Ratu Rums have been produced by the Rum Co. of Fiji since 1980 at their distillery in Lautoka Fiji. There are three rums in there line-up at this time, the 5 year old Ratu Spiced, the 8 year old Ratu Signature, and the 5 Year Old Ratu Dark.
According to their website, the rums are produced from hand cut sugar cane grown in Fiji’s rich volcanic soil. The distilled spirit is filtered through charcoal made from coconut shells and aged locally in oak barrels before being bottled. Interestingly, the 5 year old Spiced and Dark rums are bottled at 40 % abv. whereas the signature 8 Year Old is bottled at 35 % abv. (This could have something to do with the Angel’s Share bringing the older rum below 40 % abv. by the time 8 years of tropical aging is completed.)
Here is a link to my full review which includes my tasting notes and serving suggestion:
Review Ratu Dark Rum (5 Years Old)
Please enjoy my review which concludes with my serving suggestion, the Brooklynite with Ice.
Chimo!
This past December, I noticed that Forty Creek Double Barrel Canadian Whisky had undergone a change. At least the bottle had changed. It was no longer sold in the typical tall sleek bottle which Forty Creek uses for all of their Special Edition Whiskies. It was now sold in the medium tall cylindrical bottle typical of their production whiskies. The change made sense as Forty Creek Double Barrel has for quite a while now been in regular production and probably belongs in the main line-up rather than in a bottle which identifies it as a special release whisky.
Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin was launched in 1987 and draws its unusual name from a competition where several marketing agencies were asked to submit possible names and bottle designs for the new Gin. Bombay Sapphire, the chosen name, refers to the British Empire and heritage for the spirit in India, as gin was an extremely popular spirit during the time of the British Raj. The Star of Bombay (featured on the label) is a famous Indian Sapphire now on display at the Smithsonian Institute.
Rare Rums is the special selection of Rum Nation bottlings. These are particular special limited edition releases with very few numerated bottles. Engenho Novo Amarone Cask (Nat84) was bottled from two casks (186 and 187) from Madeira’s Engenho Novo Distillery (William Hinton). It is a 9 year Old Agricole Rhum which was finished for 18 months in Amarone Casks, after an initial aging period in 2nd fill bourbon casks.
Recently Forty Creek Distillery (owned by the Campari Group) released The Forager Botanical Whisky. It is sort of a Gin meets whisky spirit made with a light, yet complex Canadian whisky which has been infused with wild sourced Canadian Botanicals.
The Rum Howler Blog 