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Links
1. Art of Drink: Just a few reviews, this is not really a rum site, but worth a quick perusal. Very quick.
2. Beachbum Berry: One decent page of reviews, a quick, fun read to get acquainted.
3. "Tastings", the Beverage Testing Institute: Now we're gettin serious. A great site, with excellent quick and complete search capabilities. Tastings features complete reviews and ratings on many rums from a panel of top tasters, including Ed Hamilton. It is worth
reading about their tasting method, panels and scoring (link). Their method uses two rounds of tasting using short scales to ensure repeatability and reliability. Make this link
one of your favorites.
4. Bilgemonkey Reviews: A real pirate, the "Bilgemonkey" is man who loves real rum and pulls no punches
in his worthy and honest reviews. You can rest assured there are a few companies who won't be sending him any samples anytime soon. A must for your faves.
5. El Machete: I like El Machete. A Cuban afficianado who really loves rum and approaches his reviews with love, detail and care. His descriptors are accessible, accurate and reliable.
He's not reviewed all that many rums, but you can rely on the ones he has. Machete's explanation of his method and ratings are well worth the stop. Make him a favorite.
6. Robert Burr's Gifted Rums Events: in our Paradise of South Florida of course. I have attended two of Robert's tastings and they are incredible fun, well organized and useful. Robert and his wondeful family are in attendence,
and he always has a pleasant surprise in store, like a Richard Seale presentation, or a special tasting of Temptryst custom rums by the one and only Daniel. Be sure to get on his mailing list if you live anywhere in or near Paradise.
7. Internet Wine and Spirits: A list of 277 rums by type, country and brand by a retailer of rum. Accordingly the descriptions are those provided by the crack(ed) marketing
departments of the distillers so needless to say, are hardly unbiased. Useful only if you can't find a good review or description anywhere else.
8. Ministry of Rum: If you only had one resource, the Ministry of Rum is surely a candidate. A labor of love (and free rum) by Ed Hamilton - sailor, writer, photographer, taster and reviewer of rum. Ed puts few if any rums down, but some are the
recipients of faint praise. If he really likes one, you'll know it. The best feature is his Rum Lover's forum (of which I am a thankful member and participant). The world of rum gets together here. Add to your favorities. Now!
Special Note: Since this posting the Minister and I had a bit of a
dustup over "rhum agricole". He lost his robe, I'd had quite enough and resigned, and only then - in a fit of blustering petulance - he "banned" me. After I'd left, lol. Like after you've received a Dear John letter and your only response is "*&%#*& !... and stay away!".
You can read the whole story - it's a hoot - here (link). As the adult in this disagreement, I'm leaving his link up.
But keep in mind that the Ministry is sponsored, Preacher Ed is/was an agricole rum rep (Neisson and La Favorite) and promotes his annual "Ministry of Rum Tasting Competition". Real disagreement or critical commentary is not tolerated, the site lacks serious reviews, and Ed is always right. Always. A gathering place for a handful of rhum snobs, softball information and trivial factoids ("Is it true the new Appleton Extra label eliminated the '12 year' line?").
9. Peter's Rum Pages: Truly an amazing site. No real reviews but a virtual treasure trove of information, labels, awards, book reviews et al. All about rum.
For starters click on "labels" which are organized by continent. You'll find information on the history of rum in that country, methods, local distillers and their own history, plus pics and labels of all
known bottles and products. Peter's sources are cited and linked. A tour de force. On your fave's please.
10. The Polished Palate: a listing of important rum and spirits events like the International Rum Fest in Clearwater (Florida), the International Rum Festival (Ybor City, Florida),
or the Spirits of Mexico (California) to name just a few. Just another advantage of livin here in Paradise.
11. Refined Vices: the home of "Count Silvo", gentleman about town, whose site is dedicated to the fine arts of rum, spirits, cigars, beer, wine and other gentlemanly pursuits. No pirates allowed (except for me)! This site is indeed refined, and includes a forum frequented
by some of the others on this list, including Dood and Scotte, among others.
12. RnD Rum Reviews: One of my personal favorite go-to sites for rum reviews. Sue Sea and I have found that El Machete (above) and RnD (Roger n' Dave) are often very similar, and seem
to identify many of the same wonderful aromas and tastes that we do. YMMV, of course. RnD's site is more extensive, El Machete's perhaps more eloquent. Both know their rums and you would be
well advised to rely on these three gentlemen. Rums are organized by country, type, age as well as a recommended short list.
Extras include articles on organizing a rum tasting, spicing and a neat rum map of the Carribean. Bookmark it.
14. The Rum Dood: The "Rum Dood" is a dude, er dood, who digs on rum and recently redesigned his site. Dood, aka Rum Dood, aka Teh Dood, aka Matt Robold lives in Orange County, California but I won't hold that against him. Interestingly enough the
Dood is the second rum site webmaster whose inspiration came out of honeymooning in the Carib (the other
is our Finnish friend at the Rum Corner, above). It was St. Lucia for Matt, which may explain his selection of rums
(I kid the Dood). Dood's site is more a blog of discovery of great value to newbies. His reviews are limited in number but
well worth the read as you'll learn how Matt goes about exploring and tasting the rum. And anybody who loves
Mount Gay XO is a friend of mine. Nice site search tool. Mark it.
15. Rum Pages: A website by Rene van Hoven, a writer, collector of rum and memorabilia, and a rum tasting judge from Holland/Amsterdam.
Rene organizes and conducts tastings of spirits. The opening page gives the rum news of the moment, some of which is
quite political (Bacardi in the news). His history of rum is particularly worthwhile especially regarding slavery. The site thoroughly covers the production of rum agricole, very interesting.
A very nice search "library", click on any letter. Worth a good stop.
16. Rum Portal: Is just what it says - a "portal" to the world of rum. Links to 184 distillers and 771 rums by region, country, distillery and name. Plus books, events, competitions and more. Be
sure to join their mailing list. Yet another very useful reference when researching any or all rums.
17. Rum Pundit:a nicely organized and well done site with extensive articles and archives about rum. Excellent list of
countries and distillers with links to their sites, which you should check anytime you are considering a new rum.
The site does have reviews but you have to find em. The author is none other than Ian Williams the publisher of
"Rum: A Social and Sociable History" - one of my prized possessions and a book that is a must read for anyone who really
wishes to understand the incredible impact rum had on the founding and development of the Carribean and the United States.
The site includes news, events, recipes, books, punditry, history and articles. Pour a glass of MGXO and
nose around..
18. Rum Review: One of the first rum review sites I found and one that features the bartender's viewpoint. On one hand, I'd have to say that the reviews are biased toward mixing (rather than sippiing), but
I must give Andy and Adrian full credit for getting me into Mount Gay XO. And Brinley's Coffee. Take a quick look.
19. The Rum University: A website frozen in time by the respected Louis Ayala and his wife. Louis is the author of several
books, not least "The Rum Experience" which covers every aspect of rum from history to politics, recipes and reviews of nearly
400 rums. I was lucky enough to find a soft cover at $29.95, I was blessed. Ayala also has what may be the
only online "Rum University" designed to help any idiot - especially a Compleat Idiot like me - to understand
and appreciate rum. Personally I downloaded the entire site which serves as an invaluable reference. My link
is to his "Rum University" pages but do explore. Bookmark this one twice!
20. Rum and Cigars Reviews: a British purveyor whose list of reviews is mostly just marketing descriptions,
but occasionally included some nosing and tasting notes from Dave Broom, et al. The site is there if you
need it, but you probably won't need it.
21. Scottes' Rum Pages: Scotte needs to be your friend with his great site with plenty of reviews, scuttlebutt, articles, tastings and more. Good search feature, simply
click on a rum (left column) and you'll get all his articles which include it. A rum ranking and a nice piece on how he tastes and reviews that you will find useful. Excellent links. Keep up
the good work Scotte! In your favorites please.
22. Solar's Rum Page: The solar site is really a, well, solar site but somehow - and thankfully! - there
appears what I find to be the single most impressive page on rum on the net. A superb one-page history, overview, modern distillers and explantation, with
extremely valuable and educational links. Read this page and you'll be a rum superstar. Better yet, copy this page and refer to it often. A must visit!
23. Spirits Reviews: Covers all spirits, including rum. Reviews 22 rums with particular attention to the agricoles, with nice nosing and cigar notes. Links to 150 distilleries. Worth including when
reviewing, uh, reviews.
24. Tiare's "A Mountain of Crushed Ice": I first came upon the lovely Tiare on a well known rum website. She is one of the more prolific posters and has
a keen interest and appreciation of Tiki drinks, spirits in general and rum in particular. Quote: "You'll find me mixing up a range of drinks, crushing ice over the whole kitchen, making garnishes, syrups, infusions and bitters, sipping aged rums or cooking up something spicy and photographing my experiments". Do visit this wonderful blog.
25. Wine Enthusiast Magazine: Similar to the extensive BTI (Beverage Tasting Institute, above) listings, I am sending
you to their links page where you can search by type, rating, price and best buys. Tip: be sure to select
"unflavored rums" for your first search (then try the other catagories). Searching on simply "Rum/Rhum" misses almost everything! A must bookmark!
26. Malt Madness Beginner's Guide: One of the coolest spirits sites on the net by an intelligent, funny and more than competent webmaster. I am sending
you to his "Beginner's Guide" which will lead you gently into the world of tasting. You'll learn the vocabulary, techniques and find answers to
how you can better enjoy your experience. You really should skim the whole guide, but if nothing else be sure, sure, SURE to visit the sections on Enjoyment (covers glasses, nosing, tasting)
and Practice (of dramming). Great stuff, a must nose.
27. AllPosters.com: A wonderful source of many vintage rum (and other) posters. If you like great period art of rum or of the Carribean (like you'll see here), All Posters is
a terrific resource. A truly mindboggling selection of posters, framed and unframed, in every possible category. Vintage art and ads, fine art, photography,
food and beverage, travel, humor, motivational and world culture to name only a few. They even sell
calendars, canvas art, frames, wall murals, standups and signs. Amazing.
And with an advanced search option to locate any of over 500,000 subjects in any media by type, size and/or price.
I'll toast to that! I beg you to visit this site. Personally, I bought this one..
Any resemblence to Capn Jimbo or Ed Hamilton is entirely intentional, er, coincidental. Actually
the tin sign I bought was:
I believe a good cigar (a Presidente of course, lol) rum would be a good accompaniment to this one.
27. Portuguese Copper Alembics (Stills): A link to Destilarias Eau-de-Vie - Iberian Coppers S.A. a company of artisans that continue to manufacture (by hand) authentic copper stills of
all kinds. For example, here's a couple pics, the first (left) of a small but competent
"rum" still with two recipients designed to produce an acceptable distiallate on
the first pass, with a second (right) of a traditional pot still (that will
likely require double distillation).
The company produces stills from decorative to commercial. A home hobbyist can produce
perfectly acceptable rum (and other spirits) with these fine stills, and do so for a modest investment.
28. Thousand Oaks Barrel Co.:
Handcrafted, charred white oak traditional barrels in sizes (1- 20 liters), and accessories of interest to home distillers.
It would be well to note these are new barrels. Prices are attractive, from $29.95 and up.
Are these good barrels? How the 'ell would I know - I'm a Compleat Idiot!
28. The Rum Portal:
Dennis Klindrup's site - accurately called a portal - to other resources, including this one. One of the more
interesting sections lists rums by region. There are also links to events (mostly European), rums by name and distillery and much, much more. Yet another resource worth checking out.
Capn Jimbo's meticulously handselected list of the world's rons, rums, rhums and cachaca. Mail me one that isn't there and get special recognition and a prize from moi...