As the title suggests, I’ve been a whisky enthusiast for the last 5/6 years or so and looking for a “malternative” and I’ve decided that’s going to be rum.
What would be the Top 3 Rum bottlings you would recommend to someone like me? Couple of things to note: -
I’m very much interested in proper rums where possible - when I drink whisky, 95% it’s 46% or above, non-chill filtered and natural colour. Where possible I’d like that same style of “integrity”
2). I’ll try anything once however I’m not the biggest lover of anything smoky, unless it’s been done properly (there’s only 2 brand exceptions for this whisky-wise but on the whole not a fan)
any recommendations on who to shop with in the UK? Credible sellers that don’t take the piss with pricing
I’ve never been a whisky drinker beside having a dram in a pub. I’m not too familiar with the whisky styles, so I can reference them for the rum selection, but let me suggest so starters for an experienced drinker.
Nevertheless, what type of whisky do you like most?
You’ll hardly find any recommendations for standard bottlings or drinking strength bottlings over here. We usually tend to talk about single cask bottlings with high proof or cask strength.
Whit TheWhiskyExchange and MasterofMalt you probably have two of the best shops for spirits in UK and they have a good rum selection that regularly sells at rrp.
A lot of whisky drinkers seem to like Foursquare a lot. Foursquare is a Barbados based distillery with very strict ideas of unadulterated spirits.
Foursquare recommendation:
RX18990: There is no bad bottle of the exceptional cask series by foursquare, this is most likely a good one either.
A minty-fruity style that I’d recommend for experienced starters are rums from Trinidad Distillers Limited (TDL). Their standard bottlings feature a very light and rather uninspiring style, but there are some vintages which have a fantastic price to taste ration
RX13290: A very nice rum featuring flavours of mango, peach, mint, ginger, spices - and a hint of smoke, but not comparable to smoky whisky. My personal favorite bottle of my recommendations
Foursquare rum from Barbados is often recommended as a quality entry point for Bourbon and Whisky drinkers since its profile is somewhat similar. The Foursquare Exceptional Cask Series is probably what you’re looking for, but you can also start with a Doorly’s 12 which is also rum from Foursquare and quite affordable for deciding if you like the profile and then take it from there.
Not all the bottlings are great but generally the level is very high. Try first a sample (a few cl.) just to see if it’s something for you. Then come back to it in half a year or a year and see how your taste has evolved.
It’s a fascinating world but there is an entry price, both financially and to train your taste. Or maybe you will just like it at first sip.
Rx9455 is on sale right now in the shop whiskyBarrel, but it’s already a connoisseur choice.
What sealed the deal for me when switching from whisky to rum were some older Samaroli bottlings that I tried alongside their whisky range, just found them so much more interesting. that was at some whisky fair. But initially my interest peaked already with Hampden Great House 2020 (RX7547) and the Foursquares that were mentioned before. These two would be a good place to start. Also maybe a Navy type rum as well for the Guyana influence (eg. Black Tot range).
In the fantastic world of rum you often hear rum geeks talk about “funky” rum. That term usually refers to rum originating from Jamaica. Jamaican rums are known and praised to boost intense and fruity favour profiles. Thats related to the high ester content in Jamaican rums.
Make yourself familiar with the ester count levels of the Jamaican distilleries. You might want to start with Hampden [1], [2], Long Pond [1] and Worthy Park. Start with (samples of) the lower ester range.
Recommendations would be RX11 or RX51, RX17359, RX9767 (available here and here).
Also try at least one unaged Jamaican rum (RX5390),
Also nice - a blend of Foursquare and Hampden Rum: RX235
If you like them, start to explore the higher ester levels.
Personaly I feel most comfortable with the mid range ester rums (~500-1000 gr/hL AA) and sometimes also enjoy extreme rums with ~1500 gr/hL AA.
Look around, some of us offer samples from their own collection in that section.
Just had a peek at the samples section and noticing the first obstacle/hiccup - a lot of these splits or samples are based in EU and Scotland hasn’t become independent so we are still part of the UK.
Are there people willing to ship to me considering the whole Brexit mess? If not, it might have to be a “buy a bottle and risk it” method for me
One more hint: install the RumX App and check the tasting notes of rums you are interested in. Most valuable are the summary and all the individual personal notes.
Hey,
As others have stated: Foursquare and Jamaican Rums might be a good entry point.
Other than that i could also recommend Guyanese Rums, but they tend to only get better with the more money you spend, which is not something you want to have at the start.
If you really want to dive into Caroni, you could look for Samples of RX180 or some not-so-expensive (under 300€) continental 98 Caroni to find out if thats something for you. But as Cigares already said, that is not something to start with.
Shipping should from EU Mainland to Scotland should be ok, if you are ready to wait a bit for your samples. But the risk is of course to the buyer.
If you’re in the UK, then you should try to taste Rum Sponge bottlings. (They are based in the UK and also release Whiskies under Whisky Sponge brand).
Almost everything they’ve bottled is really really good.
