Rank your rums 1-5

[El Presidente]

Rank your rums for us in order. I know many of the board are lovers of fine rum but in many cases we are a little restricted to what we have access to in local markets. Rank your favourite Rums so that we know what to search out.

[Ken Gargett]

Rank your rums for us in order. I know many of the board are lovers of fine rum but in many cases we are a little restricted to what we have access to in local markets. Rank your favourite Rums so that we know what to search out.

may i make a suggestion - i think rob is absolutely correct re the comment about rums being impossible for some of us due to restrictions. that is especially so re cuban rums. our american brethren effectivgely are excluded from them (tho we here have are own difficulties as so few from the carribean end up here, though that is changing. bar havana club, which i think is very good at their top end, i suspect that even non-americans will have seen almost no cubans and unless you go, have bugger all chance of finding any.

may i suggest, therefore, that we have two categories. cuban and non cuban and do a top five in either or each if you are familar with the cubans. i shall put together a list (or two) and post shortly.

[Ken Gargett]

non-cubans -

1. zacapa XO

2. appleton 21 year old

3. zacapa 23 year solera

4. mt *** extra old.

5. contender as really have not tried enough of this to fairly rate it - english harbour 10 year old (also like the appleton 12 and flor de cana 18 year old).

most underrated -

bacardi 8 year old.

most anticipated -

can't wait to try these two when they are released this year.

1. appleton 30 year old

2. mount *** 1703.

top aussies -

1. bundy 18 year old

2. inner circle - the long gone original.

top cubans -

1. ron santiago de cuba extra anejo - original release (the best rum i have ever tried).

2. ron santiago de cuba extra anejo - subsequent releases

3. ron edmundo dantes gran reserva 25 years

4. ron caney oro ligero - just a cheapie but a really light fresh clean rum that just dances.

5. havana club 15 years.

[tsolomon]

Of the ones I have tried, here's my list

1. Zaya - I liked the one made in Guatemala over the newer version from Trinidad

2. Ron Zacapa Centenario

3. El Dorado 12 Year

4. El Dorado 15 Year

5. Cruzan Single Barrel

[physiognomy]

Of those I've tried more than once, my favorites are as follows -

Zaya (Guatemala)

Ron Zacapa 23 Anos

Diplomatico Reserva

Pampero Aniversario

Looks like I will need to find myself a fith...

[n2advnture]

non-cubans

1. zacapa XO

2. appleton 21 year old

3. zacapa 23 year solera

4. mt *** extra old.

most underrated -

bacardi 8 year old

Wow, I FINALLY agree with Ken on something!

[bassman]

Zacapa 23 (Guatemala)

Diplomatico Reserva (Venezuela)

Clement Vieux (Martinique)

Barabancourt 8 (Haiti)

Gossling Black Seal (Bermuda)

The best of the Cuban rum I've had is Caney Oro, but I like the other 5 better.

[Ken Gargett]

Zacapa 23 (Guatemala)

Diplomatico Reserva (Venezuela)

Clement Vieux (Martinique)

Barabancourt 8 (Haiti)

Gossling Black Seal (Bermuda)

The best of the Cuban rum I've had is Caney Oro, but I like the other 5 better.

clement is definitely another i have enjoyed but i don't think we see any of the others bar zacapa and that has only started arriving this year.

rob, what about yours?

[El Presidente]

1. Zacapa XO
   
2. Montecristo Edmundo Dantes
   
3. Zacapa 23
   
4. Santiago 11 Anejo Superior
   
5. Caney Oro Ligero
   

Ken lets see if we can track down the one Jimmy recommends "Diplomatico"

[jquest63]

Straight: Zacapa 23, Barbancourt 8

Mixed: Bacardi white

[jawofboston]

I'm not a "rum guy", never have been. Then someone gave me a taste of Zacapa 23yr old. I have five bottles of the stuff sitting in my liquor cabinet now. So, looking forward to trying all of these other options!

[bassman]

By the way, there is also a Barabancourt 15, but I never thought the flavor was much better than the 8, and of course the 15 is more expensive.

Also, my absolute favorite was Caribe Viejo. I bought a bottle of it while in Paraguay. It was locally made & I seriously doubt that it is exported. I also seriously doubt I'll be back in Paraguay anytime soon.

[jfury76]

1. Zaya (Guatemala)

2. Zacapa 23

3. Barbancourt 8

4. Pyrat XO

5. Gosling's

[gerem]

1 - Ron Caney Añejo Centuria

2- Appleton 12yrs

3 - Barbancourt 8yrs

That's all I got for now...

[Ryan]

I don't think I could make up 5 rums in either Cuban or non-cuban so I'll have to do a mixed list.

Havana Club Barrel Proof (Cuban), the best HC, at least in my price range. I stock up when I can find it.

Matusalem Solera 7 (Dominican), this is very sweet, verging on too sweet, in fact it smells like Baileys but it's very very good.

Brugal Extra Viejo (Dominican) very smooth

Varadero 7 year old (Cuban) smooth

Havana Club 7 year old (Cuban), very good but left too long in the bottle after opening, it can smell like acetone.

[Stalebread]

What a timely thread.

Just got a bottle of JM '98 (Martinique) to try. I had just a taste of it some time ago and thought it was pretty good. Tonight I'm going to try it side-by-side with RZ23.

Also liked the Barabancourt 15 but have not tried the 8 year old.

Tried Havana Club 15 also some time ago but did not think too much of it.

My list is short but RZ 23 is at the top.

Interesting to see your note on Bacardi, Ken. I've wondered why it does not appear in discussions of rum. Any idea why? Mass produced? How is it aged -- stainless steel or wood? Would that make any difference in quality?

.

[cigarros]

Great thread! I prefer next one list:

1. Santiago de Cuba Extra Anejo 25 y.o. (very small edition less than 2000 bottle per year)

2. Rums from Cadenhead's negotiant plantation edition like Cadenhead's Venezuela 1993

3. El Dorado 15 y.o. (Guyana)

4. Rum Pyrat XO

5. Clement Vieux (Martinique)

Bacardi in my opnion - mass market rum, it's aged in stainless tanks. This is world bestseller rum (more than 20 billion bottles!!!)

[Stalebread]

Just got a bottle of JM '98 (Martinique) to try. I had just a taste of it some time ago and thought it was pretty good. Tonight I'm going to try it side-by-side with RZ23.

Not even close. The RZ was/is way ahead.

The smell of alcohol in the JM was predominant and the heat overwhelmed whatever flavor was there.

Like a cigar being too strong and not balanced.

JM does not make my top five list.

[perfectform]

The only Cuban rum I've tried is the HC Anejo Especial and it was memorable.

1. Bacardi 8

2. Mount *** Extra Old

3. Flor de Cana 18

4. Appleton 12

5. Goslings Black Seal

[bassman]

My favorite town in the USA, Silverton, Colorado is at 9300 feet elevation. Population around 450, yet a popular tourist destination. They now have their own rum factory. Headed there in September & will have to have a taste. The rum is only sold in Colorado now.

[Ken Gargett]

What a timely thread.

Interesting to see your note on Bacardi, Ken. I've wondered why it does not appear in discussions of rum. Any idea why? Mass produced? How is it aged -- stainless steel or wood? Would that make any difference in quality?

i think it has a lot to do with the size. big can't be good. we all joke about moet and jacobs creek but what both producers do for the price is remarkable.

i've always loved the bacardi 8 though they don't seem that keen to promote it. just done a bif review of rum in general for a trade rag here - do it annually - and always difficult to get info or samples from bacardi, though they usually seem to have good intentions. i suspect that at some stage they will twig to the way rum is heading at the pointy end and start pushing it. it deserves it.

[Stalebread]

So you're saying it has more to do with perceived quality rather than actual quality?

What comparisons would you make regarding the character/flavor of the Bacardi 8 and, say, the RZ23?

i think it has a lot to do with the size. big can't be good. we all joke about moet and jacobs creek but what both producers do for the price is remarkable.

i've always loved the bacardi 8 though they don't seem that keen to promote it. just done a bif review of rum in general for a trade rag here - do it annually - and always difficult to get info or samples from bacardi, though they usually seem to have good intentions. i suspect that at some stage they will twig to the way rum is heading at the pointy end and start pushing it. it deserves it.

[cigarros]

Hey, mates! Cuban rons are rare product aren't you?

[Ken Gargett]

So you're saying it has more to do with perceived quality rather than actual quality?

What comparisons would you make regarding the character/flavor of the Bacardi 8 and, say, the RZ23?

i do believe that percerption certainly plays a role. that said, touch unfair to compare zacapa 23 and bacardi 8. i think that the zacapa has a lot more aged material. it is a stunner, though there are plenty of so called premium rums with which i think the bacardi 8 compares more than favourably.

[Stalebread]

. . . touch unfair to compare zacapa 23 and bacardi 8. . . .

Yes, I suppose you're right on that. I was just trying to put it some kind of context.

I'm now looking forward to trying some of the rums listed so far on the top five rums list like the Mount *** Extra Old, maybe one of the Appletons or the Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva.