Browse Tag

rum

Iron like a lion in Zaya

Zaya 12 Year Rum (Trinidad) – Luxuriant in its tropical spiciness. Sweet, even for rum, but there’s a dark concentration to it that excuses the sucrosity. Quite appealing. (1/12)

Da Do Ron Ron Ron

Brugal “Extra Viejo Gran Reserva Familiar” Ron (Dominican Republic) – Holy crap is this awful. I mean, if they made rum in Inuvik, I bet it wouldn’t be this watery and insipid, and yet still full of nasty volatility and turpentine burn. A complete waste of sugar, calories, and alcohol. (12/10)

Little barrel

Fernández “Ron del Barrilito” Rum *** (Puerto Rico) – Old brown sugar with little pinches of herbs (thyme, perhaps…maybe tarragon). This seems like it will deliver more density than it actually possesses, but in fact there’s still a good bit of transparent primary-ness here. For me, that’s a negative, because the closer rum gets to clear, the less I like it, but for others less enamored of the barreled style, it might be a positive. (3/09)

Away, away with rum, by gum

[bottle]JM 1997 Rhum “Vieux Millésimé” (Martinique) – Not just sugar and wood, but also smoky and marshy, with a great deal of complexity that very nearly overcomes the weight of the alcohol. No rum connoisseur I, but this is the best I’ve tasted. (5/08)