What rum are you drinking today?

[jshleffar]

On 7/7/2018 at 8:44 AM, lcpfratn said:

1 hour ago, Nomad said:

Finally cracked the Paranubes... there is no way that I'd guess that this is rum in the blind, but it is very nice... as a Mezcal 

If you enjoy green olives and brine (i do) its fabulous. I'll definitely buy a second bottle.

 Finished the evening much later with some Foursquare Premise, which confused me early, but as the bottle nears its end, I am really enjoying.

 

Thanks for this, I'd wondered about the paranubes. I wanted tasty and not challenging tonight so I went to the Foursquare smugglers cove SE 12 year.

 

[Nomad]

The Paranubes is vastly different from most rums. It's not an everyday sipper but, I could see where it can scratch an itch.

 

How does the Smugglers compare to the regular Real McCoy? I know it is at 46% so that's a nice start and since I can't get it shipped to me, I probably won't get to try it. The RM12SE is a favorite of mine, but that has a finish

[NDN98]

Enjoying this one tonight and glad I brought back a few bottles from my trip to the Caribbean!

[Nomad]

On 8/7/2018 at 10:10 AM, Nomad said:

The Paranubes is vastly different from most rums. It's not an everyday sipper but, I could see where it can scratch an itch.

 

How does the Smugglers compare to the regular Real McCoy? I know it is at 46% so that's a nice start and since I can't get it shipped to me, I probably won't get to try it. The RM12SE is a favorite of mine, but that has a finish

edit- While the regular twelve year is aged entirely in ex-bourbon, approximately ninety percent of the Limited Edition spent its twelve years in ex-bourbon barrels. The remaining ten percent spent its twelve years in casks previously used for Portuguese Madeira.

[RWBadley]

Finally got to spend some time with some friends. Wowza what a lineup. Lots of notes and impressions from these. They were tasted over the course of 45 minutes to an hour, and the evolution was interesting. Favorites at first may not have held through to final. Some small water additions came into play over the time spent. Blind tasting. 

 

For now, the notes show the Principia at 124 proof showing tremendous balance and complexity with some really deep dark fruit flavors emerging. A clear winner for long intriguing mouth filling deliciousity. 

 

The Hamilton 9 batch 90115 at 134.4 proof displayed some lovely funk along with complex cinnamon and incredible finish. 

 

The Criterion surprised with a come from behind richness that took a while to emerge. At 112 proof it was on the lighter side in this crowd but no matter. It did take more time to show its fullness. 

 

The 2005 started off really strong with clear cinnamon vanilla notes. The 2004 ended up taking the finish here tho. The 2004 held up somewhat better over time. Both at 118 proof. These were somewhat similar but still different, and each one showed great character. 

 

The Dominus at 112 proof was a strong contender with a big brown sugar fruity cognac nose and flavors. Not as complex maybe. The one note of interest was a somewhat more bitter finish that distracted a little. 

 

Not a dog in the group, with each one showing a strong and well tuned personality. Yum. 

 Cheers- 

 

[NDN98]

Opened this one tonight and it is very unique, but in a good way.

[sailor22]

Super interesting notes RWBradley - thanks for taking the time.

[RWBadley]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 8:39 AM, sailor22 said:

Super interesting notes RWBradley - thanks for taking the time.

Thanks Steve,

 

I'm looking at the pic and realizing the amount of Foursquare hoard I managed to come up with.

 

The next tasting should be everything Foursquare/Doorly's under 100 proof, haha

 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by RWBadley

[StarSurfer55]

So my standby for a sipping rum has been the Mt. Gay XO.  I find that it doesn’t’ have a really strong molasses background and is a easy transition if I want to share with my bourbon drinking friends.  I was in my liquor store this weekend and picked up a bottle of  Appleton Estates Rare Blend.  A much more traditional rum flavor with the familiar molasses background.  Great contrast to the Mt. Gay.  I will keep a bottle of this in my bar in the future.

[Kane]

13 hours ago, StarSurfer55 said:

So my standby for a sipping rum has been the Mt. Gay XO.  I find that it doesn’t’ have a really strong molasses background and is a easy transition if I want to share with my bourbon drinking friends.  I was in my liquor store this weekend and picked up a bottle of  Appleton Estates Rare Blend.  A much more traditional rum flavor with the familiar molasses background.  Great contrast to the Mt. Gay.  I will keep a bottle of this in my bar in the future.

Interesting take. I'd say that both are very traditional-tasting (and excellent) non-doctored examples of their respective origins. I tend to find that molasses bomb rums are more amplified due to the craploads of sugar/flavorings added to them.

[StarSurfer55]

Thanks for the perspective.  I certainly don’t consider myself an expert in Rum and I would agree that these are very traditional in taste but sit along different points in that spectrum.

 

I have found differences in preferences based on where you grew up and how much you like the cane/molasses tastes.  I grew up in Louisiana with cane syrup as a standard breakfast item (my family used Blackburn’s while my wife’s preferred Steen’s).  Having now live in Michigan for 28 years, I have found that a lot of my friends find a strong molasses taste to be off-putting.  

 

I have a limited assortment of rums available to me here in SW Michigan so I am primarily limited to the major brands.   I typically keep Goslings for the occasional Dark and Stormy, Mt. Gay Black Barrel for Cuba Libre, and the XO for when I want a neat Rum.  I will now add the Appleton Special Reserve into the rotation.

 

 

 

[jshleffar]

finally getting a sense of taste back after being sick so Im going bold, smith and cross old fashioned while cooking and watching the games.

[lcpfratn]

Enjoyed a healthy pour of SA Revelation batch #5 that I bought a few months ago. I really like this rum, and the price for its age is incredible. I think the store had another bottle on the shelf, so I’m hoping it’s still there so I can go back and pick up another bottle.

I followed up with a small pour of Barrell Rum Tale of Two Islands, which is also an excellent rum with just a bit of Islay peat from the barrels it was finished in. Unfortunately I’ll have to wait until I travel out of town again before I’ll be able to find another bottle of it.

[jshleffar]

12 hours ago, lcpfratn said:

Enjoyed a healthy pour of SA Revelation batch #5 that I bought a few months ago. I really like this rum, and the price for its age is incredible. I think the store had another bottle on the shelf, so I’m hoping it’s still there so I can go back and pick up another bottle.

I followed up with a small pour of Barrell Rum Tale of Two Islands, which is also an excellent rum with just a bit of Islay peat from the barrels it was finished in. Unfortunately I’ll have to wait until I travel out of town again before I’ll be able to find another bottle of it.

I like your style, a lot. I've been buying up extra Revelations every handful of months, I love the stuff and it's definitely a fantastic value.

[Kane]

My third SBS of Appleton 21 vs. Joy. It's official, I like the 21 much better, it has that typical funky Appleton goodness; Joy is oak and prune driven, it is very different. Good, but not Appleton good. I have a special place for Appleton on my shelf, and in my heart.

[kevinbrink]

It's been a while since I dipped into the Foursquare stash but I picked up an RM10 which led to some comparisons as well as me opening a weirdo I found on the shelf

The Coyopa 10 cork immediately failed but I was able to avoid a major catastrophe and get it out with a cork screw in 2 more pieces, this one is weird but not bad and I really wonder what kind of casks were used for it. It's got a touch of Luden's Cough drop and a bit of funk. 

[lcpfratn]

It's been a while since I dipped into the Foursquare stash but I picked up an RM10 which led to some comparisons as well as me opening a weirdo I found on the shelf

The Coyopa 10 cork immediately failed but I was able to avoid a major catastrophe and get it out with a cork screw in 2 more pieces, this one is weird but not bad and I really wonder what kind of casks were used for it. It's got a touch of Luden's Cough drop and a bit of funk. 

So how did the various Foursquare bottles fare against each other? I would assume the 2004 was the standout winner. I think I’ve got a Doorly’s 12 and a Real McCoy 12 somewhere in my stash, but I haven’t gotten around to trying them out yet, let alone comparing them to anything.

 

Edit: Never mind! I just saw your other post about RM10.

[kevinbrink]

Just now, lcpfratn said:

So how did the various Foursquare bottles fare against each other? I would assume the 2004 was the standout winner. I think I’ve got a Doorly’s 12 and a Real McCoy 12 somewhere in my stash, but I haven’t gotten around to trying them out yet, let alone comparing them to anything.

Just posted about it in the Real McCoy 10 thread, but essentially 2004 which has been my favorite Foursquare remains in that seat, I like the Real McCoy 10 plenty and it is a big upgrade over Doorly's 12. Hard to measure the Coyopa on the same scale it's a little weird and I look forward to spending some time with it. RM10 to me is probably preferable to the madiera cask 4S bottles I have (Criterion and RM 12 2016 LE) but the port cask would give it a run even at the lower proof, I love that one. Clearly a lot of this is based on personal tastes as a lot of people really loved Criterion.

[lcpfratn]

Just posted about it in the Real McCoy 10 thread, but essentially 2004 which has been my favorite Foursquare remains in that seat, I like the Real McCoy 10 plenty and it is a big upgrade over Doorly's 12. Hard to measure the Coyopa on the same scale it's a little weird and I look forward to spending some time with it. RM10 to me is probably preferable to the madiera cask 4S bottles I have (Criterion and RM 12 2016 LE) but the port cask would give it a run even at the lower proof, I love that one. Clearly a lot of this is based on personal tastes as a lot of people really loved Criterion.

I was never able to get my hands on a bottle of Criterion, but I do have 2004, 2005, Port Cask and Zinfandel Cask, and they are all very nice. I’ve also got a bottle of Premise, but I haven’t opened it yet. I’ve probably got at least 20 bottles of rum open right now and currently don’t have room for more open bottles in my bar area without rotating open bottles back to my “bunker”...I have enough open bottles stored there already.

[kevinbrink]

11 hours ago, lcpfratn said:

I was never able to get my hands on a bottle of Criterion, but I do have 2004, 2005, Port Cask and Zinfandel Cask, and they are all very nice. I’ve also got a bottle of Premise, but I haven’t opened it yet. I’ve probably got at least 20 bottles of rum open right now and currently don’t have room for more open bottles in my bar area without rotating open bottles back to my “bunker”...I have enough open bottles stored there already.

I would say you aren't missing anything life affirming by skipping this one.

[jshleffar]

Oh my this sure is something. Tons of baked apple and brown butter with funk and plastic

[tanstaafl2]

20 hours ago, jshleffar said:

Oh my this sure is something. Tons of baked apple and brown butter with funk and plastic

I picked up one while I was in SF recently. Have tried it a couple of times and now I kind of wish I had another!

[Kane]

Barbancourt 15 tonight.

 

It seems the longer this stays open, the woodier it gets, to the point that I can hardly taste the rum anymore, seriously. The nose is still old leathery sugar cane at least, so it's servicable. I found this elegant at first, now it's just boring.

 

This is one of the longest survivors on my shelf, won't be replacing it.

 

 

 

Edit: JD cork ftw, because fck metal screws.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Kane

[jshleffar]

Clairin vaval and premise today. Used the clairin to essentially make a martini with, which was interesting and fantastic.

[evasive]

I was cleaning out the liquor cabinet today, and figured it was time to finish this off. I’ve probably had it 15-20 years. My dad used to travel to Nicaragua for a project in the 90s and I had quite a pile of them that he brought back. I’m down to a 7 now. Rum isn’t really my jam.