Years ago, in the days of the past, one could go into a bar and order a Rum & Coke. For me, if that was my thing, it would be (white) Bacardi and Coke. There was amber Bacardi, and I believe the exact equivalents in Morgan’s rum (in fact, in the UK, I heard a woman order a Morgan and Coke).
A few times a week, my wife and I share a potable of some interesting Rum and Coke. The “interesting” often begins with Madagascar Vanilla, thus one of our favorites is HAMM, which comes in a cloudy cylindrical bottle. Yet basically interesting spices.
We also tried Kraken and every variety of “Dead Man’s Fingers,” liking the mango especially. We’ll go top-shelf Waitrose when it falls to mid-shelf, about £35 (wow, $48 more than I thought).
Almost all of it is from Barbados, Honduras, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the general Caribbean.
Here it’s starting to shrink back to boring Gin. Are any of these spiced Rums known in the USA? We’ve bought all ours at Asda and then Waitrose, and don’t go to pubs where asking for any of these brands would feel odd.
For making a Rum and Coke, I don’t find the unique qualities of the rum to be particularly stand-out.
I’ve used Kraken (94 variant), Captain Morgan (the Private Stock if available), and rarely my Cruzan Blackstrap rum if I want to turn the caramel notes up to 11 - I’ve used flavored rums (Cruzan Vanilla) on occasion, but I’d rather use a better rum and add a drop of vanilla extract or so if that’s the flavor I’m looking for, or a touch of another spirit for contrast.
I had some very nice Planteray (formally Plantation) Rum in stock, but I’d normally not use that for R&C, and I’m current out of it until I drink some of the other tasty stuff I’ve put away. All of these were available at most dedicated liquor stores, even on the smaller side. Not always in stock on every visit, but commonly available.
When I have rum, it’s Bacardi. I’ll get the white stuff, even for sipping. But for sipping, I like Reserva Ocho. We went to the distillery in Puerto Rico, and it was a very nice tour. If we get back there again, I’ll get some of the special rum that they only sell there.
There are a number of Planteray Rums, my favorite is Planteray Jamaican. It’s got a funk* to it that I like… but Coke tends to eclipse that subtlety, so I drink Captain Morgan with Coke (and often lime juice when I fancy myself a Hemingway-kinda dude).
*That “funk” is the result of dunder pits where leftovers from previous distillings are tossed, along with rotting fruit and, local lore tells us, dead bats or a goat’s head.
Huh, so it seems like the spiced Rum, taken to the extreme with at least six “Dead Man’s Fingers” was not a USA-UK thing. The most expensive stuff I’ve bought is truly-top shelf Waitrose, “El Dorado 12” from Guyana with “flavours of fruit and spice”. Seems almost a waste to mix with Coke, yet as the wife does…
Waitrose still has cheap-shit vodka, yet Bacardi is only sold, as a reasonable price and sometimes on sale, at Asda. I used to drink that by the shot too.
I prefer the black Bacardi for mixed drinks, but never any "spiced’ rums like Captain Morgan- they hide the taste of the rum. But you can get expensive aged rums for sipping, just like single-malts.
No, no spiced rums. Yes, I’ve had Captain Morgan; and yes, I’ve had some sort of ‘parrot’ brand that was piña colada-flavoured. But really, I’d rather just have rum. Even the cheapest Bacardi.
As something of a rum guy, it depends on what I’m doing with it.
If I’m making mojitos or La Floriditas/Hemingway Daiquiris, then it’s usually Planteray 3 star or maybe something like Cruzan white, Flor de Cana 4, or Don Q Cristal. Bacardi silver is ghastly stuff- too harsh and too vodka-like. White rums can be smoother and gentler without being more intense.
If it’s for a Cuba Libre (rum & coke with a healthy dose of lime) or a rum buck/Dark & Stormy/rum mule (all the same thing), I tend toward something like Mount Gay Eclipse, Planteray 5 star, or Cruzan Estate Diamond dark. Something darker, but not too intense- it’s about balance, and something like a El Dorado will stand out too much with the Coke or ginger beer.
Most of my rum however is consumed in the form of various cocktails- in particular tiki drinks. There, I use a variety- favorites are Hamilton Pot Still Black, El Dorado 8, Lemon Hart 1804, Planteray OFTD, Lemon Hart 151, Hamilton 151, Denizen Vatted, and Denizen Merchant’s Reserve.
I have a very few that are for sipping/drinking more or less straight- most are Navy style- I like Black Tot Finest Caribbean, Planteray Mr Fogg, and Pusser’s Rum. I also have a small collection of rhum agricole style rums from vacation in Hawaii - Ko Hana & Kuleana’s white, and Kuleana’'s aged one (only available at the distillery store in Waikoloa Beach).
If I have spiced rum, it’s usually in a rum buck or rum & coke, where it’s not a terrible variation. Most of the time, the spice is kind of unwelcome though.
Funny experience with Cruzan white rum I had awhile back-- years ago I decided to go mostly low-carb when I drank: white liquor and flavored seltzer water. I wasn’t really crazy about vodka; the best quality vodkas smell like rubbing alcohol and taste harsh and medicinal to me. Rum was my go-to white liquor of choice, and I started my own rum thread asking for recs. Someone recommended Cruzan as both a tasty and surprisingly inexpensive rum. And at less than $11 per fifth, they weren’t kidding about the price. And even the Cruzan white is aged (you can see a slight yellow cast to it from barrel-aging), and thus tasted smoother to me than its counterparts like Bacardi or Captain Morgan. So Cruzan white became my go-to liquor mixer.
But after awhile it became scarcer and scarcer at the liquor store. Supposedly distribution issues, I was told. I eventually gave up and just started buying Bacardi or Captain Morgan when I needed a new bottle. Then not too long ago, maybe this past Summer, I saw a bottle of Cruzan white on the shelf and bought it. But this bottle tasted horrible-- like battery acid or something. I ended up pouring out most of the bottle. Now maybe that was some wierd one-off situation, but I’m afraid to try another bottle of Cruzan white any more, even I see it in the store.
I’ve never found a rum, tequila or gin that I liked. I always drank whiskey or vodka.
FWIW, some liquor stores sell 50ml bottles for $1 each. If you find a store with a good selection, you can just buy a bunch of different varieties of rum and taste each one to see which one agrees with you best.
Rum is my preferred alcohol. When mixing it, I don’t much care which brand I use. But if I’m going to sip it straight, I really like Koloa Rum. I discovered it years ago on a trip to Hawaii, and fell in love with it.
Bumbu a spiced rum is by far my favorite rum. I drink it on the rocks and it’s got a nice notes of bananas. Friends of mine who I share with say it has caramel notes. Although its isn’t too sweet.
For mixed drinks I don’t go too complicated:
Cannonblast Captain Morgan & Dr. Pepper
Kraken Gold Spiced (70proof)/Kraken Black Spiced (94proof) & Coke
Malibu Cocount & Dr. Pepper
Captain Morgan & Coke
I’ve seen that in a store in New York. I already had a bottle of Bacardi White in hand, but did look through the various little bottles: Jack Daniels, Curaçao, various whiskey’s and vodkas.
I’m assuming that citizens of the U.S.A cannot get Havana Club (the one made in Cuba not the Barcardi imitation). I buy the 7 anos version - nice and balanced, not as sweet as Barcardi rums.
Impressive variations. We’ve only seen Dorado 12, which, even on sale, is pricey. I’ll have to look for cheater pre-mixes as we don’t have a blender (yet, I guess); and Mount Gay Eclipse so we’ll use a lot of lime for Cube Libre’s next time.
Ahh yeah, that’s too bad.
I commonly see 3 of them, one I know is 3 years old, and there are two 7-year-olds that may or may not be the same with different labels. Yet occasionally, at Waitrose or Tesco, we can find Ron Santiago de Cuba Añejo 8 Years Old Rum
I’d like to know what bump might do with it.
(dunno what waitroses link will create)
ETA: Almost sure they are the same company as Havana Club, where I know one of the hard-to-find varieties is a favorite. It could be the one with the teal label.
Also Fidel Castro liked the 12 year old version of the Cuba Añejo 8 Years Old Rum to sip, yet had some other kind made for him and to give out.
That may have been me, but if not, I’ll still recommend it even though I haven’t had it in years. I learned to love it when I lived in St. Thomas for several months. I thought it was much smoother (and way cheaper) than Bacardi. My second choice was Mount Gay rum. I don’t even know if it’s still made.
I haven’t had rum for a very long time, but a college classmate from Puerto Rico introduced me to Don Q. I remember liking it a LOT. It made for good rum and cokes, but I liked drinking it neat. Of course, I was 18 years old then - what did I know about alcohol?
