O.V.D Old Vatted Demerara

OVD – Old Vatted Demerara Rum.  Imported from Guyana to Scotland (something about dark rum seems to suit the cold climate and raging alcoholics) since 1838 by George Morton Limited.  I understand this is now owned by Wm Grant Ltd who produce a lot of the whisky sold in the UK supermarkets.

The rum comes in your standard bar bottle (the one pictured is a litre bottle) with a clear uncluttered label which has all the essential information required to let you know what you are getting.  The rum is widely available in Scotland and is stocked in England by Tesco (amongst others) the litre bottle set me back £23 and the 70cl bottles around £18.

This would put the rum in the same price and style as Skipper Rum which is widely available in Sainsburys.  Or so I thought.  Whilst Skipper looks similar it is actually more of a Navy Rum in the style of Lambs.  OVD does not have any of the spiced notes that Lambs or Skipper has.

The label shows the rum has won a few gold medals but doesn’t expand much upon what they actually are.  Which is a little odd and slightly suspicious!

As a Demerara rum I was expecting the usual sweet taste, the dark nature of the drink also made me think it may have caramel to further the sweetness.

The rear of the bottle states that rum can be enjoyed neat.  I’m not a big sipper of rum but I couldn’t handle this neat.  Although it seems quite smooth it burns quite harshly.  With cola it immediately froths up (as Navy rums often do) however, it doesn’t taste quite like a navy rum.  Initially its very much like sweet coffee.  After a few glasses I was very much enjoying it.  However, upon revisiting the rum I have found that it has a bitterness to it in the aftertaste that lingers rather too long.  This makes the experience of drinking the rum a little unpleasant after a while.

It’s a good value rum and quite readily available.  To me its a winter rum for when its cold outside.

Ron Abuelo Anejo 7 Years Anos

After noticing the “Ron De Jeremy” Panamanian rum whilst browsing on Amazon, I felt the need to try a Panamanian rum.  There are only so many Bajan, Jamaican or Cuban rums you can try before you think they all taste fairly similar and you aren’t really getting anything different for your money.

I’m someone who frequently changes drinks and I’m always looking to try something new.

With that in mind I decided to change my usual thought processes when ordering rum online and broke just about all of my rules with my most recent consignment.  The Ron Abuelo is a rum I would never normally buy.  It comes in an unsexy bottle, it has “ron” in its actual name and whilst it   got some decent reviews from a couple of rum reviewers the man on the street seemed to be totally ignoring it.

As mentioned already the rum is from Panama and the company has been going since 1908 and produce a wide variety of spirits not just rum.  I won’t bore you with too much information as the company website is here if you wish to investigate.

The packaging of the bottle is similar to a red wine but the best comparison to be made is to that of a port.  The rum is around £25 and for that price you get a decorative cardboard sleeve and the satisfaction of a very decent corked closure.  I don’t like the fact that the bottle looks like a cheap bottle of Spanish plonk but the sleeve and cork almost make up for that.

On pouring the rum is much lighter than I was expecting.  This is probably because I was expecting a thick viscous port to come out of the bottle.  The bottle is dark so you really have no way of knowing until you pour.  The rum itself is similar to a Venezuelan rum its not quite as smooth as the Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva but its a little smoother than that companies Anejo (which is similarly priced), to be fair it should be smoother as it is a few years older.  The rum is bottled at 40% abv.

The rum is very fairly priced and very pleasant.  Despite being only a 7 year old I think its more suited to someone who sips rum.  The cola seemed to take away some of the flavour of this rum.  Personally with this in mind I think its too good to mix in cocktails.  If you like your spirits neat or with a little ice this bottle may well be a very good introduction to the world of sipping rum.

Plantation Original Dark Rum – Overproof

I was originally going to get a bottle of Goslings Black Seal 151 rum (I’ve seen tried it in a miniature) but I noticed that one of the online stockists seemed to have made a mistake in pricing this (getting it mixed up with the Underpoof version I suspect) and thus I picked this up for £20 rather than around £33.  I love a bargain me!

I’d tried an Overproof rum before, Coruba 74 so I kind of knew what to expect.  I ordered this in the hope of adding it to Zombie cocktails.  However, as you can see from the bottle it’s found other uses (such as getting people very drunk on their stag parties).

The rum comes in the standard bar bottle, however rather than a metal screw top you get a nice corked closure, which is always something I like.  The pop of the cork and the aroma of the rum is always a nice little touch I find.  Except maybe not this time……..

If your experience of Overproof rum is a Woods or a Pussers then you may not be prepared for the smell of this rum.  Even Wray and Nephew’s White Overproof doesn’t smell the way this does.  It’s not a pleasant smell, I guess its just pure alcohol.  It literally has fumes coming off it as you pour it.  It’s telling you in no uncertain terms to be careful and respect it.

I tried it neat (I poked my tongue in it – which went numb).  I’m sorry to say this but you can’t drink this neat unless you are a tramp, a pirate or a lunatic.  It’s just horrible.  I will liken this rum’s strength to a curry.  If Pussers and Woods are Vindaloo’s then this is a Phaal.  I don’t believe anyone who eats Phaal actually enjoys it and I find it difficult to believe anyone could enjoy this rum straight.  Sorry that may sound harsh but its not for sipping!

It’s difficult to determine the taste as I think your taste buds retreat due to the smell.  It’s just very boozy.  Even when diluted with a pint of cola to just one 25ml shot it still smells of alcohol.  I’m sorry but I just cannot get past the smell.

As a Zombie topper this is fine, as a sipper you would have to be lacking a sense of smell and taste, even as a mixing rum it must be used very liberally.

Beyond the novelty value of a 73% I see no reason why I’ll bother with another so potent Overproof rum.  Definitely not for me.  I would imagine an Overproof rum drinker would have one eye, a beard and a parrot on their shoulder.

The other Plantation rum’s in the range are excellent, however. I will be posting some more reviews of their Underproof offerings soon.

Wray and Nephew White Overproof Rum

The infamous Wray and Nephew White Overproof rum which has been available in the UK via Tesco for some years now.  I can only imagine this is due to its huge popularity in Jamaica This rum apparently counts for 90% of all rum sales in Jamaica.

At 63% its not for the faint hearted, mind you neither is the packaging! Although I’m not overly keen on the packaging it does have a plastic diffuser rather than a metal screw top which is slightly better than I expected. The bottle does catch the eye I’ll give it that.

Onto the rum it is predominantly a mixing rum.  I wouldn’t sip a white rum at the best of times and I’m certainly not going to start with 63% firewater!  Despite its high ABV it doesn’t actually smell too bad.  It is a bit whiffy but you also get some citrus and vegetal aromas.  To be honest I was expecting this to be a lot worse.  This seems a decent rum despite the potency.

I mixed a 25ml shot with a liberal dose of cola, as I wasn’t expecting the taste (and mostly the smell) to be drowned out.  To be fair when mixed the rum doesn’t smell to bad and its tastes (for a white rum) pretty good.  In all fairness this rum is quite well made with quite a lot of fruity flavour adding to the cola.

I’m really quite surprised by this rum.  I’m not a huge white rum lover but this is pretty nice.  It will give a massive kick to tiki style cocktails.

The danger in this drink maybe that at 63% its very drinkable and quite easy going.  I best be careful!

Matusalem Gran Reserva 15 Year Solero Blender

Read other blogs etc and you’ll see a war of words over what this rum actually is.  Is it Cuban or is it Dominican? Should it be called a Cuban rum? Blah,blah,blah

In all honesty this is the pointless bickering which pisses me off and makes me quickly leave some rum blogs and forums.  I worry for people that some things are really so important in their lives.  I’ll still have my say on the subject but I certainly won’t be drawn into an argument with regard my opinion.

Matusalem is a rum which is produced in the Dominican Republic because the poor buggers that make it had to flee Cuba when Fidel came along.  It was once one of Cuba’s most popular brands.  So when they moved to the Dominican Republic did they change how they made the rum? I doubt it. Did the climate change the rum? Maybe a little bit, perhaps.  Does the rum taste similar to Havana Club? Yes. Is it light and delicate like most Cuban rums? Yes. Are fine Dominican rums similar eg Brugal? Yes

So basically its either a Cuban or Dominican Republic rum which tastes……..like a Cuban or Dominican Republic rum.  Right now that’s sorted onto the review.

There is something about this rum that makes me think about The Rum Diary (I must be the only person to have enjoyed that) film I don’t know if its something to do with the weird almost old fashioned shape of this bottle.  Packaging wise the rum is brilliant I love the bottle, cardboard sleeve and a lovely corked enclosure.  Great stuff.  It looks chic and vintage without looking old fashioned.

Another boring debate over this rum (and most solero rums) is the age of the rums in the blend.  Again who cares as long as it tastes okay?

So onto the actual rum.  As the picture shows the rum is actually quite a vibrant golden brown colour.  Initially it doesn’t give much of a smell beyond a kind of perfumed alcohol.  Not at all unpleasant after a little while in the glass I do notice a little vanilla.  However, I’m no expert in the “nosing” stakes.

Upon sipping the rum it is smooth and very well blended in that respect.  The vanilla I could smell earlier comes through in the flavour along with some smoke and oakiness.  The aftertaste is quite spicy and hot.  Not in a alcohol burn way but more in a tingle on the tongue and taste buds.

As a sipping rum it isn’t the most complex of rums.  However, the average price of this rum has to be taken into account.  At between £25-30 it isn’t in the same price bracket as most complex and rewarding sipping rums.

Mixed 50/50 with cola the rum is almost creamy giving a smooth texture to the cola and rum mix.  It’s very easy drinking.  This is a very well constructed rum.  It has a lot of similarities in terms of smoothness to Angostura 1919.  Unfortunately much like Angostura 1919 the smoothness seems to sacrifice a little extra complexity in terms of flavour.  The rum doesn’t burst with tropical fruit.  Its a light smooth easy drinking rum with hints of vanilla and a smokiness in the profile.

All in all a good rum at a good price.  It doesn’t offer any surprises but for any conissuer of Cuban/Dominican style rums this is sure to appeal.

 

Marks and Spencer – Gran Reserva Guatemalan Plantation Rum

Gentlemans rum as its called in my house, due to my wives dyslexia.  Having said that perhaps it was Freudian slip. This is another rum from Marks and Spencer. But are they offering a premium experience at a more manageable price?

The rum comes housed in a nice stubby style bottle with a high quality polished metallic screw top.  Immediately it is a cut above most “supermarket” rum.  The bottle has a lovely uncluttered and clear styling (it’s a bit like this blog!)

The rum is available in most larger M&S at around £22-25 a bottle, I got a bottle of this on sale for £22 but its usually £25.  There are a few different rum producers in Guatemala (Zacapa are the first name on the list) however unlike the “rummaster” http://www.marksandspencer.com/cana-negra-guatemalan-rum-nv-single-bottle/p/p60046481 I do not believe you are getting Ron Zacapa 23 rum for half price.  I know this because I’ve got a bottle!

So what are you getting? Well (you may notice the label is different between my picture and M&S’s) as explained in more detail on my newer bottle you are getting a rum which is finished in cognac barrels.  Clue anyone?

Basically this is a rum which is likely to have been procured by Plantation (Cognac Ferrand) from possibly the Ron Zacapa distillery.   There is a rum available via the Plantation label which is a Guatemalan Gran Anejo.  I would say that the age of this rum is probably similar to that.  It may even be the same rum as I understand that rum is no longer widely available.  As that rum was available for around £30 I would say may guess is probably more accurate than the rummasters.

So onto the rum.  The rum is golden with a reddish tinge.  The label also states that caramel is added, if that was to impart sweetness then it has certainly worked.  The rum is as sweet as honey.  On occasion it can be too much.  I guess it just depends on the mood.  The rum is different and quite distinctive.  When the taste buds are in the mood for this rum it can be drank quite quickly.  It works as a sipper if you have a sweet tooth.

It’s a very good rum and you are getting a bit of a bargain.  Not as much as some think but still not bad.

 

 

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva doesn’t it just roll of the tongue……. Well maybe the name might not but rum enthusiasts seem quite unanimous that the flavour of this rum is certainly something that your tongue will indeed savour. With such praise it was only a matter of time (or a bargain price) before I tried some.  I eventually ordered a Gift Pack version from the Whisky Exchange which included a large decorative box and two very nice Diplomatico labelled glencairn style glasses (one is in picture).  This came in at just under £50 which I felt was reasonable enough.  Good glasses aren’t cheap!

I’ll make a confession at this point.  I had actually tried Diplomatico prior to buying this package.  Admittedly the Anejo, which is their entry level rum.  So I knew that unless something mightily strange had happened between producing the Anejo and this – it was going to be half decent! It’s often difficult to review a rum when you have seen so much positivity about it, you don’t know if you’re going to get carried away with all the hype.

As you can’t see from the dark green bottle, the spirit once poured is a golden to dark brown.  The bottle itself is quite classy with the old postage stamp style bringing something slightly different to your drinks cabinet.  The bottle has a nice cork stopper and I understand that if you buy the bottle on its own you get a robust cylinder to store the rum in.  I recently found a half decent rum stockist in my vicinity and he stocks the rum for £37.99.  It’s pretty reasonably priced.

If you have read this review previously then the next paragraphs may not seem familiar.  This is the first rum I have actually re-reviewed.  Since originally reviewing the rum I have tried numerous different rums and I have read numerous articles and discussions around rum.  My knowledge has grown. Unfortunately, one particular comment on Inu a Kena http://inuakena.com/spirit-reviews/rum-review-diplomatico-reserva-exclusiva (it is the third comment at the bottom of the review by Robert Burr) made me re-visit the Reserva Exclusiva. Now (being English and we LOVE sweet rum’s) I’m not going to wade into the pure v adulterated rum debate, but for me the idea of adding a liqueur into a supposed premium sipping rum seems to be stretching the boundaries, even by rum’s standards.  I enjoyed the honesty of Diplomatico’s Anejo and its fiery rough “rummy” feel.  I originally enjoyed very much the Reserva Exclusiva but at the time I had tried very little in the way of sipping rum’s be they “Premium” or “Super Premium”.

Anyway, armed with this information I paid the Diplomatico website a visit to see how the Reserva Exclusiva  was described http://www.rondiplomatico.com/pages/rondetalle.php?menu=1.  No mention of any added sugar syrup or liqueur no Hacienda Sauro mentioned.  So this is just a 12 year old Venezuelan rum.  Now Robert Burr is no mug he knows his stuff, he runs the Miami Rum Fest amongst other things.  It’s likely that this was insider information he was given, so it seems strange it would be untrue.  Also Mr Burr isn’t one of the “pure” rum brigade so he wouldn’t just be trying to spread untruth’s.  He loves rum! All rum!

My reviews have always been conducted using my own palate (and a little Internet research).  So with this in mind I thought I would re-visit my review and see if I was still as enthusiastic about this “rum” as I was first time around. When poured in the glass the Reserva Exclusiva is a lovely dark to golden/amber colour.  It smells sweet, almost a little too sweet.  It is fruity, oranges, grapes and raisins with scents of chocolate and a sweet almost syrupy like scent like Monkeys Blood (red syrup for Ice Cream).  It’s difficult in some ways to compare this to many rums or ascertain its style.  In terms of sweetness the best match would be El Dorado 12 Year Old.  Many reviews cite Zacapa 23 as being very sweet – in my opinion this and the El Dorado 12 Year Old are noticeably sweeter – both on the nose and in the taste.

When sipped the rum is very smooth and feels quite viscous.  It reminds me both of Baileys (Irish Cream) and Drambuie (A Whisky Liquor).  It is very sweet.  The tasting notes on the site are very accurate vanilla, fudge/toffee sauce are noticeable as are notes of vanilla and a finish which is slightly bitter like cocoa which leaves a hit of oakiness on the taste buds.  The finish is pretty short.  It lacks the complexity of the El Dorado 12 Year Old or Rum Sixty Six (two other very good 12 year old rum’s).   There is a suspicious lack of burn or heat to this rum.  There is also a lack of oakiness which I would expect from a 12 year old rum.

The word which keeps coming back to me as I re-review this rum is syrup.  Admittedly it’s sweet syrup not cough syrup but even still it concerns me.  Should this really have so many awards as a “Premium Sipping Rum”? Is this a case of the Emporer’s New Clothes? Are we are all being conned into buying a rum which has been altered to such an extent it should really be labelled a liquor?  Why do so many reviewers note this is an excellent “after dinner” rum?  Has the haste to remove Zacapa from its previous position as the undisputed number one led to us “loving” the Venezuelan underdog all the more?

To be honest I feel that maybe the Reserva Exclusiva has perhaps went a touch too far.  I still have some of the Diplomatico Anejo so I’m going to try something.  I have some Ginger Liqueur.  Will adding a tiny drop of the liqueur even out the rough edges of the Anejo? The answer is undoubtedly yes.  It now exhibits the viscous nature of the Reserva Exclusiva.  Its not liqueur level but its definitely thicker than a standard rum.  It rounds off the rum’s rough edges as well – tastewise it was a Ginger liqueur so I can’t really compare that.

So what has re-visiting the Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva told me? Well I’m suspicious that’s for sure and this suspicion will affect the scoring.  I don’t feel that gives the rum a high star rating is fair with such a strong suspicion that the rum has been doctored with a liqueur even if it is a very small amount.  Not being funny but the Anejo was more than acceptable and I do feel that they have crossed a boundary with the rum and to me it ceases to be very “rummy” at all.

The Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva is a very enjoyable, sweet, easy going drink with a little complexity to it.  However, whether it is indeed the world’s greatest rum is another matter.  To me it is just a little bit too sweet and really not all that complex and very un-rum like in many ways.

Cockspur 12 Handcrafted Bajan Rum

Cockspur 12 (also Cockspur VSOR in some markets) is the premium rum of the Cockspur range (admittedly they only have 6 lines in total and at least one of those isn’t available outside of Barbados!).

It’s funny but despite Cockspur being my favourite sub £15 rum I didn’t actually have high hopes for this.  I’m not sure why but I just thought that I would be left a disappointed by an “expensive” version of something I enjoyed so much in its cheapest form.

The Cockspur 12 comes in a stubby bottle, with quite an upmarket uncluttered appearance on the label.  It also adds a surprising touch of class with a cork stopper.  Even the Cockspur Cockerel has had a make-over.  Having seen a bottle of the VSOR I wasn’t expecting this to be quite so elegant.

The rum is a typical Bajan style rum, similar in appearance to most golden rums.  However, the rum does have a very orange almost red tinge to it.  Light and fruity.  I always find that Bajan style rums are best for mixing in long drinks.  I’m sure that’s how they do it in Barbados.  Whether they do it with the more expensive Cockspur 12 is another matter……..

As mentioned earlier I’ve always enjoyed Cockspur 5 star rum and this rum has all the same attributes as the entry level version, except its a lot smoother and the ageing gives it a whole new depth in taste.  It is a very fruity rum, I found it similar to R Seale’s Rum Sixty Six (which I enjoyed immensely).  The rum has flavours of tropical fruit, it bursts with flavour.  There is no nasty aftertaste or burn.  It can be sipped, mixed with cola or other drinks and will give a very tasty profile to cocktails.

There are a lot of Bajan style rums available.  In particular at the price point of this Cockspur 12 (£30-35).  Rum Sixty Six as mentioned, R Seale’s 10 year old (from the same distillery), Mount Gay XO and Black Label and Plantation have a very nice 5 Year Old at around £20-25.  Even M&S have a very decent Bajan rum (see my review).  Still I think Rum Sixty Six aside this is a cut above all of those.  I can’t really call between this and Rum Sixty Six.

What more can I say another very nice rum!

 

La Mauny V.O. Rhum Vieux Agricole

Ahhh the French you could almost hate the entire nation for Michel Platini and his anglophile tendencies alone.  So the French being the French they couldn’t make r(h)um the English way they had to do it their way.

And so was born Rhum Agricole (Agricultural Rum) a more expensive way of making rum.  Agricole rum is made from fresh pressed sugar cane juice rather than molasses.  Due to the price of the various rhum agricole’s on offer I was expecting something quite spectacular.  However, from looking online it seemed quite overlooked and not a lot if it seemed to be getting on any notable award lists.

So I thought I best try a bottle myself.  I bought a cheapish (£25) bottle from the Whisky Exchange, I noted as soon as I bought a bottle it disappeared from their website.  Upon receiving the rum the dust on the admittedly very nice cylinder housing the rum confirmed that they might have had it around for a while.

Nevertheless the rum came in a very nice cylinder with a really lovely bottle and a cork stopper.  It promised so much, it looked to elegant so graceful, so very French.

I’m not sure if I’m the only person as a youngster to chew on grass during breaks from playing football but this is what this rum reminded me of.  I suppose as its made with fresh pressed cane juice rather than molasses this maybe isn’t so unusual.  Unfortunately the taste of the rum also is predominantly grassy.  It’s not horrendous or hugely unpleasant just weird.  To me personally it just isn’t rum.

I originally thought that perhaps the rum was “off” (the dust on the bottle and the disappearance from the website) however I tried another Rhum Agricole shortly afterwards and again felt I was back on the football field chewing the cud.

It’s weird I’m not even sure it should be classed as rum maybe it really is something else this rhum…………

Chairmans Reserve Finest St Lucia Rum

This is without the doubt the most difficult rum review I have done so far. When I first got into rum (my homepage blog explains more about that) this was the first rum I bought online.

Confused by all the information available on the Internet and still with little understanding of dark, golden, demerara, pot still, column still, agricole (god help us) etc I decided to try a bottle of Chairmans Reserve. I’m still at a loss as to exactly why I decided to try this particular rum. Was it the unusual dumpy bottle? The mostly positive reviews? The price? The awards? Was I drunk? Who knows I really cannot remember……

I plumped for a bottle from Amazon. I think it cost my including postage and packaging about £23. Which considering this was someone who had bought only supermarket rum was pretty expensive! I’m not sure if I bought it to convince myself that supermarket swill was just as good or whether I was really intending to try every rum I could get my hands on.

The rum could have been a massive disappointment. It was coming up against Cockspur 5 star Fine Rum. That was setting me back about £13 a bottle a the time so it had to be good because I could get two bottles for the same price!

It’s difficult not to biased with regard this rum. It was the rum which made me realise just how good rum could be. It convinced me that a more expensive rum could actually be worth the extra money. It’s the bottle that led me to write and set up this blog. Over two years on I find it amazing that I’m sitting sipping this rum (I’ll add cola soon don’t worry) and contemplating just how I’m going to actually review it. Anyway here goes……….

Chairmans Reserve is produced by St Lucia Distillers it is aged in Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Buffalo Trace barrels. It is aged for around 5 years and is blended using continuous and pot still rums.

The rum is quite a dark not navy or demerara rum dark but definitely darker than say a Mount Gay or Bacardi Gold. The extra ageing is noticeable.

The bottle itself is one of the dumpy style rum bottles. The rum is around the £20 mark and whilst it would be brilliant if it had a cork stopper it doesn’t it has a metallic stopper. A shame but not a surprise at the price.

Clearly, I’m quite sentimental about this rum but that is not without good cause. It’s the first rum I tasted where I thought “wow”. It’s an excellent rum. It’s sweet and fruity but has a bit of smokiness to it as well. For a 5 year old rum its quite complex. It can be sipped and it isn’t rough or harsh. There is a bit of an alcohol burn but even that is quite smoky and pleasant.

I could wax lyrical about this rum I really do think its great I’ve tried Appleton Estate XV and Plantation Barbados 5 Year Old, that I would consider to be similar rums in terms of price point at least (around the £20 mark). To me Chairman’s wins hands down. Chairmans is now available in Sainsburys for £21 and I will be ensuring that I have a constant supply of this rum.

St Lucia distillers seem to be quite overlooked on the Internet and world of rum blogging (this may be because their rums don’t seem to be available to readily in the US of A) so here is a link to their website.

http://www.saintluciarums.com

I would also recommend the Chairmans Reserve Spiced, White and Forgotten Casks also Admiral Rodney. The Chairmans Reserve Spiced is without doubt the best spiced rum I have ever tasted.  In fact I would recommend anything St Lucia Distillers produce.  It’s all been excellent for me thus far!