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Try to get a well lit shot from the front of the rum label
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How to improve your odds when buying a new rum
After 464 reviews, I have a large spreadsheet to help me answer any questions. In this case, those new to rum will want to know where to start. First off, read these reviews and find another reviewer whose taste matches yours. Also do your research on added sugar either from a few reviewers on here or from Capthain Jimbo's Rum Project. Do this BEFORE going to the liquor store!
For my ratings, anything that I rate at a 5 or less are rums that I will never buy again. With that criteria in mind, I broke down the list of probabilities for buying a good rum into dry and sweeteened. At first, I was going to do this by my own classifications, but this is too detailed. Keep it simple! What divides the two is 5 gpl of added sugar. Anything more than that will be referred to as sweetened. From 0-5 gpl of added sugar will be referred to as dry. Yes, the sugar police would only want 0 gpl of added sugar, but rums with 1-5 gpl of sugar often come from the barrels itself.
So here are the results for buying a good rum at random, but my results used the help of research on here before buying. Without first doing research on here, these figures would be lower. There is still a LOT of crap out there, so buyer beware!
Dry Rums had a 79% success rate for buying.
Sweetened Rums had only a 61% success rate for buying. These included my quest to find the best Coconut and Spiced rums.
I hope this helps.
wow and I thought I had a lot off rums ..at a little over 60 tried ...I have got a long long way to go that's impressive
Les 80:
I started my spreadsheet more than 5 years ago when I just had a few rums. I had no idea how many that I would wind up trying. Almost all of them are gone now. Those that I rated at 5 or less fell into my "get this shit out of my sight" category. I either gave them to a neighbor to soothe her nerves or poured them down the drain. As for those that I rated at 6 or above, yes, I drank them all. My focus has always been to find the best tasting rum at the lowest possible price, and I have indeed found it with Yolo Gold 10-Year from Don Pancho. No point in me going any further.
Anticipating the next question from some on what are my top sweetened rums, I now present this list of the 14 sweetened rums that I rated as an 8 for each. They contain anywhere from 7 gpl to 17 gpl of added sugar, except for the one with 28 gpl as noted. No sugar bombs made this list, but Dos Maderas 5+5 is at the top of that list for me.
Bacardi Facundo Eximo 10 year
Myer's Single Barrel Select
Vizcaya VXOP 21 (28 gpl)
Bacardi Facundo Exquisito
Pusser's Gunpowder Proof
Plantation XO Guatemala
Don Pancho Origenes 18
Ron Cartavio Solera 12
Parce 12 Year
Santa Teresa 1796
Matusalem Gran Reserva 18
Angostura 1919
Papa's Pilar Marquesas Blend
El Dorado 8
I hope this helps.
still it's very impressive
Paul, what were your favourite Spiced and Coconut rums??
Yohobro:
I just put my spreadshett to work and here are the ones that stand out in a crowded field.
For coconut rums, they are:
Brinley Gold Shipwreck Coconut
Oak & Palm Coconut
Clement Mahina Coco
For Spiced Rums, they are:
Blackwell's Reserve
Lemon Hart Blackpool
Foursquare Spiced
Brinley Gold Shipwreck Spiced
Chairman's Reserve Spiced
Bounty Spiced
Roulaison Amer Spiced
Oak & Palm Spiced
Paul, damn, it's a crapshoot for me. Unless I'm sailing and can only bring home a few bottles the only choices for me are the local TW or for that fact any liquor store around me (Long Island) all tell me rum just doesn't sell here so we only carry what sells. That of course are the mixing rums and they all suck! I have tried only about 150 which is everything under a C- note and am now running out of options. Arrrgh! Any words of wisdom on mail order or those bidding sites? I can't seem to find any of your favorites in this neck of the woods and would enjoy trying a few.
Paul B, Brinley Gold Shipwreck Gold is fantastic- I agree with you there. Lemon Hart was good too, I'll have to check out Blackwell's Reserve.
Chairman's Reserve Spiced was odd to me. Didn't need to do that one again.
You must have good access to Foursquare! I've never seen much, let alone the spiced.
Kevin:
Where I live in southeast Louisiana, spirits can neither be shipped to me nor can I ship them out. So that also rules out bidding, which I am personally against, especially after going on wild goose chases to get Foursquare ECS rums that already went to auction. However, in March of 2021, I placed orders at 3 Total Wines in Florida all the way down to Orlando. Once confirmed, I drove all the way down there to pick them up. I have always been one determined soul who will stop at nothing to get what he really wants.
And since Florida is surrounded by very nice beaches (for the most part), rum sells well and the choices are always better than where I live. I have to drive through MS and AL to get to FL, and those two states are the absolute pits for rum choices.
Now, it sounds like NY has more liberal alcohol laws than where I live, so you may want to try and have Total Wine order them for you to be picked up at your choice of store. Hint, the pickup store could be in a state with more liberal alcohol laws than NY (which is not PA). Total Wine has an excellent website. I have not been up that way in about 20 years, when I attended a few NEAR Fests.
Yohobro:
There is a very good reason that Chairman's Reserve Spiced has an odd taste. It has bois bande bark infused into it. This is nature's Viagra and it works!!! Blackwell's Reserve is a Jamaican product from Chris Blackwell of Island Records fame. Four blends were made. His staff all chose the one now in production. He did not. Marketing skills with no taste buds. And yes, there is plenty of Foursquare within 25 miles of where I live.
Paul, thanks for that insight with TW. One of my favorites is Thomas Tew and their website says they stock it but when I visit my local TW it's never there. I will be on this IMMEDIATELY. Arrrgh!
Kevin:
Set up an account with TW. Then check to see where you can find Thomas Tew (which I heard is REALLY good). Once you find a store within driving distance, order it online for pickup. They will notify you when your order has been filled. This is a fool proof way of getting what you want.
On it, most appreciated!
Wow, Paul B. You're an encyclopedia.
Thanks!