Dictador focuses on the bottle instead of the rum inside... again

General News
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Hi there,

While I personally like Dictador rums (the old 20 and XOs are cool everyday sippers and solid gateways, I also enjoyed one of the “best ofs” I had), I have certain feelings about their branding policy. It turns out that they are more focused on bottles than on the spirit inside. I know that Caroni released their Guyana Stocks in hand-blown and normal bottles and that the handmade is more expensive, but it’s also full proof (compare Caroni 1994 Velier 23 Year Old 100 Proof Heavy / Guyana Stock | Rum Auctioneer and Caroni 1994 Velier 23 Year Old Full Proof Heavy / Guyana Stock | Rum Auctioneer).

The first release of this kind I think was Dictador Series Wixarica, bottles ornamented by Native Indians, https://dictador.com/product/wixarika/, then they collaborated with Lalique on their Generations Dictador - An International Company With A Heart, which was improperly called “the most epensive rum in the world” by several hyping magazines. And it was running on Rum Auctioneer for high prices Dictador 1976 Generations in Lalique | Rum Auctioneer. Today I noticed the Golden Cities Dictador - An International Company With A Heart.

And the Golden Cities is what I’d like to discuss (with my oppinion also). The first read on the website is “THE MOST EXCLUSIVE SPIRIT IN HISTORY: THE FIRST ONE BILLION-DOLLAR LIMITED EDITION”. Scrolling down, we have " Each bottle is expected to have a value of millions of dollars. Once the edition reaches a billion dollars, it will be closed forever.". Not to mention the bottle is made with 999.9 gold, I think such pure gold can be easily deformed with bare hand.
My thoughts are:

  • “it will be closed forever” certainly refers to the bottle… it might be as well empty inside :slight_smile:
  • why are they giving the high price in advertizing their product? Usually shops do the opposite :slight_smile:
  • I somehow don’t like it. I mean, I respect the art part and also the ones who earn with rum investing but this particular bottle I just don’t understand. The rum is out of focus. It’s like a rum cake, the role of rum is secondary. And the diminishment of the rum role with simultaneous glorification of the high price… I know there are different oppinions about high prices of Velier Demerara rums but these spirits are at least highly-rated and occassionally drank.

Sorry if I got driven away, If I harass somehow feel free to remove the topic… otherwise I’m very curious what you guys think. Arranging a split? :laughing:

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Only if I can keep the bottle :crazy_face:

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But more seriously, I find this new marketing gimmick extremely ridiculous.

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This is capitalism in its final stage :slight_smile:

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Btw. is the cork stopper made of gold too?

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I did some more reading, there is another release in a gorilla-shaped bottle and it actually sells a 100k USD with NFT (https://whitewall.art/lifestyle/dictador-blends-rum-and-nfts-with-richard-orlinski). lol we are the rum people here but I haven’t heard anyone participating in this NFT-split.

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I talked with Dictador’s french ambassador a few weeks ago during a small local event.

He kept talking about money, prices, rarity and how he was called each week by people who wanted to buy him rare bottles to stock them then resell them later.

He explained how the Platinum and Aurum XO bottles were meant to be sold in night clubs, etc.

It’s up to them to have the marketing strategy of their choice, but this discussion allowed me to validate that I wouldn’t buy a bottle of Dictador, even if their rum was worth it, which was not the case of what I was given to taste that day and which I can sum up in a very sweet coffee liqueur…

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Just ignore such bullshit releases and focus on the good stuff instead :slight_smile:

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That’s what I do :wink:

And even more after hearing this type of speech :slight_smile:

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