As 2023 comes to an end, it’s time for something big in the world of rum – the RumX Awards 2023! We’re doing it a bit early this year, right in December’s festive season, perfect for trying out rums. Get ready to check out the best rums and the latest developments in the rum world. 
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What independent bottler has excited you the most this year? And are you missing a bottler on the list? 
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I don’t really have preferences and many more bottlers are making their way into the world.
I’ve been positively surprised by the releases from Rum Depot (RumClub) this year and I look forward to the coming releases as well. The prices are fair and the quality matches the price or better.
By the way, love the new RumX sticker!!!
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Thank you very much for that informative evaluation.
My favourite this year was probably Nobilis, closely followed by Velier. So many great rums from so many great bottlers… hard to set a clear winner.
Lets hope 2024 will bring some new surprising bottlings 
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Most impressive performance for me this year were probably Wu Dram Clan (Long Pond LPS, recent Rhum JM) and Fine Drams (Clarendon 23/26, New Yarmouth), especially in terms of price/performance.
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Maybe the Fine Drams (EMB, NY) will show up in the second part of the RX awards, where the top rums and hidden gems are discussed.
And - as already mentioned - great analysis and review 
by @Oliver and @Jakob
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For me it was Colors of Rum, Wu Dram Clan, Swell de Spirits and Rum Sponge. But to be honest, I missed a lot of releases and tried only a small portion of what came out this year. Whisky Jury definitely made a lot of waves, but so far I have not tried any of the rums. Velier is of course still a great Bottler, but for me the most releases are either to rare and/or expensive or they are missing the spark of past highlights.
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Armagnac Highlights machen wir dann die Woche drauf 
Finde es gab dieses Jahr eine Vielzahl von Abfüllern mit sehr guten realeases ohne das jemand völlig überragt.
Oft bedient man sich ja auch am selben Stoff (siehe aktuell TDL 2009) da hat dann immer mal jemand den richtigen Riecher oder einfach Mal mehr bezahlt man weiß es nicht.
Würde es auf den Punkt bringen: die Spitze ist breiter geworden.
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Da muss ich @Chris2302 recht geben, die Spitze wird breiter. die RC fand ich nicht schlecht, aber Fine Drams mit ihren New Yarmouth haben mich voll angeholt. Aber enttäuscht hat mich Romdeluxe mit ihren überzogen Preisen. Swell gab es das ein oder andere auch ganz gute, wobei ich persönlich den Preis von dem Privat Garden #4 völlig überzogen fand.
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Mir fällt es schwer einen besten zu benennen. Wenn man in Kontakt mit den Personen hinter den Marken kommt, fällt schnell eine Gemeinsamkeit auf: ihre Leidenschaft für Rum.
Deshalb sind für mich alle die Nummer 1 - sie sorgen dafür, dass uns Rumnerds Jahr für Jahr eine phänomenale Bandbreite unterschiedlichster Rums zur Auswahl steht!
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Hab noch vergessen TheRumCask zu erwähnen mit ihren Jubiläumsabfüllungen.
Diese waren m.M. alle sehr gut und fair von den Preisen.
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I couldn’t agree more with you.
Despite the fact that RDL is charging above average for its bottlings, I really love their stuff. Always looking forward when they’re about to release sth new. Might be bit biased when it comes to RDL because their bottling for GRF 22 was the first Rum that absolutely flashed me.
I’m also always looking forward to what RC is about to release. Constantly solid bottlings and decent prices.
Also have to agree with @RumTaTa. It’s thanks to every single bottler that we’re able to get our hands on a broad variety of amazing Rums
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Could you tell us how many bottlers even had 10 bottlings in a year. Seems like this is quite a lot and rewards only big bottlers.
Please tell me how to filter bottling relesaed between 1.12.2022-30.11.2023? I tried to find it multiply times both in app and web but with no avail.
That’s not even possible with only year of bottling (which is really disappointing and btw I’d really appreciate if there was more filtering options).
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Welcome @satma in the RumX Community! 
- To clarify, a total of 70 independent bottlers met our criteria of releasing at least 10 new rums and receiving a minimum of 100 community reviews within the year. We established these criteria to acknowledge those bottlers who consistently delivered exceptional quality throughout the year. While this approach may indeed favor more prolific bottlers, it was designed to recognize sustained excellence over volume.
- However, we understand the importance of recognizing those bottlers who, despite having fewer releases, have made a significant impact with exceptional rums. That’s why, in the main category of the RumX Awards, which we’ll be publishing tomorrow, ‘The Best Rum Releases of the Year,’ every bottler has the chance to rank in the top 10, regardless of their activity level last year.
- Regarding the filtering of bottlings: Currently, the fine-grained filtering for bottlings between specific dates like December 1st, 2022, to November 30th, 2023, is not available in the app or web. The selection process for the winners is conducted directly within our database. However, we recognize the need for more comprehensive filtering options, and expanding these features in the app is definitely on our roadmap.
Stay tuned for tomorrow! 
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Für mich die war die Good News des Jahres, das RA auf dem GRF von den Toten auferstanden ist. Das waren sehr gute Releases zu fairen Preisen und ich hoffe, dass sie eine Weile in der Spur bleiben.
Ansonsten hat mich kein Bottler wirklich dauerhaft überzeugt. Die Überrraschung des Jahres war definitiv die Fine Drams Reihe - auch die Idee mit den 35 cl Flaschen fand ich großartig.
FRC hat nach dem Marken-Relaunch auch einen ganz guten Start hingelegt.
Viele der gehypteren Bottler sind mir entweder zu teuer (RdL, CoR, Sponge) oder die interessanten Releases sind viel zu schnell weg (Nobilis, Swell, TWJ).
Zu den Enttäuschungen dieses Jahr gehört auch SBS. Die haben außer dem PM/DHE dieses Jahr nichts rausgebracht, was bei mir irgendeine Resonanz erzeugt hätte. Das ist schade, weil die eigentlich oft hervoragende Fässer auswählen.
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Highlights: Rom de Luxe, Swell, Grape of the Art
Lowlights: Puhhh, schwer zu sagen. Wirklich negativ ist mir wenig aufgefallen. Viele Releases waren einfach nicht spannend (denke da an einige RA/RC-Releases), aber wirklich enttäuschend war da auch nix. Die Preisgestaltung bei Samaroli oder Colors of Rum könnte man negativ aufführen, aber das ist nur ein persönliches Empfinden und hat sicher auch eine wirtschaftliche Berechtigung (Broker-Preise).
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