After the fruitful discussion of the sample labels, I’d like to discuss the size of the samples with you.
Most of our bottle splits are done in 5cl sample bottles - 2cl bottles are offered only occasionally.
The 5 cl bottles have many advantages when doing bottle splits:
they are widely available
they produce even shares of all bottles
they usually fit well in small (max brief) boxes
it’s easy to share bigger volumes
The disadvantage from my perspective is, that there are only a few samples when there is a very high demand for a bottle and that samples are pretty expensive if the bottle is very expensive as well.
As a participant in bottle splits, I don’t like the 5 cl bottles too much. 5 cl is too much for intense tasting but too less for lighthearted enjoyment. I usually have 1,5 cl left in the 5 cl bottles, which I hardly ever drink.
Doing bottle splits with 2cl bottles is much more work. and if a rum doesn’t open in the first tasting it’s hard to get all the nuances out of a small sample.
As a participant, I like 3 cl most because it allows me to have at least two tasting sessions and I don’t have any rest left in the bottles. 3cl or 1oz bottles are not standard size in Europe and they don’t produce even shares when splitting a bottle.
10 cl is a sample size I only offer if the demand is low and all people who are interested had a smaller share.
What’s your experience? Which sample size do you like most?
In the past I was comfortable with 5cl samples as they allowed me to have a rum tasted twice. Over time the amount of rum I pour in my glass for a singe tasting drastically decreased to 1cl.
Today I actually prefer 2cl sample bottles especially when the liquid is expensive.
Maybe the best compromise is to offer 2cl and 5cl sample sizes.
This brings another topic to my mind: what do you think about reusing sample bottles - of course after carefull cleaning?
I dont mind if a sample bottle if perfecly new or was used in the past.
5 cl for me makes most sense regarding amount, ease of split and overview (going though the split post calculating if there’s something left ). 2 cl for very expensive and sought after bottles can make sense but i see no point in it for more affordeble and available bottles.
I personally have no problem with a well cleaned and perfectly sealing reused sample bottle. I would prefer this from a sustainability point of view actually.
That’s a good topic. I don’t mind if the bottle was cleaned.d. Sometimes, however, they need a new cap because a high ester rum left its mark.
There are sample labels that are easy to clean, but some of the labels e.g. those stickers I use, are very hard to remove from the bottles.
Does the bottle need to be 100% clean from the outside as well?
the vote is unambiguous: 5cl is by far the most popular size. Obviously, my preference for 3cl is a very individual taste.
I dont know, why. It all started right when i was beginning to sample rums. A glas in a tasting was 2cl for me. So it just made sense to sample 2 glasses for 2 sessions.
All in all i dont really care these days whats the sample size, so the price is mostly relevant for the size. Or we split up bottles. Then 10 or even 20cl are just fine.
I won’t vote, as it really depends.
As someone, who splits a bottle, 10 cl only is by far the easiest. I won’t offer 2 cl here widely (exceptions for people I know are fine of course). It is just too much work for me.
As someone taking part in a split of an expensive bottle, I like 2 cl (or 3 cl) of course just to be able to try it for less money.
As someone taking part in a bottle split of a “normal” priced bottle, I like 5 cl. I hardly take 10 cl here.
Actually I think, when I had to choose just one size for samples for myself, I d go for the 3 cl.
3 cl also seems to be the most common size in France and Italy for samples, but that is probably due to the lack of availabillity of other sizes.
Thanks for the voting and the thread.
It was exactly the question that came on me before i made my First bottle splits recently. (More coming soon don’t worry😉)
I chose the 5cl bottles just because it’s the most usual here in the Forum, i had also the Idea that 3 or 4cl bottles might fit better, especially when there a Lot of bottles with only 50cl as more people can Take Part which is one of the Goals here of course.
A good Taste of Something Special for everyone
I would prefer 3 cl because for me that’s a perfect size for two tastings. I have many 5cl bottles laying around with 2cl leftover but friends that are visiting me are very happy to help me with that
But I totally understand that using smaller bottles makes it harder for the one filling them. You are great no matter if you are filling 1 or 10cl bottles!
Well it depends on the price if it’s not too much I prefer 5cl to share with someone or with myself on the future.
I absolutely support cleaning the bottles. Boiling water splash removes odores and keeping in a glass of water with dishwashing liquid removes any label I’ve seen.
I hate it when the shipping cost is comparable to the rum cost so I always ask for additional stuff from the one making the split.
Ich bevorzuge im allgemeinen 5 cl, um mir beim zweiten Tasting eine endgültige Meinung bilden zu können!
Wenn der Rum extrem teuer ist, reichen mir allerdings auch 2-3 cl!
Denn bei der Anzahl der hier gebotenen Splits werde ich auch so arm!!!
Mit der Wiederverwendung von ordentlich gereinigten Samples hätte ich kein Problem!
I have to admit I am happy that 5 cl is clearly the favourite which is a vested interest too as someone who has shared a huge amount of bottles in the past two years the biggest reason for me not to share 2 cl samples is the amount of work involved. I simply couldn’t handle that. In the beginning when I mostly shared cheaper bottles and rum was cheaper anyway there was a second reason: 2 cl sample bottles don’t really save on overhead cost vs. 5 cl sample bottles but the price for the rum varies linearly of course. Especially on cheaper bottles that makes the overhead share in the total price too large in my opinion and even with 5 cl bottles the overhead and rum cost for some rums e.g. from the Daiquiri box is around 50 : 50.
On the other hand I have to admit that as a buyer I sometimes buy smaller samples too just because budget is limited and becomes even more limited in the current financial situation (inflation etc.). The biggest advantage in 5 cl samples for me personally is that if I find an epic rum, I can drink it 4-5 times while when having 2 cl samples I mostly use them in one run since I always think it doesn’t make sense to keep half of such a small sample.
I was thinking about this topic for some time while tasting. I think that for now a 1cl is enough for me to understand the rum as much as I can. When poured a 2cl I never find anything more in the second half. In the past I was shocked by seeing a 1cl set Rarest of the Rare Rum Tasting Set - 5x1cl : The Whisky Exchange but it seems entirely understandable now
). 2 cl for very expensive and sought after bottles can make sense but i see no point in it for more affordeble and available bottles.
if it’s not too much I prefer 5cl to share with someone or with myself on the future.