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Posts Tagged ‘Rum’

#Top100Rums of 2017: #25 Dictador 12 Year Aged Solera Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 26, 2017

Dictador is produced in Colombia on the Caribbean coast at Cartagena de Indias City. Rather than being produced from molasses, the rum is produced from the virgin honey of sugar cane which has been distilled upon a stainless steel alembic, and aged using Dicatador’s unique take on the solera-style aging system.

Dictator’s solera aging system is a cascading process where younger rums are aged in oak casks and then blended with older rums. The aged rum are arranged in different flights with the oldest distilled rum on the lowest levels of the Solera. The younger rums are placed on the upper levels with the very youngest rums at the top. As the rum is pulled from the lowest barrels for bottling, the barrels are not fully emptied, and those barrels (about half full) are then topped up with rum from the levels just above. This marrying of old and new softens the fiery younger rum and provides the final blended rum with a refined smoothness and flavor not found in ordinary rums.

The Dictador 12 Year Old Rum, is a solera aged rum which is taken from the solera at the point where the age of the rum within that solera row is at least 12 years of age.  Some older rum is certainly within those barrels as well.)

Here is a link to the review for the Rum Howler #25 Rum of 2017:

Review: Dictador 12 Year Aged Solera Rum

“… A light oak smokiness present in the rum seems to be acting to carry the other elements in the rum forward. I liken this to a well aged brandy in its delivery and in the manner in which the oak leads out in front without devouring the other flavours …”

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We  have reached the top 25 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

 

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#Top100Rums of 2017 #32: Penny Blue XO

Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 21, 2017

Penny Blue XO Single Estate Mauritius Rum is produced by the Indian Ocean Rum Company which is a partnership between the local Medine Distillery on the Island of Mauritius and the aforementioned Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits. Penny Blue is a true Mauritian Rum, distilled from the locally produced molasses from the Medine Distillery’s home-grown sugar cane.

According to the information provided to me, only 10,000 bottles of Batch #004 were produced. Thirty-four percent of the blended rum was matured in ex-bourbon casks, and sixty-six percent in ex-Whisky casks. The ages of those rums varied with the oldest being 11 years old. After blending, the rum is bottled at the Medine Estate.

Here is a link to the review for the #32 Rum on my list of the year’s best:

Review: Penny Blue XO Single Estate Mauritius Rum (Batch #004)

“… a yummy combination of butterscotch, vanilla, orange peel, oak spice, almond and leather. It is really quite nice especially as neither the sweetness of the butterscotch and vanilla, nor the sharpness of the oak and orange peel spice, nor the almond or leather dominate the breezes above the glass. Instead each acts in unison with the others resulting in a complex mixture of scents which is very enticing …”

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To follow the countdown list on a daily basis, you should follow me on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.

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

The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017

The Reveal Page will be updated at least weekly through September, October and November and then daily in December.

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#Top100Rums of 2017 #32: Mount Gay 1703 Master Select

Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 19, 2017

1703 is a significant year in the world of rum. That is because this was the year that Mount Gay Rum was first produced on the Isle of Barbados which makes Mount Gay Rum one of the oldest, if not the oldest brand of rum in the world. Because Barbados is situated as a gateway from the Atlantic to the Caribbean, sailors from the Old World often used the island as the  first resting point on the way to the New World.  This meant Barbados was ideally suited for trade between the two worlds in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.  Part of that trade was rum which is why the island is considered the birthplace of the rum trade.

The Mount Gay 1703 Master Select Rum is a premium rum blend which features aged pot and column still rum stocks from well aged barrels within the Mount Gay treasured reserve. These barrels have an age range of 10 to 30 years and feature the some of the oldest rums that Mount Gay has to offer in the areas of Craftsmanship and Quality. Apparently Mount Gay Master Distiller, Allen Smith personally selected the 55 barrels used within the Master Select blend.

Here is a link to the review for the #32 Rum on my list of the year’s best:

Review: Mount Gay 1703 Master Select

“… full of treacle and molasses tainted with tar and nicotine. Oak spice and orange peel begin to make their presence felt and soon dark brown sugar and rich baking spices (vanilla, cinnamon and cloves) begin to well up into the breezes. Wisps of dry fruit (raisins and dates) and bits of licorice stain the molasses while hints of spicy sap appear within the oak spice …”

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To follow the countdown list on a daily basis, you should follow me on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.

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

The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017

The Reveal Page will be updated at least weekly through September, October and November and then daily in December.

 

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#Top100Rums of 2017 – #42 El Dorado 8 Year Old

Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 9, 2017

According to the El Dorado Website, the El Dorado 8 Year old Cask Aged Rum is blended from selected stocks of rum which were produced from no less than four of DDL’s traditional Heritage Stills including both the original Wooden Coffey Still which was rescued from the Enmore Estate and the Double Wooden Pot Still which was rescued from the Port Mourant Estate. Each of these stills is well over 200 years old and they represent the last of their kind operating in the world today. The use of these ancient stills ensures that the Demerara Rum produced at DDL’s Diamond Distillery is unlike anything produced anywhere else in the world. (For more information on the unique Heritage Stills in operation at the Diamond distillery you may read my first hand account here (Diamond Distillery Tour).

Here is a link my newly revised review of the Rum Howler # 43 Rum of 2017:

Review: El Dorado 8 Year Old Cask Aged Rum

“… The rum exits with a glow of cinnamon and wood spices and flavours of delicious butterscotch. The butterscotch fades to bitter treacle, and the spicy glow remains well after the rum is swallowed. Near the very end of the taste experience, the rum begins to ooze bittersweet chocolate …”

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To follow the countdown list on a daily basis, you should follow me on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.

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

The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017

The Reveal Page will be updated at least weekly through September, October and November and then daily in December.

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#57 of 2017: Kirk and Sweeney 12 Year Rum (#Top100Rums)

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 26, 2017

Kirk and Sweeney 12 Year Rum is crafted in the Dominica for a company from Sonoma California called 35 Maple Street, which is the spirits division of The Other Guys (TOG). TOG is wine company led by August Sebastiani, a member of one of California’s oldest wine families. The Sabastiani family has been involved in the Californian wine industry since August’s great-grandfather, Samuele Sebastiani, opened his family run winery over 100 years ago.

According to the 35 Maple Street website, their rum has been named for a wooden schooner of the same name. This schooner, KIRK AND SWEENEY, was a rum running vessel which brought rum from the Caribbean to the Northeast Coast during Prohibition. The ship was apparently captured and seized off the coast of New York in 1924 where enforcement officials found an enormous cargo of rum aboard. The rum is produced from stocks that have been aged for 12 years in American oak barrels.

Here is a link to my review of the #57 Rum of 2017:

Review: Kirk and Sweeney 12 Year Rum

“… The longer I allowed the glass to breathe, the more those oak and tobacco scents seem to build in the air. I suspect the initial sweetness I noticed was holding back the oaky scents, but once they pushed through, the rum seemed to be equally permeated with butterscotch and fine oak spices …”

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To follow the countdown list on a daily basis, you should follow me on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.

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

The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017

The Reveal Page will be updated at least weekly through September, October and November and then daily in December.

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