Enjoying these tonight as I'm hungover and can't be bothered mixing my own - very tasty but pricey.

Kraken is truly awful rum, with ridiculous amounts of spice added so that you can't taste how bad the rum is. This doesn't work.

I won a bottle of Kraken in a white elephant poker tournament probably 10 years ago. Still not open, I think it's somewhere in the back of the bar.

<derail> I got a handle (1.75l) of Ten-High Whiskey (LOL plastic bottle) as a house-warming present ~10 years ago, kinda as a joke. I look at it occasionally, and move on to better. Still unopened.</derail>

On topic: I've got a handful of 50cc rum samplers that I'm going to burn through this weekend. Nothing 'high-end' like Vig talks about, but some interesting flavors. If I'm blown away (or disgusted!) by any, I'll report back ITT.

I’m sort of a whiskey dork. If it’s over ten years old that Ten High probably ain’t that bad. Does it say “straight bourbon” or blended with neutral spirits? Based on the age this was likely straight bourbon and distilled by Heaven Hill and probably won’t be terrible if you kept it someplace relatively cool and out away from direct light. If I was at your house I’d drink this over over say basic Jack Daniels or white label Jim Beam or basically any blended Scotch.

American bourbon is so skewed by marketing and fancy packaging that often doesn’t correlate to the contents.

I forgot to post yesterday, so here are the rums of yesterday and today.



4. Six Saints Caribbean Rum - 41.7%.

A light colored rum from Grenada.

The nose is pretty generic, but not in a bad way. Some toffee and some spice and a little bit of fresh fruit and (perhaps) berries.

Taste is a little surprising, quite powerful, oaky, toffee and spices notably vanilla. It's somewhat dry. A nice taste with a bit of warmth and some complexity, but it doesn't last very long and the afertaste isn't bad but it is fairly bland.

A good taste, an ok smell and a rather boring aftertaste. The price seems to be around €35-40ish, which is alright for decent glass of rum, but not great. 7/10.




5. Lazy Dodo Single Estate Rum (40%).

This is a dark rum from Mauritius, a blend of rums aged 5 to 12 years.

Mauritius is a pretty interesting place rum wise as it's a mix of a bunch of different styles, so you'll find all sorts of rums from there, so including rums which are made of both cane juice and molasses. Last year also had a rum from Mauritius that was a sugarcane juice rum.

The aroma is fresh, exotic fruits like mango, some caramel and vanilla. Deep, rich and with some complexity.

The taste is very good, it's sweet but not too much. Some fruit, grapes, citrus, caramel, a lot of different impressions and a very nice balance and smoothness. The aftertaste is pleasant and lingers for a while.

This is just a great glass of rum. It ticks a lot of boxes while also being unique. It costs €~45 which is probably to the expensive side of the rums in this calendar, but the quality more than makes up for it. Without doubt my favorite so far, I could definitely see myself buying a bottle of this in the future. 9/10.

I think I've seen that for sale in the states. Gonna have to try it.

I had the choice between Bundaberg Rum and Kraken where you got 2 cans more (more than 2 bottles more of the Kraken) of Bundaberg Rum and Cola for the same price and still chose Kraken and frankly I don't regret it. Still have a bottle left for tonight.

Bundaberg doesn't even count as rum. That's a rocket fuel.

Got an El Dorado Single Cask Demerara for my B'day. Was already drunk enough not to give it a full review, but it was more delicate than the El Dorado 15, and with a slightly grassy flavor. Not to the extent of a cane rum, but definitely more so than a molasses.

Well it sort of is the same as counting Jim Beam as a bourbon.

It's been stored in the cabinet, but it's 51% four-year old straight whiskey, 49% neutral spirits. Also, the bottle has become misshapen, still sealed. It wasn't like this when I put it down there 8-9 years ago. I think that's gonna be a hard pass.

Barton Distilling Co, Ky.

Yup I’d pour that one down the drain. I’ve had another one of these hobo blended whiskeys from Barton before, Kentucky Gentlemen. Ain’t nothing gentlemen like with that whiskey.

Not totally sure but since my parents liquor cabinet consists solely of gifts from friends / business partners, I'd assume it's more expensive than the $30 I paid for the bottle of Laird's.

I doubt the FDA would be impressed with some of the stuff that happened back then.

Interesting enough my local brewery / beer hall recently did the same thing with a couple barrels of dark Doppelbock lager. The result is called Eisbock and has 13.5% abv.

I had no idea Kraken was still a thing, isn't that even a step down from Bacardi?

Well let's just say that it rates 6.2 out of 10 on rumratings.com which is passable especially when one co.pares it to 3.1 out of 10 for Bundy Rum which was my other choice. Like I said I couldn't be bothered mixing and wasn't the worst rum I could buy. Prefer Sailor Jerrys though.

6. Neptune Barbados Gold Rum, 40%.

Not a brand I've heard of, apparently it's from the UK. The rum, however, is not. It is, not very surprisingly, from Barbados, more specifically the renowned Foursquare Rum Distillery.

It's a light golden colored (bajan style) rum aged in bourbon oak casks, albeit not for very long.

The nose is nice, caramel, fruit, vanilla and just a lot going on, but it is well balanced. Just a great aroma, which reminds me a lot of RL Seale's 10 Year Rum, which isn't much of a surprise considering that that one is another bajan rum from Foursquare.

It tastes great. A lot of power and complexity, oak, fruit, something low-key interesting stuff, perhaps it's the bourbon casks?, spices and some honey sweetness. The aftertaste is oaky and a little spicy, it lasts for a bit but not very long, but it's pleasant and enjoyable.

Another very good rum, Barbados was (naturally) one of the countries from which I had high expectations and I was not let down. 8.5/10.

7. Cane Island Single Estate Australia Rum 4 Years, 43%

Made from molasses, this pot still rum has been aged 4 years in bourbon casks in the tropical climate of Australia.

It has a light copper color. The nose is nice, quite oaky and some fruityness, with some difficult to pinpoint spices.

The taste is surprisingly sweet. Not that it is very sweet, but more than the nose suggested. It's quite deep, a lot of oak again, but nicely rounded, a little spicy, with some warmth as well. The aftertaste is pleasant and lasts for a while.

A solid glass of rum. 7.5/10.

So cool to try all these varieties of rums. I need to get one of these next year.

I saw Martinique rhum agricole that was age stated at 5 years and €20 at Aldi’s of all places. Seems like a steal that I might need to pick up.

Sounds like very good value, probably won't find that at Walmart's, Target's or even Costco's.

Where did you buy this from?

it's a lots of fun, and the rums are generally pretty good. €20 for a 5 year agricole seems really cheap ime.

I didn't, it was in my rum Chrismas calendar. But a Google search tells me it can be bought both here (Denmark) and in some other European countries.



8. Rum Nation Guatemala Gran Reserva, 40%.

Rum from Guatemala, a country which is also home of the well known Zacapa rum.

I have a bottle of Rum Nation rum from Jamaica (50%) which is pretty good. Rum Nation was acquired by some Danes in 2018, which is probably why there are 36 bottles of Rum Nation rum available from my go-to rum-buying website. This rum has aged 4 years.

It has an amberlike color, it's quite light. The aroma is on the lighter side as well, but with some complexity. Fruity and sweet, caramel, vanilla, pretty typical for much Spanish style rum. It's quite nice.

It tastes good. It has a lot of depth, sweet, fruit, caramel, honey, spice, maybe a little dark chocolate and a bit of oak. It's rather complex, which I like.
The finish is decent, tastes of more of the same.

Another well made rum that is simply enjoyable to drink. I do hope they shake it up a little soon, though, almost all of the rums have been rather similar so far.
7.5/10.

9. Don Omario's Vintage Rum, 40%

Rum from Belize.

Amber colored rum, the nose is sweet with spices and some other stuff going on. It's very neat.

The taste is quite oaky, it's dry and brings some warmth with some fruityness beneath it. The aftertaste lasts for a while and develops some.

A good glass of rum, and a welcome change after 7 or 8 spanish style rums. 7.5/10.

10. William Hinton Four Cask Edition, 45%.

(I'm not entirely sure how old it is, there is a 6 year version which has been aged in four different casks, but that is 40-42% afaict.)

Either way, this is an agricole rum from Portugal, specifically Madeira.
Last year the calendar included their 3 year version.

The rum has a beautiful dark brown color. The nose is earthy in a typical agricole way, some brown sugar, lots of raisins and similar (dried) fruit, a bit of wood and wine.

The taste is quite powerful, which is expected with the high ABV. Raisins again, quite dry, less sweet than the nose (though that wasn't particularly sweet), wine, fruit. It develops a lot, there's a lot going on underneath the initial impression, it's very complex. The aftertaste lasts a while and is pleasant.

I'm generally not the biggest agricole fan, but this is very nice. 8/10.

11. Richland Single Estate Old Georgia Rum.

Allegedly the only single-estate rum from the US and A, meaning they grow the sugarcane, do distilling, barreling, aging and bottling of the rum at the same place.

This is a pot still sugarcane juice rum - they themselves call it sugar cane syrup, which I assume is just reduced juice.

A great nose. Sweet, honey, vanilla and lots of fruit. Great balance, it's just fantastic, smooth and powerful. The aroma mostly reminds me of Spanish style rums with a twist and extra sharpness. Pot still rums usually are king of aroma, and this one is certainly no exception.

Taste is pretty eventful, lots of things going on. Lots of oak, vanilla, caramel, and different herbs, fruit and other stuff. Just a plethora of impressions. Aftertaste is pleasant and lasting with a nice warmth, the drink unravels some more and makes new impression though oak is still very noticeable.

This is some really good stuff. I'm pretty surprised to see it found its way into this calendar as a bottle costs €85, but even considering the (relatively) high cost, this is a great rum. 8.5/10.

Any idea of age on the Richland rum? Does seem intriguing. As a rum from the states there probably using new oak barrels, that with Georgia weather should make for something interesting and unique.