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Posts Tagged ‘Plantation Rum’

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#Top100Rums of 2017: #12 – Plantation XO 20th Anniversary

Posted by Arctic Wolf on December 9, 2017

The Plantation 20th Anniversary Rum is a blending of the company’s oldest Bajan Rum reserves. These selected rums were first aged in the Caribbean (in ex-bourbon casks). Then they are transported to France to be blended by Plantation Rum’s Cellar Master at Château de Bonbonnet. The blended rum is matured a second time in small French oak casks for another 12 to 18 months. This “double aging” gives rise to a startling increase in both the body of the rum and its complexity, and is the signature of Cognac Ferrand’s Plantation Rum portfolio.

Here is a link to the review for the Rum Howler #12 Rum of 2017:

Review: Plantation XO 20th Anniversary

“… This Plantation Rum exhibits a fair amount of heat in an entry full of oak spice smothered in a creamy honey-like caramel syrup. Orange peel and marmalade; bits of dark fruit (raisins, dates, and plums); baking spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla); tufts of tobacco; and little dabbles of cocoa (both bitter dark chocolate and sweeter milk chocolate) all swim around in the flavours of that oak-spiced caramel syrup …”

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We  have reached the top 20 rum spirits of 2017. I have reviewed and/or re-tasted each of these rums within the past three years. (All Rum reviews were based upon bottle samples either purchased by myself or provided to me by industry.)

You can continue to follow the countdown on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.

Alternatively you can view the list as it grows daily by viewing my Reveal Page:

The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017

Posted in Awards, Extras, Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

2016 Top 50 Mixing Rum Countdown #3: Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on December 22, 2016

2016rum_howler_badgePineapple Rum was quite a popular delicacy in the 19th century. In fact, in Charles Dickens first serial novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (published in 19 monthly magazine instalments, from March 1836 to October 1837), Pineapple Rum is the preferred tipple of the fictitious Reverend Stiggins, who while publicly preaching temperance, secretly enjoys his pineapple rum, usually mixed with hot tea.

Fancy Autumn Pineapple SAM_2737Alexander Gabriel (President and Owner, of Cognac Ferrand) in collaboration with Dave Wondrich (cocktail guru and author of Imbibe) researched the original recipes of Pineapple Rum, and then set about to re-create this lost libation.

The collaboration was an unmitigated success and their Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum has roared up my list to grab the honour of being the 3rd best Mixing Rum in my 2016 Countdown.

Here is a link to my recent review:

#3: Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum

“… Alexandre Gabriel and Dave Wondrich created this spirit with and eye towards cocktails, and so I thought I would try my hand at mixing one. With the pineapple accent so obvious within the rum, I decided that pairing that flavour with lime make the most sense. I added a bit of Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, a dash of bitters and a touch of sugar syrup and shook it over ice. The result was wonderful …”

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Stay tuned for more mixing rum revelations as I will be adding to this list each day until Christmas Eve.

And you can follow the rankings by bookmarking this page:

The Rum Howler 2016 Top 50 Mixing Rums Countdown

 

Posted in Awards, Extras, Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2016 Top 50 Mixing Rum Countdown #3: Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum

Review: Plantation Barbados (Grande Reserve) 5 Year Old Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on August 29, 2016

Plantation Barbados SAM_2678Cognac Ferrand is a Cognac producer situated in the Grand Champagne Cognac Region of France. For years this company has had a special relationship with a variety of Caribbean rum producers. This relationship is based upon the rum producer’s need for quality oak casks to age their rum. Based upon this relationship, Cognac Ferrand is able to acquire certain old and unique batches of rum from various Caribbean sources, which they bring back to France and finish in their own warehouses and of course their own Cognac Casks. To bring these special rums to market, Cognac Ferrand created the line of rums knows as Plantation Rum.

The cornerstone of the Plantation Rum line-up is most certainly Plantation Barbados Grande Reserve 5 Year Old Rum. This is a Bajan rum blend (distilled in Barbadoes of course) which was aged for five years in bourbon casks. After this initial aging the rum is transported from Barbados to France by Cognac Ferrand to be placed in used Cognac casks to enhance the rum before it is bottled.

I originally reviewed this rum in 2011, five years removed from that review, I am revisiting the review with a current bottling.

Here is a link to my recent review:

Review: Plantation Barbados (Grande Reserve)

“… The Plantation 5 Year Old Barbados Rum brings a pleasant complexity and depth of flavour to the glass which allows the spirit to be enjoyed as a sipping rum as well as a high quality cocktail rum. I also appreciate that the rum does clobber me over the head with its Cognac enhancement. I can taste whispers of fermented fruit and perhaps a ghost of the cognac barrel, but these flavours stay in the background allowing the fine Barbados rum to shine through …”

Please enjoy my review.

Chimo!

Posted in Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Plantation Barbados (Grande Reserve) 5 Year Old Rum

Cocktail Hour: The Swift-Turtle

Posted by Arctic Wolf on August 28, 2016

I enjoy watching the night sky on my back deck after sunset, and one of the highlights of the evening sky this August was the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Watching for a meteor flash, and trying to make a wish before it winks out of existence is one of the best ways to enjoy a cool August evening, and the Perseid Meteor Shower gave me a great excuse to make a summer’s evening cocktail and do just that.

The Swift Turtle SAM_2717The August meteor shower is a result of the periodic comet named Swift-Tuttle (discovered independently by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle in 1862) which last made an appearance in our night sky in 1992. The left over debris from its comet-tail crosses the earth’s orbit, and it is the earth’s atmosphere crashing into this debris (bits of ice and space dust) which provides the fuel for streaks of meteoric light in the dark night sky.

A slip of the finger on my keyboard turning one ‘t’ into an ‘r’ provides the name of today’s cocktail which celebrates the Swift-Tuttle Comet, but is not quite named after it.

The Swift-Turtle

2 oz Plantation Barbados (Grande Reserve) Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
3/8 oz sugar syrup (1:1 ratio)
dash Fees cocktail Bitters
ice
orange peel

Add the first four ingredients into a metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a strip of orange peel

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Posted in Cocktails & Recipes | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on Cocktail Hour: The Swift-Turtle

#67 Plantation Guatemala Gran Anejo Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 19, 2015

Cognac Ferrand  has long had a special relationship with a variety of Caribbean rum producers. This relationship is based upon the rum producer’s need for quality oak casks to age their rum. Based upon this relationship, Cognac Ferrand is able to acquire certain old and unique batches of rum from various Caribbean sources, which they bring back to France and finish in their own warehouses and of course their own Cognac Casks. These special rums form the basis for Cognac Ferrand’s growing line-up of Plantation Rum..

Plantation Gran Anejo GuatemalaThe Plantation Guatemala Gran Anejo is a Guatemalan rum blend which is produced from sugar cane syrup (rather than molasses) on a short column still. The rum is aged for a minimum of four years in bourbon casks in Guatemala after which it is transported from Guatemala to France to be placed in used Cognac casks for a finishing time of five months.

Here is a link to the review of the #67 spirit in my Rum Howler Top 100 Spirits Countdown.

#67 – Plantation Guatemala Gran Anejo Rum

“…The initial nose is of rich molasses accented by dark tobacco and cocoa. A certain fruitiness rises into the air with scents of raisins and dates accompanied by the more pungent aroma of prunes. The chocolate aroma seems to grow in the glass more quickly than I was expecting, and I am really loving the effect it is having on my senses …”

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You may follow my Countdown list of the 100 Best Spirits here: The Rum Howler 2015 – Top 100 Spirits

Posted in Awards, Dark Rums, Extras, Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on #67 Plantation Guatemala Gran Anejo Rum

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