kevinbrink Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 So my local Total Wine is having a 10% sale on their Spirits Direct stuff so while I'm there picking up some Hancock's I was thinking I'd scratch the itch to pick up some Rum. I am pretty much a novice when it comes to Rum, I generally pick buy Smith and Cross or Appleton so generally Jamaican Rums, so I'm looking to go with something different. Some that I've read good things about are the Doorly's stuff and the R.L. Seale's 10 yr so those are already in my cart. Anyone have any other suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Kind of depends on what you are looking for. The Doorly/Seale stuff (same distillery - Foursquare Distillery owned by R.L. Seale & Co in Barbados) is a good place to start. If you see a Foursquare 11yo cask strength then grab it! Mount Gay is another Bajan rum to consider if you want to try another brand from Barbados besides Doorly/Seale. Hard to go wrong with a reliable Jamaican rum as you already know. I am an agricole fan but that may not be a rabbit hole you want to go down quite yet! Presuming TW even has any. They might have a few of the more common names like Clement. I enjoyed the Smooth Ambler Revelation rum which is Jamaican sourced but not sure how much of that is still floating around. Outside of those it is hard to know for sure what you are getting when it comes to rum. I like El Dorado 12 and 15 but I buy it knowing it is going to have a lot of extra sugar added. Beyond that are the independent bottlers which might be hard to find at TW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpiz Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Adding to what Bruce said, and in regards to Foursquare's rums, the Doorly's line tends to be fruitier (due to use of some wine and sherry casks) and I believe the R.L. Seale's is supposed to be more spicy and savory. I have a Doorly 12yo open right now and it's excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 (edited) Thanks guys, they have a bunch of Berry's and a couple other independent bottlers I think which all count as spirts direct I assume most of those are less likely to have added sugars and additives like those companies tend to do with scotch (in the case of coloring) but they also carry higher price tags and I honestly didn't know what I was looking at. I did pick up the Doorly 12 & XO and the Seale's. Mount Gay I like I actually have a bottle of XO I didn't mention which I think is fantastic. I have a friend that works for the local SA distributor so I will have to remember to ask her to look to see if she can get me the Revelation, I probably should look at the other Rums on her distribution lists come to think of it. Edited March 11, 2017 by kevinbrink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 I may have to start dropping in at some of the tastings Astor Wines in NYC does after work to help me get my bearings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailor22 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Foursquare 2004, Mount Gay XO, Mount Gay XO Cask Strength, Appleton 21, Barbancourt, Barrell Rum, Richland Rum, Cadenhead, Rattray Caroni..... All are available but some but may require shipping. Should give you a good overview of unsweetened products Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 On 3/11/2017 at 8:56 PM, sailor22 said: Foursquare 2004, Mount Gay XO, Mount Gay XO Cask Strength, Appleton 21, Barbancourt, Barrell Rum, Richland Rum, Cadenhead, Rattray Caroni..... All are available but some but may require shipping. Should give you a good overview of unsweetened products Some of these are out of the price range I want to stay in until I have a better grasp on Rum though after my first bunch of Foursquare bottles I would like to pick up the 2004 if I could find it in my area, I did pick up the Port Cask from Astor Wines today so I'm looking forward to seeing how that compares. I'm thinking Barbancourt 15 and Appleton 12 for my next two bottles, I don't recall if I ever had the 12 (certainly haven't had the 21) but I've had my fair share of Appleton in general over the years. Appreciate all the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailor22 Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Sounds like your on the right track. Hope you enjoy your explorations and find something you particularly enjoy. The A 21 seems to show up under $100 on sale in Fla pretty regularly. At that price it's a buy for me, at something like $130 that I have seen it for I'm looking around at other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted April 5, 2017 Author Share Posted April 5, 2017 Truly enjoying the primarily Bajan Rum's I picked up though I did add a bottle of Barbancourt 15 along the way, which I'm still trying to get my bearings with. I'm thinking about taking a trip downtown to Astor and Warehouse Wines and a few things caught my eyes (mostly some overproof stuff), so hoping you guys have opinions on some of these: Stolen Overproof Lemon Hart 151 Plantation OFTD and Original Overproof Amrut Old Port All of these different Hamilton bottlings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 I think the new Plantation OFTD is excellent. it is the replacement for the previous Plantaion Original Overproof and much superior to me. I just did a SBSBSBS for the past 4 Lemon Hart 151 rums yesterday that if I get time will post in Wednesday tastings. Basically the new one is ok but falls short of the original and surprisingly the Red Label was better than either. Also a bit surprising was that the Hamilton 151 was the least liked. Only the first bottle had been open (for some time). The other 3 were newly opened for what ever that is worth. The Hamilton Jamaican Gold and Black are nice mixing rums but not really my first choice on their own. The St. Lucia Hamilton's are a very strongly funky style of rum and may take some getting used to! I have not had the Amrut Old Port or the Stolen overproof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 1 hour ago, tanstaafl2 said: I think the new Plantation OFTD is excellent. it is the replacement for the previous Plantaion Original Overproof and much superior to me. I just did a SBSBSBS for the past 4 Lemon Hart 151 rums yesterday that if I get time will post in Wednesday tastings. Basically the new one is ok but falls short of the original and surprisingly the Red Label was better than either. Also a bit surprising was that the Hamilton 151 was the least liked. Only the first bottle had been open (for some time). The other 3 were newly opened for what ever that is worth. The Hamilton Jamaican Gold and Black are nice mixing rums but not really my first choice on their own. The St. Lucia Hamilton's are a very strongly funky style of rum and may take some getting used to! I have not had the Amrut Old Port or the Stolen overproof. Nice info, thanks, I give you credit for leaving that Gold Bar bottle in the background! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Just now, kevinbrink said: Nice info, thanks, I give you credit for leaving that Gold Bar bottle in the background! Hey, its a classic! And about the worst damned classic I ever tasted I might add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 1 minute ago, tanstaafl2 said: Hey, its a classic! And about the worst damned classic I ever tasted I might add. indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 So, largely influenced by sale prices and such I figured I should try both Plantation Overproofs, the Amrut ad the Stolen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinbrink Posted April 7, 2017 Author Share Posted April 7, 2017 I came home and did the only reasonable thing I could think of, I did a SBS of the three over proofs I bought along with Smith and Cross since I have had my fair share over the years, you need a control right! If I had to order them in regards to my enjoyment It would be the OFTD just nosing out the Stolen then the Plantation OD with S&C pulling up the rear. The OFTD is really special it has lots of good rum funk and more baking spices coming through than any of the others, the Stolen is pretty unique I picked up more of a citrus not in the background that I was really digging. Overall the fact that the total spend on these four bottles is just over $80 bucks (even if one is a 375) is something when thinking about what we pay these days for high proof American whiskeys, never mind what Scotch drinkers are paying for cask strength bottlings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpiz Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 (edited) On 4/6/2017 at 5:25 PM, kevinbrink said: I came home and did the only reasonable thing I could think of, I did a SBS of the three over proofs I bought along with Smith and Cross since I have had my fair share over the years, you need a control right! If I had to order them in regards to my enjoyment It would be the OFTD just nosing out the Stolen then the Plantation OD with S&C pulling up the rear. The OFTD is really special it has lots of good rum funk and more baking spices coming through than any of the others, the Stolen is pretty unique I picked up more of a citrus not in the background that I was really digging. Overall the fact that the total spend on these four bottles is just over $80 bucks (even if one is a 375) is something when thinking about what we pay these days for high proof American whiskeys, never mind what Scotch drinkers are paying for cask strength bottlings. Thanks for the notes on these. Looks like the Stolen will be showing up in my area soon so I'll pick up a bottle. Supposedly it is 6yo pure pot still rum sourced from the Hampden distillery. Edited April 27, 2017 by Kpiz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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