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Try to get a well lit shot from the front of the rum label
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Anyone ever try and blend your own signature rum blend from your collection?
I realize I am resurrecting an older thread, but I just found it today. I made an old-fashioned with my house blend tonight. After reading some ideas on infinity bottles, and house blends, I decided to make my own. When I first made it and tried it I thought I royaly screwed it up. After it sat for a couple days all of the flavors seem to settle down. I added a cherry stick for some additional flavoring for a little over a week that seem to bring everything together. It has a nice spiciness to it. So far, everyone who has tried it has really enjoyed it. It makes an absolutely perfect old-fashioned
Earl:
I gave it a try this afternoon, inspired by the three main countries used in Black Tot, wisely leaving Trinidad out. For my first try, I always use equal parts. The countries were Jamaica, Guyana, and Barbados. Using equal parts did not appeal to my pallette. So I tried improving on this. Damn it if I got it right on my second try!!!
So here is my results to make one 24 ounce bottle of Paul B's Tot Start with 4 ounces of Jamaican (Appleton 8 year), 8 ounces of Guyana (El Dorado 8), and 12 ounces of Barbados (Mount Gay XO Triple Cask). Notice that all three are affordable and easily replaced. Keeping it this simple is the key. And this was lots of fun!
So why have I chosen to leave Trinidad out? I just bought a bottle of Bombarda Falconet and it's youger brother Culverin. The 5 Year Culverin is good but the 8 Year Falconet has a bitter finish. Both have rums from Panama and the Dominican Republic as their base. The younger Culverin adds rum from Barbados. The older Falconet adds rums from Guyana and Trinidad. So which country is responsible for the bitter finish on the older one? From my experinece with one bottle each of Caroni and Scarlet Ibis, Trinidad is the guilty one. For those that want a taste of Caroni on the cheap, it is hiding in bottles of Bombarda Falconet!!! How on earth could they afford that is beyond me!
Question is Paul, and I think I know the answer, is the whole better than the sum of its parts?
I guess that's the art of blending.
Charles:
I must have really lucked out today. What I have created is sligltly better than the new Mount Gay XO Triple Cask that comprises half of my new blend, and then adding the right amounts from Jamaica and Guyana. This is the absolute first time that I ranked one of my own blends and it came out as an 8. So the sum of the cheaper parts winds up being a LOT better than the Black Tot 5 Year that I just opened up. Granted that one has another 10.2% ABV, but that burn actually detracts from the wonderful flavor combination that I have blended today. And my version was only $35 compared to $55-$65 for theirs. Maybe I should apply for Master Blender somewhere since I am retired.
Paul B.
Here in Ontario, there aren't many top rums on the shelves unless you want to pay $500 for an El Dorado 25. Everything else is meh, so I had to do some more blending to get an Earlwibbean rum mixture. Glad to hear that your mad scientist project worked out.
Earl:
Thanks so much on the compliment for me being a mad scientist. I had a chemistry set in my pre-teens. Well, one day my mom came home to hook and ladder fire trucks parked in front of our house. My neighbor saw smoke coming out of our shed and called the fire department. My mom usually got very upset on these kind of things, but not this time. What was the problem? I had finally figured out how to make gunpowder from scratch at a tender you age. It almost burned my face off, but I was lucky. In her mind, she knew damn well that her oldest boy would go very far in life and he did indeed! So glad to still be a mad scientist!
60% Foursquare ECS 2007, 30% Plantation One Time Limited Australia, 10% Flensburg Hampden C<>H. Makes a great Navy Style Rum. 😁😇😉
Actually a little while ago I hand around 15 different rums on my shelf, ranging from various mainstream cheap brands, to some artisinal rums, to some upper end stuff (to name a few in my selection so people can get an idea, I had a bottle of cpt morgans spiced, sailor jerry, Kirk and sweeney, plantation dark double cask, libations, don papa sevilliana, havana club 7, skipper, kraken, and various others including black tot, old J Cherry, kopparberg dark fruits which were pretty awful). I am not a fan of kirk and sweeney at all, but I appreciate that it is a good quality spirit, albeit dull and lifeless and relatively dry, so used it as a base for blending to make a selection of drinks I would actually use. I made 3x full 70cl bottles with a different mix. 1. 30% kirk and sweeney, 20% Skipper, 20% Havana club, 10% Plantation dark, 10% morgans spiced, 10% Don papa sevellana. - This turned out to be an amazing sipper2. 30% K&S, 30% Sailor Jerry, 20% Libations, 20% kraken (with trace/leftover amounts of old J Cherry. I found the libation rum, despite having a faint honey essence, actually lacked sweetness, and was going for a complex mixer. was a little disappointed, but this was actually the first bottle to disappear as it was very easy to drink mixed. 3. 30% K&S, 40% Skipper, 10-15% black tot with the rest made up with kraken, a little morgans spiced, I think there was a double shot of rumbullion, basically was similar to the first, but with more dark/spiced rums. This turned out to be my favourite of them all. Generally, I dont drink a huge amount and as I love rum I tend to buy bottles faster than I drink them (especially when I get gifted some- often rums I wouldnt normally drink) so found that blending different rums, especially when you are aware of the flavour profile, and what you do like, can actually create new/interesting experiences. Again, I would hazard against hap-hazardly throwing any-old rum together, as the aim at least in my mind, was to create something more balanced and overall drinkable. mixing too many complex drinks together wouldnt work, or just mixing sweet mixer rums together again might not work out either.
I've hit my perfect blend and use it as my daily swill.. I blended initially to keep the $$ down but also to tame some Jamaican funk down and now I think it's perfect. 15% Appleton Est 12yr and 85% Duppy share gold (which is a blend of 3yr old Jamaican and 5yr old Barbados rugs) magic!
I'm going to leave this to the mad scientists out there. It's been hit or miss with me and sometimes it works just a tad better & other times it a disappointment. If the rum is already blended, to what ever degree, it's good enough for me. Besides, I'm on a voyage that has no horizons so why try blending and stay there? It's a dead end for me. I'll keep exploring the rum world while you mad scientist have your fun! Carry on mate!
I blend regularly. I buy a lot of rums, just to try them. Worst case, they become a mixer. I often will have a rum that is a little too sweet, so I blend it with one that is a bit dryer, and presto, a pleasant blend. Always experiment with small quantities in a glass. I also keep a blend bottle in my cabinet. A bottle with just a small amount of rum and a lot of air will allow some of the rum flavor to disappear. So when a bottle gets low, it gets poured into the blend bottle. The blend bottle is always a good sip, if you only pour high quality into it. Never pour something you don't really enjoy into the blend bottle.
never done this and i will never do, even with rums i don t like, they can be very good in a simple daiquiri
(rum, lime juice and sugarcane syrup) and if they can t be good in a daiquiri, you can always throw them in a coke or maybe make a mule with ginger beer and lime juice ...
This Discussion from 18 months ago inspired me to try my own blend. In my case, it was to get rid of a white rum that no longer appeals to me. There is just too much Hampden hogo in my recent purchase of another Foursqare Probitas. Never again!
Another Discussion asked how one should arrange their bottles. I suggested by the three regions in the Caribbean. This white rum was definitely English in style. For the French portion, my only choice was Clement Select Barrel. This left me with two acceptable choices for Spanish style, Don Q Anejo or Dictador 12. My three expensive Spanish style neat sippers were not considered. I chose the Dictador 12 in the hopes that the stronger notes in this one would cover the excessive Hampden notes in my white rum. This did not happen! I combined a half ounce of each. Hard to believe this, but my French style rum overpowered the English style white rum as well as my Dicatdor 12. All this proves is that nasty tasting rums do not mix with pleasant tasting rums.
I would also like to see if anyone will try mixing a half ounce of each from the three Caribbean styles. I only had 14 opened bottles to choose from and opening any of the others would not have helped. Those with large collections could have a field day, but Foursquare Probitas (Veritas in Europe) is highly recommended to be one of them.
I have been wanting to do this with a twist, not only blending them but aging the blend in a true oak aging barrel. A good friend of mine has been making oak aged Negronis for years. The company makes all different sizes of charred oak barrels even small counter top models. Here is my blend.
Jimmy:
Your blend should taste better than what I tried yesterday because your blend has absolutely no hogo funk. Hopefully, you used the 8 Year for 896 instead of their 5 year. And hopefully, your Bacardi 8 Year came from Puerto Rico instead of the Bahamas. As for Abuelo, I have yet to find one that I like. You also have no French style in the blend, but two from Spanish style. Which Abuelo was yours? Regardless, aging this blend in small oak barrels should get you a good one.
I have an infinity bottle which I put the last little bit of each bottle into currently has about 45 different rums in it and changes slightly every time it's about 3 years old and currently very good.
I have done a Jamaica infinity bottle from my collection ..
Rums in it are ;
Vidya river mumma 2005 61.5%
Appleton 12 43%
Runaway bay 42.5%
Monymusk whispering breeze 40%
Worthy park single estate reserve 45%
Hampden estate rum fire 63%
Tortuga bannana rum 40%
Warehouse John crow DOK 63%
Worthy park 109 54.9%
Monymusk ovenproof white 63%
Hampden estate the younger LROK 46%
Charly JB overproof 63%
Old brothers LPCH 47.8%
Kill devil 10 year Hampden 46%
Leaving it the stew for the year and will drink around Christmas
i have about 4 bottle of rums that are gifts... but i would never drink them i would never have thought to mix them seems like good fun trying out
Coming back to this thread & having read it..... I said why not, and put a shot from each open bottle together. A bit like these infinity bottle I guess. Got 16 sippers open at the moment. Couple of Navy, 11 other molass, 3 agricole, no white. no spiced.
Had a quick sip and it seems OK. The agricoles seem quite dominant given it's less than 20%.
Hi, long term listener, first time caller from San Diego area. I am a rum club member down at False Idol and last month Martin Cate came and did a talk about blending and aging your own rum combination. His is part of a project for Smuggler's Cove; where as he is storing and blending a mix of rums in a 2 gallon oak cask and is adjusting it as needed.Oddly, I have been experimenting with the same thing but in a much smaller scale with a bottle based system using aging staves. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YD4F5YR/ref=twister_B093K8MT8Q?_encoding=UTF8&th=1My first test was white overproof Jamacian with some splashes of Worthy Park and it came out AMAZING. It really smoothed out the overproof and gave it a wonderful mouth feel. Second test has been less discplined, I added to the original batch with an addition of Barbados Foursquare rums and topped with some Don Q 151. Came out hot and sweeter than I like so I am currently adjusting with some other regional blends from the Carribean in small quantities. Tamed the heat and the sweet. Next test will be a 1/2 gallon oak barrel sometime later this year.
One must consider what is in their collection before blending. For the really good rums that are close to perfection, blending any of them would be considered as unthinkable. The only exception to this is to use one of these sparingly, similar to how one uses well chosen seasonings while cooking. DRE? I am talking about you! Yes, this very popular sugar bomb is excellent when used as a seasoning.
This leaves one to choose from rums that are less than stellar, but not bad enough to be flushed down the toilet. My best suggestion is to blend 2 of them, with a maximum of 3. Could I ever hope to approach the blending expertise of Ed Hamilton? Absolutely not! As for trying to make your own version of Black Tot, don't waste your time and rums on such a project. I already failed at this.
This leaves the simplest of experiments. Grab a dry rum that is rather boring. Then grab a sweet rum with 20-50 gpl of added sugar. Blend those two to meet your own tastes. And quite often, two wrongs can make one right. And if that don't work, then add a teaspoon of DRE.
Paul I agree.
I have revisited my blend, and I actually find it rather enticing. Nothing hugely special in it.....
Doorly's 12yo (43%), RL Seale 10yo (46%), Bally Ambre (45%), Clement Select Barrel (40%), Arcane Extraroma 12yo (40%), Mezan Trinidad 2009/12yo (46%), Mezan Panama 2010/10yo (46%), Mezan Belize 2008/13yo (46%), Mezan Jamaica 2007/12yo (46%), Mezan Chiriqui (40%), Goslings Black Seal (40%), Barcelo Anejo (37.5%), Hopkins Rum (40%) - no idea what this is, but it's nasty and claims to be from UK, Banditti Club (52.4%), Foursquare 2007/12yo (59%), Royal Navy rum from a flagon (c 54.3%).
I bought (and sold) a lot of these flagons that went to be something rather more salubrious.
i tried to night with 2 bottles off cheap stuff i been given as gifts i used woods as well but woods overpowered the other 2
but will definitely try again with cheaper rums i know are decent
Currentl;y sipping on a 2:1 Goslings Black Seal:Rhum Clement Select Barrel. Might have to buy a bottle of Woods (or something similar) and try it with the Clement or Bally Ambre.
LOL this blog is a great read. I have not balled up to make my own blend yet I want to get a charred oak mini barrel first to age it a month or two. I guess the real magic comes down to quantity of each, equal or keep mixing by taste. I did create my own rum punch recipe for my 60th birthday though, Only took 3 blends to nail it Jimbo Punch. Not sure I remember who to make it now but not equal quantities nailed it by taste.
Found a very great classic Navy Blend.
50% El Dorado 1993/ 50% TDL 2002 % some drops of STCE white.
The Enmore has a great foundation and the TDL gives great complexity to that flavor with the mint and smoke. The Long Pond gives the Ester. Great combination. I liked it a lot.