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The Rum Revival
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Great video! Learning the history of each spirit is half the fun, cheers!
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Ok, so my Rum/Rhum journey is unusual. My mother's family is from Martinique, and my father was firmly in the Navy Rum fan club.
So I started with Clement Blanc and my French grandfather making me a Ti Punch (with extra sugar and lime) when I was probably about 12.
From my Dad, we then jump to Pussers Gunpowder Strength (his drink of choice) and also a taste for hot buttered rum.
Fast forward to more recent times, and I would point to the following as rums, which have really stayed with me, and illustrated my journey.
Ron Cubay 1870, just the best Cuba has to offer (I feel sorry for my US pals who can not get their hands on this).
SBS Single Orgin WPH Jamican Cane Juice. The perfect marriage of Jamican Funk and Agricole.
Savanna HERR
St Aubin Sauternes Finish
SBS 1998 Guyana Skeldon SWR a trip down memory lane to the old heavy Demerara Rums so loved by my father.
HSE's new Foret bottles -
It’s amazing how similar our journeys have been. Mine started in 1999 with Malibu (but in a very different way). I was working on clearing the sale of Seagram to Diageo through the FTC at the time and the agency had focused on the rum market. So I got Seagram to send me every rum they distributed. It was largely Captain Morgan, but they also had the “Rare Rum Collection”. Sitting in my office were bottles of El Dorado and Appleton (and who knows what else). I never tried them because the agency focused on Malibu and Parrot Bay. That was it for a decade, when I tried 1888 at a bar outside of DC. And I loved it. But it didn’t covert me. Then sometime around 2018, Drinkhacker gave Kirk & Sweeney 23 an A+. I tracked down a bottle and fell in love. But I really wasn’t (and still am not) someone who drinks spirits neat. I got into cocktails around the same time and began researching rum and found Foursquare. I thought a bunch of ECSs, but it was the Real McCoy 12 in a corn n oil that did it. I began making all sorts of rum cocktails. Then you inspired me to order a daiquiri with clairin. They were out of sajous but had le rocher. And it was deep love. That led to rum fire and eleve sous bois, etc. So thank you!!!!
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Nice video! very interesting, good story telling 😁
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My rhum journey would be, Rhum Agricole ( because I live in France) then appleton 12 and dos maderas when a I tarted sipping rums then cask strenght rums and now I love all the rums in the world 😀 well almost..
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my rum journey progression has been relatively quick thanks to the rum community and content creators like you. i probably would have taken years and years to get into cane juice rum if not for your videos and buzz online. there are countless rums to try, and i honestly love that i will never try every last one. the journey is about the rums that find you. cheers to exploration and spreading the good word about rum, and to you for sharing this with us.
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Aside from Cruzan and such, my first big rum experience was running a big tasting of "premium" rums for a bunch of friends circa 2010 or so. Which, in practice, ended up a battle between Neisson Reserve and Appleton 12 versus a bunch of sugar-bombs. It was kind of a rough night, to be honest… 😂
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This is a spectacular video, well worth the wait. I never tried malibu and thought it was a cream liqueur because of coconut milk. The comment section sharing their rum journey is also a fun read.
I started my rum journey mixing wray and nephew with sorrel during christmas in jamaica. Then mixing pepsi or coke with appleton signature. -
I'm not as far along on my rum journey as you are but mine started off similar to yours.
First: Malibu
First Real Rum: Brugal 1888
Hated: Diplomatico Rererva
First Sipping: El Dorado 15
Favorite: Bira South Pacific 12 year -
I really enjoyed this one!
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This video was fantastic. Love you and loved hearing your honest journey into rum. Made me nostalgic for my own journey into spirits. Well done 👍
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It’s amazing how certain spirits can really transport you and change everything you’d been feeling before that moment
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I was hoping Old Monk would have made an appearance 😂 It’s the rum responsible for enabling poor decisions, lifelong friendships and formative experiences for many growing up in India.
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There's a great book on rum, entitled "… And a Bottle of Rum" by Wayne Curtis. Turns out, historically, even more than bourbon, rum is the American drink (at least until Prohibition).
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Should I display my vintage bottle of Bacardi 151 where it's like a reminder of a different time full of mistakes and regrets?
I hope someone finds this funny. The context of sarcasm is often lost through voiceless communication.
I've had an interesting journey as well. With different spirits, beer, and wine. Thanks for sharing your journey, it was fun.
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I so enjoyed hearing your journey. I, too, backed into sipping rums from tiki mixology. I, too, hated cane juice rums when I started exploring. Now, I love the clairins, unaged Jamaican overproofs, cachaça, charanda, etc. Knowing where you started makes me feel a little less like a poser. Maybe I actually do have a little rum expertise after all.
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Never related to something so much as “I loved the way it looked on that bar cart” 😂 My rum journey started with a Hurricane in New Orleans on a work trip – immediately tried to recreate it at home with Bayou Rum and loads of fruit juice before eventually learning the OG hurricane was NOTHING like it. The Smugglers Cove book took me down the rabbit hole, but my next 3 in order of significance were probably Appleton Signature, Smith & Cross, and Plantation XO. Cheers!
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This was wonderful. Love the reactions to the Past Arminder’s early rums. Also, hang on to the St. George Agricole, since it, per their website, appears they don’t make it any more.😢. And “me too” on the Sajous. That was my first agricole, and I still come back to it. Though after a trip to Grenada with a brief visit to the distillery and it’s 18th century cane mill run by a water wheel, and a surprise ‘tit Punch made Jeremy at Root and Flower in Vail made for me, my cane juice go to (only at home, when I won’t be behind the wheel for 12 hours) is Rivers.
Now there is a “story” and a distinct sense of terroir.
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Mostly I sip aged rum, but the journey for me was through white rums for cocktails and a wonderful liquor store called Starmore Boss.
Like many, the only rum I knew was drinking Bacardi (1.) and coke as a kid. Then, after loving caiprinhas on holiday, I went to the store and asked what cachaca was and took away a bottle of Caetano's Germana (2.). I then later asked for a tasty white rum, and the second one they suggested, I smelled and went wow for the first time – Veritas (3.) – and knew I had to buy an aged rum for the first time from these guys.
In hunting out a bottle of Rum Fire, I came across clairins, and instinct made me buy Le Rocher (4.). It still makes me smile, and the cocktails are incredible.
And finally, I bought an aged rum with 'that smell', my fist aged rum, and fell in love – Hampden 8yo (5.). -
Shew, I haven't thought about my first rum journey in a very long time. Here we go!
So like you and others it started with a "coconut rum" when me and my friends were 16. Parrot Bay to be specific. I grew up, albeit just a little, but started drinking Sailor Jerry for a few years but then jumped on the whisky and bourbon train for a few years that then oddly morphed into craft beer.
Ok so now we're going to fast forward to 2020 when I went to my first tiki bar (Tern Club) and had a Hotel Nacional that absolutely blew me away. I stopped at a liquor store on my way home and grabbed a bottle of aged Campesino rum and cranked out Hotel Nacionals for the remainder of that summer using the Campesino rum. Winter rolls around and I'm looking for a change up to that drink so started experimenting with other rums, Barbancourt 4 year, Appleton Signature and then Tiki Lovers aged rum. All of those bottles lasted a bit and I was happy with the mixup in my Hotel Nacionale cocktail. Shortly after that I had my first work trip to the Dominican Republic where I ordered a glass of Brugal 1888 and really enjoyed it. I brought a bottle home and once it was done that led to searching for another rum to try, and then another which then led to another Tiki Bar and the cycle continues to this day, ha!
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Loved this concept and this video!
It made me think of my own Rum Journey and I hope that we can share a Rum some day that can add to your Rum Journey.
I share the same sentiment starting off with Malibu but with Sprite as the gateway.
Then being from Trinidad myself, the first Rum that I felt connected to (Still mixing) was Angostura Single Barrel which I have lots of great party memories with.
As I started to want to experience my Rum unadulterated I ventured into Ron Zacapa 23 which is still something I love on ice.
Taking my first steps into Cane Juice, Rhum Clement Canne Blue was introduced to me, which i quickly made a sour face to, until I started delving heavily into Tiki which left me wanting to try more Agricoles!
And then finally, Foursquare. My love for Foursuare and Cask Strength Rums knows no bounds now. I would say that it actually ruined Rum for me, tasting it in such a pure form where I can sit and disect every note.
Again, Grear Video!
Cheers 🥃 -
Thank you for sharing your journey. Mine started with Mojito (the good and often the bad ones) and then a trip to Scotland, the master distiller was having a drink with us at night, and he ordered a glass of Bacardi white over ice. He told us he needed to reset his palate after a day or try different whiskies. In a twisted way, it taught me to appreciate tasting rum neat and then Bacardi 8, etc. I really appreciate your highlights and your experiences. Thanks
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I love Clairin!
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My rum journey, such as it is, began in the early '90s on a trip to Jamaica. Visiting the Appleton distillery really lit my fire, but it wasn't until the pandemic that I took the next obvious step. You see, craft distilling is a cottage industry. That is, you can create spirits on a very modest scale while achieving some fabulous results. Just like preparing perfect examples of the 5 mother sauces or baking a baguette, it takes considerable practice and attention to detail to make a great result. But that result is attainable. The equipment is widely available, even from that place that delivers next day, legalities seem to be in flux but casually enforced at best, and there is a large support community right here on this platform. A home without a muck pit is a dark and lonely place.
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Hey all- so this is a long one. To help it go by faster, here’s a fun drinking game: take a shot every time I say “honestly” or “if I’m being real”
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For anyone wondering that last one is called Clairin Sajous. In case you didn't hear or understand the pronunciation.
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It's verey hard to understand what is being said, cajun juices, is that the last one?
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It doesn't seem like a fair representation here. I think you should have used fresh pineapple juice with the Malibu.
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My first time “drinking” was sharing a bottle of Malibu!
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I feel like your journey skipped the cheap but real rum phase my friends and I drank a ton of bacardi gold back in college
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Mai tai at Kapu Bar in Petaluma. I did not know a domestic my Thai could be great, and not overly sweet.
