the bottle price. Although it was only $1 do the math times 100k..... If the laws are the same, which they should be, go back to that retailer and tell him your on to him. Lol! By the way, I'm far past anything else but rum, if you haven't noticed! Oh, by the way our favorite scotch was also Lagavullin, when it first appeared at the distributor, Although that was some 20+yrs ago. I tried it about 6yrs ago and will not buy again. Seems another cash grab to me! When it became popular 20+yrs ago it was on target. So, let's think about this for a moment. We have this liquor industry wide cash grab. If we run out lie to the consumer he's an idiot and will still buy. Ring any rum (ships) bells? This also applies to tequila, which I see there are quite a few lovers on this blog. You need to switch to mezcal. To be precise, 400 rabbits, do not go to Monte Alban. That's just like your bottom dollar 2killya. Now, another favorite at the warehouse was Porfidio, that tequila is way worthy if you can find it.
must say that not always XO cognac is better than VSOP, why ? because some
producers also add more sugar to mask some bad aging or really i don t know
why, an example ? kelt XO, with all the story of ocean aging, is really very sweet,
another example ? claude chatelier XO, also unnaturally sweet, done some research,
it s part of pierre ferrand that also owns plantation rum ... so with cognac also we
need some luck to find products without or with low dosage
but in principle XO of course is better than VSOP because from 1 april 2014, by law
XO have to be minimum 10 years in barrel (before it was 6 years), still trying new cognacs
sometimes and i must say that i have had some good and bad surprises, prefer to buy ones
from smaller houses because less expensive ones, but many times they are hard to find
5 big houses are always more expensive than others (remy martin, courvoisier, hennessy,
martell and camus) but also you ll find them easier in stores and airport duty free ...
as for lagavullin 16 it s a classic peated single malt, it s among the most peated ones
and i have it, sell it but personally i don t like it because it s too much peat for me, i prefer
speyside whiskies, tried good stuff even from other 3 whisky regions but really cant drink
islay whiskies
must say that not always XO cognac is better than VSOP, why ? because some
producers also add more sugar to mask some bad aging or really i don t know
why, an example ? kelt XO, with all the story of ocean aging, is really very sweet,
another example ? claude chatelier XO, also unnaturally sweet, done some research,
it s part of pierre ferrand that also owns plantation rum ... so with cognac also we
need some luck to find products without or with low dosage
but in principle XO of course is better than VSOP because from 1 april 2014, by law
XO have to be minimum 10 years in barrel (before it was 6 years), still trying new cognacs
sometimes and i must say that i have had some good and bad surprises, prefer to buy ones
from smaller houses because less expensive ones, but many times they are hard to find
5 big houses are always more expensive than others (remy martin, courvoisier, hennessy,
martell and camus) but also you ll find them easier in stores and airport duty free ...
as for lagavullin 16 it s a classic peated single malt, it s among the most peated ones
and i have it, sell it but personally i don t like it because it s too much peat for me, i prefer
speyside whiskies, tried good stuff even from other 3 whisky regions but really cant drink
islay whiskies
oops sorry for double posting this stuff
Being one who is obsessed with detail, I was wondering how much my alcohol expenses have changed since starting out on Rum Ratings and I have monthly spreadsheet totals for decades on all expenses. (This kind of thing saved my ass in a nasty divorce!) So I calculated moving averages for two different periods. The first was in the two and half years since I retired in May of 2015. The second period was since joining this site in December of 2017 until now. No surprise, my average monthly alcohol expenses have doubled since joining this site. Oh, but was it ever so much fun! Granted, I tried two rums costing around $200 US, which caused me to impose my own $150 limit per bottle. But the quality of what I have been drinking since joining this site has gone up tremendously.
I hope that many of you will also see an improvement in the quality of rums that you drink. Before joining this site, I would just pick out whatever was available in stores that I had never heard of. That is one sure way to get bottles of rot gut!
Francesco,
When it comes to Cognac you should go for the small houses as you wrote and it should be produced from grapes from Grande Champagne.
The best ones in my opinion is Hine, Delamain and Grönstedts.
The latter one wins the yearly competitions all the time.
hi stefan, cognac regions are all good, but ok grande champagne and petite champagne are the most
renowed, did you knew that fine champagne is a mix from grande and petite champagne ?
but even if it s grande champagne they can (with new regulatives) add up to 20
grams of sugar per liter and you know this is my problem
https://www.cognac-expert.com/
this site is a shop but is very good to learn a lot about cognac, i never ordered something
but probably will take some bottle when they give some discount, you can find a lot of info
about the world of cognac, it contains even a blog
We did extensive taste testing at the liquor warehouse and although some VSOP stood out we all agreed the XO was superior. Now an interesting fact that was mentioned is that some cognac has added sugar. We didn't know this at that time. It seems everyone is adding sugar to their premium lines. I tried a bourbon last month and was surprised that it was way sweeter than rum. It was like drinking bourbon flavored simple syrup. This whole sugar thing is depressing. I guess there's no stopping this sugar for cash grab in the entire industry.
Kevin, not all cognac producers, just some add sugar, as for bourbon, i have some bottles
in my bar (maker s mark, buffalo trace, blanton s ... more than 10 bottles, one day i ll put some pics),
a good bourbon always have 43% or more ABV and i didn t find added sugar in bottles we have,
even the standard jack d. is awful but dry,
also i know that bourbon will be always sweeter than rye whiskey but is a natural sweetness,
maybe maybe in nikka from the barrel that is japanese they put some sugar (yes it s sweet, on
the border of acceptable sweetness so i like it), but other japanese i have are all perfectly dry and
high quality products
Just don't see myself going anywhere else but rum. While at the liquor warehouse we tried every kind of liquor imaginable and at that time scotch was my favorite till I got a little salt in my head and that was that. It's been rum ever since. Dont see any turning back.
Oh, there's some good whisk(e)y out there, no doubt! While I favor rum, I'll always have a number of whisk(e)ys on hand. I don't collect other spirits, save a few for cocktail mixing, but there are some great ones out there worthy of consideration as sippers. Wish I had more room!
Kevin,
I don't know what "Bourbon" you tasted but no straight Bourbon wll ever have any added sugar. You must have tasted some sort of Bourbon liqueur. A high corn mashbill Bourbon will have more sweetness than one with a lot of rye, but will not be syrupy sweet. The Bourbons I drink are far less sweet than most rums.
Also, your recommendation of 400 Conejos mezcal is only a small step better than Monte Alban, which is horse piss. It doesn't taste bad like Monte alban, it just really doesn't taste like much of anything. Inexpensive decent readily available mezcals - Sombra, Monte Lobos, Los Vecinos, Banhez. Ilegal is OK but a huge step up from 400 Conejos. I don't even like Del Maguey Vida which is a very popular mixing brand in bars but it is much better than 400 Conejos.
Porfidio was an outstanding Tequila about 20 yrs ago, it has gone through many iterations and scandals over the years and currently does not even qualify as Tequila. And from what I have heard is total trash these days.
here mezcal is not so easy to find and also i prefer tequila because don t have that smoke
added, we sell only one mezcal, the gusano rojo, it s not too expensive and it have
the small worm in the bottle ... good bourbon i really like, one of my sons really love
the blanton s that here is a hard to find, tried only the blanton s original version ...
i like a lot the knoob creek, the maker s mark we use mostly for whisky sour, it s particular,
naturally sweet and smooth, because a lot of wheat is used for the mash ...
have good price for the quality