RT's Rum Diaries

[rtbiscuit]

Ok so i've renamed the thread and thought i'd update this as i try new bottles.

 

so this whole drinking adventure started last week when i bought a bottle of this

 

 

Good old sailor jerry; now i know the receipe has been changed, and i never tried the old stuff but i have to say i really liked it.

 

BOTTLE: i loved the labelling and the fact it was still a pull cork top. the tatto designs on it were a nice touch.

 

SMELL: really strong sweet smell with a large hit of vanilla, but i really liked that, hints of cinamon and other spices come through. i kept taking the lid off just to smell it.

 

TASTE: was alright over ice, could taste the spices. but enjoyed it most with ginger beer and lime.

 

 

 

 

so this week i had to persaude myself to buy a new bottle. partly becuase SJ was on special in supermarket, but also becuase i didn;t want to be let down by bottle number 2.

 

so i decided to give this a go

 

 

its called the Kraken, and its a black spiced rum

 

was reccommended this as an alternative to SJ as apparently it was more like the old SJ than the new stuff.

 

BOTTLE: love the bottle design of this and the labelling, the old school black and white drawings make it an interesting bottle. and the twin loop top does make pouring easier.

 

SMELL: have to say the smell wasn;t as good as the SJ i thought, but it could be becuase their was less of a vanilla hint to it. and more spice. it had a slight chemical smell to it, but not in a bad way (if that makes sense) more like a medicine smell.

 

TASTE: have to say i think i prefer the SJ over the kraken, its not bad but i think i prefer those stronger vanilla hints. its by no means a bad taste, and over ice its very drinkable, and mixes well too. has a lovely dark colour to it when you pour it. and if you leave it for a bit the smell mellows.

 

 

so far SJ still has the edge for me, got half a bottle still to finish, so the next thing to do is decide what to try next. think ing i might do captain morgan next. get the mainstream ones out the way first. then maybe move to the more specialist. so far both bottles above can be bought in the supermarket

[Vik54]

have heard of mount gay, is it really that good?

 

I love the stuff..... I got hooked when I was in Barbados...and have never really looked back Its a subtle spice but I drink mine neat

 

Is on special at Tesco http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255947376

 

I like the description of this... http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=6088

[jollyranchers]

http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nl ... rodid=2474

 

This is seriously nice , if you like Bacardi you will love this , far far nicer

 

Yes it's more than Bacardi but its defo worth a try , I drink nothing else !

[Jay]

have heard of mount gay, is it really that good?

 

I love the stuff..... I got hooked when I was in Barbados...and have never really looked back Its a subtle spice but I drink mine neat

 

Is on special at Tesco http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255947376

 

I like the description of this... http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=6088

 

 

Good spot las Just told laura to get it on the shopping list

[DoogyRev]

 

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/lcbo/product/details.do?language=EN&itemNumber=64444

 

[rtbiscuit]

i was meant to be on bottle 3 now, bt i broke and got another SJ

 

i frickin love the vanilla smell it has

[Plummerman]

Got to agree with you Rich.. Once the rum bug gets you. It's smiles and wobbles all the way

 

Personal favourite is. http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-4488.aspx. Which as I found is the common affair stuff for the Cuban when I was over there

 

Make some sugar solution up, (few teaspoons and a bit of water) some fresh limes, cranberry juice.. A nice chilled highball glass, ice and the above.. Want about a centimetre of SS, half a lime squeezed into it. Mixed up. 60 ml of rum and full the glass with cranberry juice.. Hmmmmm

 

Got to try this in the Havana factory and my god is it potent, one shot and I was tittering

 

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-5657.aspx

 

Phil

[rtbiscuit]

i like the sound of that, i've come across both appletons and havana club in the supermarkets. going to try captain morgan next then move on to some of the proper stuff.

[marzman]

...so i read this thread last night and read the post about the ginger beer and lime drink. It sounded really refreshing!

 

Im normally a Vodka and ginger beer drinker, or white rum and diet coke - however we've got some Havana Club left over from a party so i tried that with some ginger beer last night... and it was rank

 

...i've got to say, i really dont like any other rum than white rum.

[rtbiscuit]

i like my spiced rum, not really dabbled with the white yet. i found that the proper jamacian giner beer in the pale can with fine stripes on the fiery stuff works well, and with lots and lots of ice in the glass, and i squeeze about half a lime in. its quiet sweet. but i find it refreshing.

[marzman]

Not a fan of the fiery stuff, and last night i made the mistake of a terrible sugar free ginger beer.

 

However i should point out that i am in no way an alcohol connoisseur, it's always Tesco Value range for me, so my alcohol reviews arent worth reading!

[Stew]

My ginger beer of choice.

 

 

 

It's 'bonza mate' and available from Costco!

[370Ad]

http://www.captainmorgan.com/en-us/prod ... stock.html

 

Captain Morgans Private stock is the best rum i have ever had.

 

The only downside is you can only seem to get it from certain states in America

[rtbiscuit]

or you can buy it online

 

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-6393.aspx

[370Ad]

or you can buy it online

 

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-6393.aspx

 

Ouch on the price though!

[Jay]

My ginger beer of choice.

 

 

 

It's 'bonza mate' and available from Costco!

 

 

Defo the best GB on the market

[rtbiscuit]

My ginger beer of choice.

 

 

 

It's 'bonza mate' and available from Costco!

 

 

Defo the best GB on the market

 

it is good, but if i can't get it i don't mind drinking

 

 

i'm drinking rum right now. have found it makes a cup of nescafe even better

[Vik54]

I found this picture of you enjoying your rum Rich :lol:

 

[rtbiscuit]

[Vik54]

They're selling it on Firebox - it made me cackle when I saw it

[rtbiscuit]

got some updates,

 

recent tries,

 

my wife treated me to a bottle of this.

 

 

now its not a spiced rum and its pretty strong, have to say its not bad, but i can;t drink it neat, and its strong in the drinks. so i use alot less. think i need to find a suitable mixer for it. still have SJ as my favourite, but this isn;t bad for a non spiced.

 

now the next one i got was a small bottle and pretty cheap and i thought why the hell not

 

 

Have to say i was suprised, it was quiet good, its the closest to SJ yet still not as good, but its got a great vanilla and caramel smell to it and the taste is very smooth. will defo be using the morgan again if i run low and can;t get SJ.

[350Chris]

I am a big fan of Rum and have quite a collection at the minute. If you are specifically after spiced rums, these two must be on your list;

 

Chairmans Reserved spiced - this is quite heavily spiced so more of a Christmas feel to it

Foursquare Spiced - this is stunning. I have one problem with it though, once it is opened it is impossible to put the cap back on

 

If you fancy the golden rums then you cannot go wrong with these;

 

Eldorado 12 year old - nicer than the 15yo IMO very easy sipping rum with a sweet demerara twist to it. My absolute favourite at the minute

Brugal - cheaper rum good for Mojihto's

 

On my to try list - these will be a birthday present to self later this year

Abuelo

Zapcapa

 

Finally treated myself to the Zacapa....smooth as a velvet cod piece - it gets me all unneccesscary!!

[wizurd]

going to have to try that sj rum. sounds good. Also good to see a review of the kraken. been thinking about getting some of that.

 

I'd definitely go for captain Morgans and also mount gay. that's a really nice rum.

 

not sure if you can get it over here but even though it's a cheap rum I always like abc rum. usually get it in florida. not sure if it's at the same level as some of these but I've always liked it.

 

Liking the reviews. keep them coming

[rtbiscuit]

i want to try and get a bottle of 4 square, looks like i might need to hit the whiskey exchange up for a bottle.

[rtbiscuit]

time for an update,

 

well I've got my mate in to rums as well, and between the 2 of us we've gone and bought a few to try over the last few months.

 

I still keep buying SJ's but as its got close to Christmas, there has been some special offers and some big reductions on the old rum.

 

so the first one I bought last night was mount gay eclipse, I thought it was about time I gave this a try as many have raved about it, and some see it as the daddy of rums.

 

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/galleries/2009/moneymag/0904/gallery.money100_spirits.moneymag/images/mount_gay.jpg

 

wasn't sure what to expect but was very pleased with the purchase. its very different from SJ in the way that its spiced differently, this has definite over tones of liquorice. you can smell it from the bottle and taste it in the glass. I didn't mind it neat, its smooth on the pallet and you do get the hit of liquorice.

SJ but its a different rum, I would say the mount gay is a better drink neat, but I prefer the SJ for its vanilla.

 

now when I brought this round to my mates last night he too had gone and bought a bottle, but he had bought this

 

http://www.proof66.com/images/hires/201105260741104dde3c564d41d.jpg

 

chairman's reserve rum, now this was a bit of a shock surprise for me, when I sniffed the bottle it was quiet a strong spirit smell, so I was expecting quiet a harsh drink. but it really surprised me on the taste. it was really smooth and sweet. now I thought the mount gay was smooth, but this as a whole new level of smooth. I didn't try it mixed as I only tried it neat, but I must say this was a proper full on sipping rum, I would be quiet happy with this all on its own over ice. I didn't try masses of it as I was playing with the mount gay. but I think this was better than the mount gay s a straight drinker. now it doesn't have the smell from the bottle that SJ has, but the taste as a neat drink blows SJ out of the water. the only down side to this is its a lot more expensive. and I think that's the thing that makes SJ so good, is VFM.

 

now I liked my mates bottle so much that when I was at waitrose today I came across this on special

 

http://www.vodkaemporium.com/images/chairmans_reserve_spiced.jpg

 

its the chairman's reserve, but the special spiced version, now I've just tried it neat, and its very drinkable, but I think the normal version is smoother this one has been difficult to place the flavour, it still has the sweet taste to it, but it has an added almost Christmas flavour to it. I think its cinnamon that coming through and maybe something a bit zesty as well. but it works well with the ginger beer. I think this makes a better mixer than the normal version, but the spice version works well in both forms. I think the chairman has nicked my new top spot. its a better drink than the SJ but sadly more expensive as well. SJ is still my favourite smell and VFM drink, but I think if i'm treating myself it would be the chairman.