https://www.rumlist.co/Recent content on RumList.coHugo -- gohugo.ioen-usSun, 02 Nov 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/about/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 01:19:37 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/about/https://www.rumlist.co/the-review-system/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 01:19:37 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/the-review-system/Rating rums is a mess of contradictions. A rating should be empirically based, but it should also have a point of view. A rating tells you how much we like the rum, but it’s also supposed to tell you how much you might like the rum. Then there’s the matter of context; if I taste a rum that’s objectively the most delicious thing to ever grace my palate, and then I find out the distillery is murdering baby monkeys, should I keep my head down and just tell you what’s in the bottle, or should I care about the events that led up to that rum existing.https://www.rumlist.co/baie-des-tresors-flowers-of-the-winds/Sun, 02 Nov 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/baie-des-tresors-flowers-of-the-winds/Baie des Trésors Flowers of the Wind is a unique, high-proof rhum agricole distilled at Saint James using cane grown on arid parcels at Le Galion. The flavor profile is a mix of classic grassy, apple notes with butterscotch, spice, and fresh oak. Flowers of the Wind is one of four expressions in the Baie des Trésors lineup, which, while based on cane juice from Le Galion sugar mill, is actually distilled at the Saint James distillery in Saint Marie.https://www.rumlist.co/hse-vsop-martinique-rhum-agricole/Wed, 15 Oct 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/hse-vsop-martinique-rhum-agricole/I’m always suspicious when someone says a rum can “do it all”. But honestly, maybe HSE VSOP can do it all. Habitation Saint-Étienne (HSE) is a Martinique distillery that doesn’t see many of its bottles end up on US shelves; in fact, while their lineup boasts a diversity of blancs, aged agricoles, and a variety of cask finishes, the VSOP was their only expression I was able to source for our big aged agricole tasting.https://www.rumlist.co/baie-des-tresors-fruit-of-the-rains/Sat, 04 Oct 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/baie-des-tresors-fruit-of-the-rains/Baie des Tresors’ Fruit of the Rains is a complex, grassy, and at times creamy expression that’s worth trying for any Agricole lover. I generally try to make a point of only talking about the physical bottle a rum comes in as a postscript (don’t judge a book by its cover, right?) but in the case of Baie Des Tresors’ current lineup this is particularly hard, because they might be the nicest bottles I’ve ever hefted.https://www.rumlist.co/clement-select-barrel/Thu, 28 Aug 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/clement-select-barrel/In Clement’s lineup Select Barrel is the bottom of the barrel, and while it’s more approachable than many rums you might compare it to, it stumbles in the niche Clement usually excels at. Select Barrel is Clement’s entry level aged rhum agricole. This would theoretically put it in competition with Rhum J.M’s Gold, or Neisson’s Eleve Sous Bois, but in practice this is kind of a silly comparison, as both of those are bottled at a robust 50% ABV, compared with Select Barrel’s more pedestrian 40%.https://www.rumlist.co/la-favorite-rhum-agricole-vieux/Sun, 24 Aug 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/la-favorite-rhum-agricole-vieux/La Favorite’s Vieux expression has plenty of flavor and personality for it’s 42% ABV. La Favorite is one of the smaller distilleries on the island of Martinique; Modern Caribbean Rum says they make just 1% of the islands AOC designated agricole. Similar to Neisson I think there’s a little built-in pro little guy bias, and while it can be hard to get your hands on in the states I came into this tasting with a received understanding that La Favorite is “doing things right” and focusing on quality.https://www.rumlist.co/clement-vsop/Sun, 22 Jun 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/clement-vsop/Clement VSOP is a quality aged cane juice agricole that is more approachable than it is complex. Clement’s VSOP expression, a 4 year old rhum agricole from Clement on Martinique, has the enviable two-digit RumX id of “RX84”. Beyond signaling something specific about the provlicities of rum nerds in May of 2021 (or December 2018?—it’s unclear to me if RumX reindexed everything when the name changed) it makes a certain amount of sense: Clement is one of thee most ubiquitous Martinican rum brands, and the 4 year old VSOP designation is a popular choice for agricoles.https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-v.s.o.p/Mon, 02 Jun 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-v.s.o.p/Rhum J.M’s 4-year-old VSOP is a deeply flavorful, oak-forward aged rhum agricole that maintains the fresh fruitiness of its cane juice origins. With notes of oak, vanilla, grape, and a peppery, gingery finish, it offers quite a bit of depth for its age and ABV. Rhum J.M’s 4 year old VSOP expression sits between the VO (3 year) and XO (6 year) offerings in their standard lineup. I’ve always been struck by how tightly clustered the commonly denominated aged agricole ages (VO, VSOP, XO) are when compared to most non-agricole rums.https://www.rumlist.co/neisson-rhum-vieux-par-neisson/Sun, 11 May 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/neisson-rhum-vieux-par-neisson/Neisson’s “Vieux Par Neisson” is a sophisticated, aged rhum agricole that presents an inviting profile with prominent notes of oak, butterscotch, and a mix of deep sugars and fruit, particularly apple and cherry. While it excels as a neat sipper it’s a bit wasted mixed into a drink. On paper, Neisson’s “Vieux Par Neisson” is an interesting doppelganger of their more widely distributed Reserve Speciale: they’re both vieux, carrying at least 3 years of age.https://www.rumlist.co/neisson-reserve-speciale/Sat, 03 May 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/neisson-reserve-speciale/Neisson Reserve Speciale is a four year old rhum agricole from Martinique that’s solid, but a bit low-key. In this recent round of Agricole reviews Neisson came out swinging with their Elevé Sous Bois expression, so now with their Vieux Reserve Speciale bottling we ask the classic question: more age, more better? We measured a density of 0.944g/cc and a refractive index of 1.3574, indicating no additives, and in line with the requirements for the Martinique Rhum Agricole AOC.https://www.rumlist.co/neisson-elev%C3%A9-sous-bois/Sun, 27 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/neisson-elev%C3%A9-sous-bois/This one year old rhum agricole from Neisson on Martinique has plenty of apple, honey, and brandy notes, and is a mixing powerhouse. Elevé Sous Bois is Neisson’s entry level aged rhum agricole. At 50% ABV and with the single year of age the “Elevé Sous Bois” distinction legally requires, it plausibly aimed more at mixing than neat sipping. Neisson itself is one of the smallest agricole distilleries on the island of Martinique (according to MCR only A1710’s Rex is smaller in terms of output), and from poking around online you get the sense that the smallness of the operation helps them hold a high quality bar.https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-v.o/Sat, 05 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-v.o/Rhum J.M V.O. is a premium aged rhum agricole that balances complexity with a clean profile, featuring notes of apple, maple syrup, smoke, and baking spices. While enjoyable neat, it shines in cocktails, making it an excellent entry point for those new to agricole rum. While Rhum J.M Gold is the first aged rhum agricole in the J.M lineup, Rhum J.M V.O is the first in what I’ll call their “premium standard release” range.https://www.rumlist.co/saint-james-paille-rhum-agricole/Sat, 29 Mar 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/saint-james-paille-rhum-agricole/While historically significant, Saint James Rhum Paille, bottled at 40% ABV, is a simple and light rum with honey, apple, and grassy notes. It performs better in cocktails than neat and is somewhat underwhelming as a representation of the brand. While Mount Gay in Barbados often claims the title as the oldest commercial distillery in the world, Saint James may have been one of the first rum brands. The exact history is spotty, but the Saint James website mentions that the brand name was “registered” on the 21st of August, 1882, and Modern Caribbean Rum contains an ad for the original label with the caption “Among the first branded rum bottles, Saint-James, 1885”.https://www.rumlist.co/worthy-park-special-cask-series-port-2010/Sat, 22 Mar 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/worthy-park-special-cask-series-port-2010/This 12 year old Port Cask finish from Worthy Park in Jamaica is clearly a good rum, but how does it stack up as a work of cask finish auteurship? Special Cask Series Port 2010 is a pot still rum from Jamaican distillery Worthy Park aged for 10 years and bottled at 45%. Out of the distilleries own bottlings the Special Cask Series is positioned below the 12 year old Single Estate Reserve, but above basically everything else.https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-terroir-volcanique/Sat, 15 Mar 2025 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-terroir-volcanique/Rhum J.M Terroir Volcanique is a three-year-old rhum agricole that highlights the distillery’s terroir and cooperage program. While tasty and interesting, it’s particularly notable for representing Rhum J.M’s innovative approach to rum-making, focusing on terroir and cask charring, and delivering quality at an accessible price point. Rhum J.M is having a bit of a moment, and that moment probably began with Terroir Volcanique. Announced just before Earth Day in 2023, this three year old rhum agricole showcases the microclimate of the Rhum J.https://www.rumlist.co/trois-rivi%C3%A8res-ambr%C3%A9-rhum-agricole/Fri, 07 Mar 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/trois-rivi%C3%A8res-ambr%C3%A9-rhum-agricole/This one year old rhum agricole from La Mauny made us say “go on girl, give us nothing”. Bottled at 40% ABV after aging for one year, Trois Rivières Ambré Rhum Agricole is the younger of the two expressions we tasted from the La Mauny distillery. At the time of writing Ambré gets only a 6.1/10 on RumX, compared with the Cuvee Du Moulin’s 6.4/10. While neither are stellar numbers, ratings on RumX within a lineup generally correlate with age, so a drop of 0.https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-gold/Fri, 28 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m-gold/This lightly aged rhum agricole from Rhum J.M in Martinique is a clean tasting workhorse that performs better than many more premium positioned rums. At 50% ABV, Rhum J.M Gold is not only the youngest aged agricole in Rhum J.M’s core lineup, but also their highest proof. Technically an “élevé sous bois” (literally “raised in wood”) meaning it’s at least one year old, J.M says the Gold spends time in both new oak and ex-Bourbon barrels.https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-hearts-collection-1993/Fri, 21 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-hearts-collection-1993/This long aged installment in the Appleton Hearts series is deep, fruity, and flavorful, but avoids being over oaked even after 29 years in a cask. Let’s talk about 1993: the world trade center was bombed, Nelson Mandela won a Nobel Peace Prize, and Appleton Estate laid down a couple of rum casks that, 29 years later, would join the Appleton Hearts Collection. At 29 years that entry is the second oldest to date in the Hearts lineup, after only the 37 year old 1984 which, while lauded, I think is generally accepted was a bit over-oaked.https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m.-jardin-fruit%C3%A9/Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/rhum-j.m.-jardin-fruit%C3%A9/This member of Rhum J.M’s L’Atelier des Rhums is a pretty classic expression of agricole fruity-herbaceousness, but probably the least successful of the line’s three rums. Rhum J.M Jardin Fruité is an aged rhum agricole in J.M’s L’Atelier des Rhums line. In the distillery’s own words, the L’Atelier line explores “the possibilities of blending different sugarcane distillates, charring techniques, types of wood, and barrel capacities”. This includes the smokey Fumée Volcanique (no relation to Terroir Volcanique, why do you ask?https://www.rumlist.co/trois-rivieres-cuvee-du-moulin/Sun, 16 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/trois-rivieres-cuvee-du-moulin/This 3 year old rhum agricole from La Mauny in Martinique is a straightforward and approachable expression of its category. Trois Riviéres Cuvée du Moulin is a 3 year old column still cane juice rum from the La Mauny distillery on Martinique bottled at 40% ABV. In my home market in Seattle it’s one of the few french agricoles I regularly see on local shelves that’s not Clement or Rhum J.https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-hearts-collection-2002/Sat, 08 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-hearts-collection-2002/This 20 year old installment in the Appleton Estate Hearts line knows who it is with plenty of flavorful, aged fruity funk. Clocking in at the standard 63% ABV for its line, the 20 year old 2002 Appleton Estate Hearts Collection installment continues the distillery’s foray into high proof, high ester, insanely flavorful rum. In spite of the fact this is playing a bit against type for them, they’ve shown time and time again they know what they’re doing with the Hearts line.https://www.rumlist.co/we-tasted-19-non-alcoholic-rums-these-were-our-favorites/Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/we-tasted-19-non-alcoholic-rums-these-were-our-favorites/We’re back at it! Last year we had a lot of fun blind tasting a lineup of 9 NA rums and ranking the best, but there were a few we couldn’t get in time, and now a year later a couple new options have come to market. So we’re back to fill in the gaps and see if a new NA rum champion emerges. Background—What’re we talking about here? Here at Rum Runner Labs we (shockingly) love rum, but we’re also regular adherents to Dry January and enjoy getting to reset our tolerance, and relationship with alcohol.https://www.rumlist.co/bare-zero-proof-rum-blanco/Tue, 31 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/bare-zero-proof-rum-blanco/This non-alcoholic rum from Bare Zero brings an interesting funkiness to the NA light rum format, but is more successful as a mixer than a spirit to sip neat. In general, light non-alcoholic rum seems to be a bit of a tougher nut to crack than dark rum. In part this may be because being clear limits your potential flavoring ingredients in a way that being vaguely dark caramel color doesn’t.https://www.rumlist.co/habitation-velier-hampden-2016-owh/Tue, 31 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/habitation-velier-hampden-2016-owh/This lower-ester Hampden is an tasty installment in the Habitation Velier series. While it’s tame by Hampden standards there’s still plenty of fruity-spicy flavor from nose to finish. This 2016 installment in the Habitation Velier series features the OWH mark from Hampden in Jamaica. The OWH is Hampdens lowest ester profile, which makes this release a case of casting against type for a distillery known for its funky high ester rums.https://www.rumlist.co/cale%C3%B1o-dark-and-spicy/Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/cale%C3%B1o-dark-and-spicy/Dark & Spicy is a rum-inspired non-alcoholic spirit from Caleño that’s tasty, but fails to live up to its name. Caleño Dark & Spicy has a gorgeous label and terrible secret: it’s neither dark, nor spicy. Sure it’s visually dark, but it’s flavor profile is a lot closer to its product line sibling: light and zesty. On the nose it’s juicy, with notes of sour fruit like apple and pineapple. On the palate it’s quite sour, with a candied profile of gummy bears and sweet tarts.https://www.rumlist.co/cale%C3%B1o-light-and-zesty/Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/cale%C3%B1o-light-and-zesty/Light and Zesty is a non-alcoholic rum-inspired spirit with a fresh, fruity nose and palate and a light finish. Light & Zesty is a non-alcoholic spirit from Caleño in Bristol, UK. After reviewing it’s product line sibling, Dark & Spicy, and concluding that it was, in fact, too light and zesty, I had high hopes going into this review. If they manage to make a tasty light and zesty drink when they’re not even trying to, surely the intentional Light & Zesty has to be great, right?https://www.rumlist.co/philters-ruhm/Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/philters-ruhm/This non-alcoholic rum from Philters has a spice-forward profile and works both served neat and mixed. When I first saw Philters Ruhm I assumed the title was a play on “rhum” the French spelling of rum (e.g. “rhum agricole”), though after a look at the rest of their lineup (Jynn, Mezkahl, and Wiski) it seems as though they just like misspelling things as a brand exercise. The first impressions of the nose seem to further disprove any connection to rhum agricole, as it’s profile is far from grassy or vegetal.https://www.rumlist.co/ronsin/Fri, 27 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/ronsin/The non-alcoholic rum from Espadafor is an absolute acid bomb. There’s very little to be learned online about Ronsin; even on the website mentioned on the bottle (Espadafor), there’s no mention of this brand. It does seem clear it was made in Granada, Spain, and that it’s attempting to imitate a cane spirit profile. Other than these two facts, we really went into our tasting blind. On the nose Ronsin has a very candied character.https://www.rumlist.co/arkay-dark-rum/Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/arkay-dark-rum/This non-alcoholic rum from Arkay is full of fire but lacking in flavor. Last year we weren’t able to source a bottle of Arkay’s Dark Rum offering, but we were able to try their light rum, and it left an impression. It wasn’t our favorite, but it had the strongest burn of anything we tried. Because of this, going into our tasting this year, we couldn’t help but be on the lookout for the signature Arkay burn (spoiler alert: we found it).https://www.rumlist.co/clean-co-clean-r-spiced-rum-alternative/Sat, 21 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/clean-co-clean-r-spiced-rum-alternative/This non-alcoholic rum from Clean Co avoids the worst of the common NA pitfalls, but fails to stand out or taste particularly like rum. Clean R is a zero proof spiced rum alternative from Clean Co in London. Although we throw around the term zero proof colloquially to refer to all non-alcoholic spirits, it’s a bit of a misnomer; the bottle for Clean R calls out that it contains “less than 0.https://www.rumlist.co/ish-caribbean-spiced-spirit/Sat, 21 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/ish-caribbean-spiced-spirit/This non-alcoholic rum from Ish utilizes a novel dealcoholization method, and is itself quite novel. While it’s a bit challenging as a neat sipper, it shows up nicely in cocktails and captures a funkiness elusive to most NA rums. A year ago when we first did a blind zero proof rum taste test I omitted Ish on the basis that it was meant to imitate a “spiced” rum, but as reddit user Historical_Suspect97 called out in response to that exclusion, all zero proof spirits are essentially spiced, in that there is no true base flavor—it’s all added.https://www.rumlist.co/seir-hill-biscane-rum-inspired-non-alcoholic-spirit/Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/seir-hill-biscane-rum-inspired-non-alcoholic-spirit/This non-alcoholic rum from Seir Hill let us down, and while it didn’t taste great, it avoided some of the worst failures of zero proof. A year ago when we did our first zero proof blind taste test, Seir Hill Biscane was the one rum I ordered that didn’t arrive on time to be included. When it did arrive, it was a mess of soggy cardboard and shattered glass. Because of this it’s kind of been my zero proof white whale.https://www.rumlist.co/bare-zero-proof-caribbean-gold-spiced-rum/Thu, 19 Dec 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/bare-zero-proof-caribbean-gold-spiced-rum/This non-alcoholic rum from Bare Zero has a banana-forward profile that plays great in cockatils. Bare Zero Proof Caribbean Gold Spiced Rum is (as the name suggests) a zero proof spiced rum alternative. While in rum nerd circles “spiced” is a bit of a bad word, indicating added flavors and adulteration, in the world of zero proof spirits, well, everything except the water is adulteration. Furthermore zero proof rums that don’t claim to be imitating spiced rum will often lean into spice notes like cinnamon and vanilla to convey “rum-ness”, so we’re essentially viewing this as a dark zero proof rum.https://www.rumlist.co/holmes-cay-jamaica-itp-2007/Fri, 29 Nov 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/holmes-cay-jamaica-itp-2007/This 15 year old pot still rum from Long Pond balances heavy cask notes with moderate Jamaican fruit, and is a neat exemplar of the distillery’s juice before The Fire™. Throughout my journey towards falling in love with Jamaican rum Long Pond has always stuck out as a blind spot; I hadn’t tried many expressions from the Clark’s Town distillery (one or two at Rumba over the years) and it didn’t have a clear identity for me like Hampden, Worthy Park or Appleton.https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-hearts-collection-2003/Sun, 29 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-hearts-collection-2003/This 18 year old pot still rum from Appleton Estate is proof that Appleton has range. Banana bread, dried berries, pineapple, leather. For being one of the most identifiable Jamaican distilleries, Appleton Estate is a bit of a poor exemplar of Jamaican rum. Everything that comes out of Appleton is high quality and pleasant to drink, but their core range is decidedly un-funky. Folks will hem and haw about whether the 8 year has a bit more fruitiness to it than the 12 year, but in the grand scheme of things they’re all low-proof pot-column blends that are delicious but not super exciting.https://www.rumlist.co/hampden-great-house-2022/Sun, 22 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/hampden-great-house-2022/This high-ester installment in Hampden’s annual Great House series is aggressively packed with flavor. Overripe fruits dominate, with spice, vinegar, and vegetal notes in the background. Started in 2019 with annual releases since, 2022 is the Hampden Great House line’s fourth member. It’s a very flavorful, funky molasses based pot still rum bottled at 55% ABV, and while we don’t actually know that much about it (age, etc), Hampden has said the 2022 is “a blend of medium and high ester marks, revealing a lively and intense profile that lingers on endlessly with white fruits and floral notes.https://www.rumlist.co/habitation-velier-hampden-2010-lrok/Sun, 15 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/habitation-velier-hampden-2010-lrok/This 6 year old molasses-based pot still rum from Hampden is sort of the upper-middle class of the ester world. Pineapple, banana, ester, cinnamon. This 2010 installment in the Habitation Velier series in a molasses based pot still rum from Hampden out of Jamaica. It was tropically aged for 6 years (leading to an angel’s share of > 40%) before being bottled at 67% ABV. It clocks in 375 grams of esters per hlAA (the bottle says “375 gr/laa” though I’m pretty sure that has to be a typo, because that would be,,,, really deadly?https://www.rumlist.co/habitation-velier-forsyths-wp-2005/Sun, 08 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/habitation-velier-forsyths-wp-2005/This 10 year old molasses-based pot still rum from Worthy Park keeps you guessing. Oak, banana, pineapple, brown sugar and allspice. Coming from Velier’s Habitation line, the Forsyths WP 2005 is a molasses based pot still rum distilled in 2005, and aged for 10 years until it was bottled in 2015. If there’s any single indicator that Habitation Velier is product line ahead of of its time, I would argue that its the fact that this high quality, long aged WPL rum was released a year before the Worthy Park Single Estate 2006 bottling.https://www.rumlist.co/worthy-park-single-estate-2006/Sun, 01 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/worthy-park-single-estate-2006/This 12 year molasses-based pot still rum from Worthy Park is classically handsome. Rich oak, overripe bananas, dried cherries, and a bit of leather. Worthy Park’s Single Estate 2006 is a molasses based, pot still rum with equal parts character an dignity. Tropically aged for 12 years in ex-bourbon casks an bottled at a generous 56% ABV, on paper this rum looks great; historically Worthy Park has had a lot of fans that felt underserved by the ubiquitous, pedestrian Rum-Bar line, and this vintage expression bottled in 2018 seemed to be a sort of public statement that Worthy Park was interested in doing some fan-service.https://www.rumlist.co/i-did-a-blind-taste-test-with-16-aged-jamaican-rums-these-were-my-favorites/Sat, 24 Aug 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/i-did-a-blind-taste-test-with-16-aged-jamaican-rums-these-were-my-favorites/The Premise There may be no rum origin more quintessential than Jamaica. Known for the fresh, fruity and funky flavors produced by long fermentations and pot still distillation, Jamaican rum holds a special place in many spirit enthusiasts’ hearts, including my own. In fact, the plurality of rum in my liquor cabinet is from Jamaica. There’s something about the complex, ester forward profile that makes many Jamaican rums not only indispensable cocktail ingredients, but also compelling tipples to be sipped neat.https://www.rumlist.co/coruba-jamaica-rum/Sun, 18 Aug 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/coruba-jamaica-rum/This pot column blend from J. Wray & Nephew gave us strong notes molasses and chocolate, with hints of banana, grape, wood, brown sugar, and baking spice. Given it’s ubiquity it rum cocktail lore, Coruba can be surprisingly hard to find. The lineage of this dark Jamaican rum dates back to the 1889 founding of Swiss based “Compagnie Rhumière de Bâle”—which portmanteaus to CoRuBa. Bottled at 40% in a bottle that Aaron Goldfarb aptly observed looks like suntan oil, Coruba is known equally for it’s heavy use in tiki drinks, and an insane level of added coloring.https://www.rumlist.co/doctor-bird/Fri, 16 Aug 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/doctor-bird/This pot still rum distilled at Worthy Park in Jamaica and finished in Moscatel casks in Michigan gave us note of overripe banana and pineapple. Doctor Bird is a rum with an interesting resume: distilled in Jamaica at Worthy Park on pot stills, aged a bit in the tropics, transported to the Two James distillery in Detroit, where its finished in moscatel (moscato) casks before going into a great looking, premium feeling bottle.https://www.rumlist.co/hamilton-jamaican-pot-still-blonde-rum/Fri, 09 Aug 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/hamilton-jamaican-pot-still-blonde-rum/This young, pot still rum distilled by Worthy Park gave us notes of overripe banana with hints of butter, pear, flower shop, cinnamon, and ginger. Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Blonde Rum is a lightly aged pot still rum distilled by Worthy Park in Jamaica, and bottled by Ed Hamilton’s Ministry of Rum. Along with interesting limited cask picks, Hamilton is known for solid quality rums that tend to check a box (e.https://www.rumlist.co/hampden-estate-single-jamaican-rum-8/Sun, 04 Aug 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/hampden-estate-single-jamaican-rum-8/This molasses based pot still rum from Hampden Estate gave us notes of pineapple, oak and solvent, with hints of coconut, banana, pepper, ginger, mango and dried stone fruit. According to their website, this 8 year old pot still expression is part of Hampden’s “Core Range” (interestingly, along with the HLCF Classic, Pagos, and Great House releases), but besides Rum Fire it’s probably the proper Hampden bottling you’re most likely to see in the wild.https://www.rumlist.co/myerss-rum-single-barrel/Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/myerss-rum-single-barrel/This molasses based pot column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us notes of spices and toasted sugar, with hints of cola, banana, maple, pepper and coffee. Myers’s Rum Single Barrel is a molasses based pot-column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries, bottled by Sazerac with the fitting distinction of being finished in ex-rye whiskey casks. While Myers’s flagship dark Jamaican rum performed better than I expected to in our blind taste test (still not great), the brand seems to differentiate itself on the grounds of ubiquity rather than quality, transparency, or premium presentation.https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-reserve/Fri, 19 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-reserve/This molasses based pot column blend from Appleton Estate gave us notes of oak and toasted sugar, with notes of caramel, molasses, botanicals, orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla. Appleton Estate Reserve is the eight year old rum in Appleton Estate’s core lineup. Coming out of Appleton’s distillery in Kingston, Jamaica, and bottled at 43% ABV (a proof that always seems to say “we know what you want, we’re just not going to give it to you”), Reserve has the distinction of somewhat famously being preferred by many to the iconic 12 year old Appleton Rare Casks bottling for having a bit more fruit and funk to it.https://www.rumlist.co/navy-bay-rum/Fri, 12 Jul 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/navy-bay-rum/This molasses pot column blend from an unknown Jamaican distillery gave us notes of solvent and pineapple, with hints of banana, brown sugar, tea, and oak. Navy Bay is blend of pot and column still rums from an unknown Jamaican distillery, and bottled by Infinity Spirits at 40% ABV. Compared to the other Jamaican offerings in Infinity Spirits portfolio (Smuggler’s Reserve, Cane Island) Navy Bay is clearly the bottom shelf budget option, and while the presentation and bottle quality are noticeably cheap, the juice is actually kind of interesting.https://www.rumlist.co/plantation-jamaican-rum-xaymaca-special-dry/Fri, 24 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/plantation-jamaican-rum-xaymaca-special-dry/This pot still rum from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us strong notes of solvent and smoke, with hints of caramel, banana, brine, ginger and medicine. This blend of 100% pot still rum from Long Pond and Clarendon distilleries in Jamaica is bottled at 43% ABV, is aged for a minimum of two years, spending at least one year aging both tropically and continentally. The bottle and corresponding page on Plantation’s site are a rum nerds dream: along with all the information you’d expect from a reasonably transparent brand, we get fermentation time (1 - 3 weeks), the break down of not only volatile substances (312 g/hLAA) but also the portion of esters (156 g/hLAA) and coloring (E150a, between 0% and 0.https://www.rumlist.co/myerss-original-dark-rum/Fri, 17 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/myerss-original-dark-rum/This pot column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us notes of banana and baking spice, with hints of chocolate, pie crust, coffee, and rubber. Myers’s Original Dark Rum is a blend of pot and column still distillates from Long Pond and Clarendon in Jamaica, bottled by Fred L. Myers’s & Son at 40% ABV. It’s difficult to nail down it’s age as it’s a blend of multiple marques (RumRatings claims 9), but while some of it’s definitely aged (RumX claims 4 years) and some of it may be unaged.https://www.rumlist.co/smugglers-reserve-jamaica/Fri, 10 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/smugglers-reserve-jamaica/This pot column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us notes of tropical fruit and butterscotch, with subtler hints of solvent, strawberry, pineapple, coconut, and baking spice. This Jamaican rum from Infinity Spirits is a blend of aged pot of column rums from multiple Jamaican distilleries: Worthy Park, Monymusk, Hampden, New Yarmouth. It has a minimum age statement of 3 years, and is bottled at 40% ABV—though you may have a hard time finding that information on the bottle, because it comes wrapped up in a crinkled faux newspaper attempting to invoke the glory of prohibition-era rum runners.https://www.rumlist.co/worthy-park-109/Fri, 03 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/worthy-park-109/This pot still rum from Worthy Park Estate in Jamaica gave us strong notes of toasted sugar and banana, with subtler hints of oak, orange, pineapple, allspice, and vanilla. Worthy Park 109 is a high proof pot still rum from Worthy Park Estate in Jamaica. The back of the bottle reads “Using only our own molasses with fermentation times up to 3 weeks and distilled in our 100% copper double retort pot-still.https://www.rumlist.co/blackwell-fine-jamaican-rum/Tue, 30 Apr 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/blackwell-fine-jamaican-rum/This pot column blend from Appleton Estate in Jamaica gave us strong notes of caramel of chocolate, with hints of vanilla, brown sugar, ethanol, bitterness, and molasses. Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum is a molasses based pot column blend distilled at Appleton Estate. Named for founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell (whose name I learned in the process of reviewing this rum), and bottled at 40% ABV, it seems from the outset this isn’t a rum-nerd’s rum.https://www.rumlist.co/hamilton-jamaican-pot-still-gold-rum/Sat, 27 Apr 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/hamilton-jamaican-pot-still-gold-rum/This unaged pot still distilled by Worthy Park in Jamaica and bottled by Ed Hamilton’s Ministry of Rum gave us notes of butter, grass and sweat, with hints of cream, flowershop, leather, and coconut. I’m a firm believer that comparing something to a similar point of reference allows you to be more objective and specific. If your point of comparison is too different, you may only notice the broad strokes: for example tasting an unaged high-ester overproof Jamaican alongside a long aged Demerara is likely to just make you say “yup, those are very different”.https://www.rumlist.co/cane-island-jamaica-rum/Tue, 23 Apr 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/cane-island-jamaica-rum/This pot column blend from multiple distilleries in Jamaica gave us notes of molasses and solvent, with subtler hints of pineapple, green apple, caramel, banana bread and vanilla. In the lab we discovered another similarity to Smuggler’s Reserve: a density of 0.953g/cc, suggesting about 13g/L of added sugar, the same amount of dosage we estimated in Smuggler’s Reserve. Cane Island Jamaica Rum is a lightly aged blend of pot and column still rums from a number of Jamaican distilleries bottled by Infinity Spirits at 40% ABV.https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-signature/Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/appleton-estate-signature/This pot column blend from Appleton Estate in Jamaican gave us strong notes of brown sugar and wood, with subtler hints of caramel, cinnamon, pineapple, orange peel and glue. Appleton Estate Signature, a blend of pot and column still rum from Appleton Estate in Jamaica bottled at 40% ABV, is simultaneously iconic and idiosyncratic. In terms of brand recognition among general consumers, Appleton Estate might be the most well known Jamaican distillery, and it’s Signature expression is a general purpose workhorse for many a tiki bar.https://www.rumlist.co/smith-cross-traditional-jamaica-rum/Sun, 21 Apr 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/smith-cross-traditional-jamaica-rum/This iconic pot still rum from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us strong notes of pineapple and solvent, with subtler hints of acetic acid, berry, smoke, banana, rubber, flower, and ginger. This icon of Jamaican Rum is a blend of lightly aged pot still rums from multiple distilleries bottled at a generous 57% ABV, and is often used as shorthand for “bold, funky, gold Jamaican rum”. While it doesn’t carry an age statement, we know that some of it’s components are quite young as an official site states it’s “a blend of approximately equal parts Wedderburn and Plummer, the former aged for less than a year”.https://www.rumlist.co/rum-bar-gold/Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/rum-bar-gold/This pot still rum from Worthy Park in Jamaica gave us strong notes of banana, with subtler hints of cereal, apple, varnish, allspice, coconut, toffee, and oak. This Jamaican rum from Worthy Park contains entirely pot still rum aged for a minimum of 4 years. Rum-Bar is essentially Worthy Park’s value brand, and a value it is; although it’s only bottled at 40% ABV, it comes in a liter bottle, and we picked up ours for $27.https://www.rumlist.co/foursquare-exceptional-cask-series-2010/Tue, 20 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/foursquare-exceptional-cask-series-2010/This vintage installment in the Foursquare ECS line gave us notes of vanilla and oak, with subtler hints of brown sugar, ginger, and chemical. A natural consequence of maintaining a line of annual limited releases is that each year will inevitably be compared to the previous, and if you have a single off year, it’s likely to be noticed. In such a case, what could’ve been a perfectly good standalone rum suffers from the success of the line in general.https://www.rumlist.co/foursquare-exceptional-cask-series-2009/Fri, 16 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/foursquare-exceptional-cask-series-2009/This vintage installment in the Foursquare ECS line gave us strong notes of vanilla, oak and brown sugar, with subtler hints of caramel and baking spices. This installment in the ECS lineup has a lot in common with its predecessor, the 2008. Of course there are the obvious things: it’s a molasses-based pot-column blend, it’s tropically aged for 12 in ex-bourbon casks, it’s additive-free and non-chill-filtered. But beyond that, it hits many of the same high points as the 2008 on the nose and the palate.https://www.rumlist.co/foursquare-exceptional-cask-series-2008/Fri, 09 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/foursquare-exceptional-cask-series-2008/This vintage installment in the Foursquare ECS line gave us strong notes of vanilla and oak, with subtler hints of allspice, coffee, ginger, and cinnamon. It’s fair to say that the 2008 gets a lot of love; on RumX it gets an 8.7/10, a distinction shared by only one other ECS vintage, 2004. In my opinion, it lives up to the hype. This pot-column blend spent 12 years tropically aging in ex-bourbon casks: the standard treatment for the ECS vintages.https://www.rumlist.co/doorlys-12/Fri, 02 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/doorlys-12/This pot column blend from Foursquare in Barbados gave us strong notes of vanilla and oak, with subtler hints of caramel, dried coconut, and baking spices. Close your eyes and picture a bottle of rum. What does it look like? For me, it looks a lot like Doorly’s 12. And not without cause! There is something indescribably standard about this rum, and I mean that in both effusive and mildly derogatory ways.https://www.rumlist.co/we-tasted-9-zero-proof-rums-blind-heres-what-we-reccomend./Tue, 16 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/we-tasted-9-zero-proof-rums-blind-heres-what-we-reccomend./Why did we do this? In a word: Dry January. We think it’s a great idea to reset your alcohol tolerance and to give your palate a bit of a break. But alas we’re creatures of habit, and there’s something about sipping a neat pour after work or mixing up a Mai Tai on a weekend that we didn’t want to give up. The allure of zero proof rums: all of the fun, and none of the hangover!https://www.rumlist.co/270%C2%BA-botanicals-non-alcoholic-cane-beverage-white-caribbean-blend/Sat, 13 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/270%C2%BA-botanicals-non-alcoholic-cane-beverage-white-caribbean-blend/This zero-proof rum from 270º Botanicals gave us strong notes of latex and pineapple, with subtler hints of bubblegum. After a pretty poor experience with 270º Botanicals’ Dark offering, my expectations for the White Caribbean Blend were about as low as they could be. That being said, they were exceeded! A bit. On the nose, there are notes of latex and pineapple (this time we knew to dilute the spirit before trying it neat—and that definitely improved the experience) but there’s still something a bit off.https://www.rumlist.co/lyres-white-cane-spirit/Sat, 13 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/lyres-white-cane-spirit/This zero-proof rum from Lyre’s gave us strong notes of pineapple and coconut, with subtler hints of butter, ginger, flowers, chile, citrus. As we learned from their Dark Cane Spirit, Lyre’s can construct a stellar bouquet, and they don’t pull any punches with their White Cane Spirit. On the nose you get pronounced notes of pineapple, coconut, and butter, which are all very pleasant. There’s a little orange, and some nondescript floral notes as well.https://www.rumlist.co/arkay-alcohol-free-white-rum/Thu, 11 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/arkay-alcohol-free-white-rum/This zero proof rum from ArKay gave us strong notes of vanilla cake and refrigerant, with subtler hints of bubblegum, cotton candy, coconut, and crayon. When I first opened the box containing our bottle of ArKay, I think I subconsciously started thinking about it like Waffle House. Waffle House isn’t a particularly pleasant place to be. The bathroom always has vomit in it somewhere. The seats are uncomfortable. But it’s able to be all these things because they can make you some damn good hashbrowns.https://www.rumlist.co/270%C2%BA-botanicals-non-alcoholic-cane-beverage-dark-caribbean-blend/Tue, 09 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/270%C2%BA-botanicals-non-alcoholic-cane-beverage-dark-caribbean-blend/This zero proof rum from 270º Botanicals gave us strong notes of latex and burnt meat, with subtler hints of caramel, artificial coffee, and nondescript nut. When I first encountered the Dark Caribbean Blend in our blind taste test, my first thought was “This is actively vile.” The strong aroma of overly-sweet artificial coffee (the kind you might get in a can from a vending machine) belied an unsettling kind of latex-y savoriness, and on the palate, things weren’t much better.https://www.rumlist.co/lyres-dark-cane-spirit/Tue, 09 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/lyres-dark-cane-spirit/This zero proof rum from Lyre’s gave us strong notes of caramel, with subtler hints of cola, butterscotch, baking spice and mint. My first encounter with Lyre’s Dark Cane Spirit was a few days before our blind taste test. The rum alternatives were beginning to arrive in the mail, and unable to contain my excitement I cracked open two of the first to be unboxed (Crystal Barbados and Lyre’s Dark) and stole a few sips.https://www.rumlist.co/strykk-not-rm/Tue, 09 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/strykk-not-rm/This zero proof rum from Strykk gave us strong notes of mint, and ginger, with subtler hints of black tea, orange, vanilla and oak. As I’ve continued to spend time with our lineup of zero-proof rums I’ve begun projecting certain rum personalities onto them, a bit like a castaway on a deserted island would draw a face on a volleyball to keep themselves company (for example, Lyre’s Dark Cane Spirit is a bit like a young, dosed Demerara).https://www.rumlist.co/crystal-barbados-non-alcoholic/Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/crystal-barbados-non-alcoholic/This zero proof rum from Crystal gave us insanely strong notes of bubblegum and not much else. Perhaps this was a bit of peach. The sadness of heading into dry January is not just that I must abstain from rum, but also that I must abstain from a certain amount of nerding-out about rum. It’s for this reason I got fairly excited when, while searching for zero-proof rums to try, I saw a reasonably priced bottle named for a bastion of rum excellence: Barbados!https://www.rumlist.co/monday-zero-alcohol-rum/Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/monday-zero-alcohol-rum/This zero proof rum from Monday gave us strong notes of cereal and oak, with subtler hints of oak, caramel, citrus, banana, and decaf coffee. Drinking zero-proof rum is a bit of a performance art. There are lots of perfectly suitable non-alcoholic beverages out there, but if you’re sipping zero-proof rum on some level you’re trying to pretend that it is rum. And at the same time, it’s impossible to really believe it.https://www.rumlist.co/ritual-zero-proof-rum-alternative/Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/ritual-zero-proof-rum-alternative/This zero proof rum from Ritual gave us strong notes of cereal and baking spice, with subtler hints of charred apricot, oak, ginger, cinnamon and citrus. To speak of “legacy brands” in the world of zero-proof rum 2024 is a little like speaking of “legacy brands” in legalized cannabis. Everyone is a newcomer, and yet if there is a legacy brand, it’s probably Ritual. I’ve tried Ritual a number of times over the past couple of years, sometimes neat as an oddity, or in a cocktail where its main job was to make juice taste weird.https://www.rumlist.co/can-you-measure-the-abv-of-rum-with-a-refractometer/Thu, 28 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000https://www.rumlist.co/can-you-measure-the-abv-of-rum-with-a-refractometer/After reading this Reddit post showing the viability of measuring ABV of distilled spirits with a refractometer, I was interested in confirming this with my own refractometer, and seeing how well it works for rum specifically. But let’s back up. Why would you want to measure the ABV of a spirit? Doesn’t it say that on the bottle? A totally fair question to which I have 3 responses: I’m a nerd and it’s fun.