Cadenhead Rum - how to obtain?

[Dai]

From time to time you hear mention of Cadenhead Rum I've never seen this for sale on any of the internet sites so I decided to look it up.

http://www.wmcadenhead.com/catalogue/cadenheads-rum

A nice range of rums but they don't list prices which is silly. Have any of you guy's tried Cadenhead Rum, can you make any recommendations?

[JaRiMi]

From time to time you hear mention of Cadenhead Rum I've never seen this for sale on any of the internet sites so I decided to look it up.

http://www.wmcadenhead.com/catalogue/cadenheads-rum

A nice range of rums but they don't list prices which is silly. Have any of you guy's tried Cadenhead Rum, can you make any recommendations?

Cadenhead's is Scotlands oldest independent bottler (in affiliation with Springbank distillery actually, in Campbeltown). They have a lovely little shop in Campbeltown, and several others in different locations (London, Berlin, etc).

They have been aging rums in their warehouses in Scotland for a century, and bottling those rums for sale there also. The rums are bottled either at cask strength or 46% typically - some at 43%. All the rums are unaltered, dry, and natural. At most some Guyanese bottlings I have seen have been as black as coffee, meaning that at the distillery of origin someone has done the traditional colouring by dropping a lump of burnt molasses/sugar in the cask prior to shipping...I do not consider this a sin, or purposed alteration (aiming to improve taste) as such. So - proper rums then.

I am sorry for not being able to really give recommendations, because the bottlings are single cask or small-batch, and the ones I've tasted are all sold out already. What I can say is that these rums are all quality products in my opinion. Wanna try authentic rums? Cadenhead's delivers. Their rum trade is as traditional as it gets anywhere these days. The prices & availability varies from country to country.



http://www.rumshop.it/it/illy-collectio ... w=category

http://www.rumundco.de/navi.php?suchaus ... ihc5vgaga1

[Dai]

someone has done the traditional colouring by dropping a lump of burnt molasses/sugar in the cask prior to shipping

Prey tell more of this process. I'm intrigued, enlighten me some more.

Just looked at there Euro prices WOW expensive! not sure my wallet will reach that far, the wife's tongue will for sure if I bought a bottle at €90. Might have to look at some of there cheaper rums.

[JaRiMi]

As I understand it, in the old days, especially in Guyana, but also elsewhere, the traditional way of adding some colour to a rum was to take a piece of burnt molasses/sugar residue directly in the cask. One can usually tell if this has been done by looking at the colour of the rum (from an independent bottler who has not altered the colour on their own afterwards) - here is an example of this.




Pricewise, they are not the cheapest bulk commercial rum...but then again, as the big names release nothing but flavour-altered, sugared rums, if one wants real rum, one typically must buy indy-bottlings. And these are often single casks etc small-batch rums. Comparing to malt whisky, rum is still selling at fairly reasonable prices I feel - I see a lot of Caroni selling for 40 - 100 euros. Now Port Ellen whisky, well...I haven't seen a bottle under 500 euros in a while!

[Capn Jimbo]

Good questions...


Good answers, thanks to all. I do agree with J. on the prices, as compared to good single malts, these rums are VERY fairly priced. Which means that known pure rums like Seales, Barbancourt, etc. are absolute bargains.

Unfortunately most Americans have been trained to buy cheap and altered rums, and don't have a clue as to what they are missing.

[Hassouni]

Most of us in America literally have no access to indie rums. Total Wine has Berry Bros, but not everyone lives near a TW that sells hard liquor (vs beer and wine - my own closest spirits-carrying TW is a 40 minute drive away in another state), and I found one shop in DC that had the AD Rattray 15 year Caroni....and that's pretty much it. Astor Wines in lower Manhattan sells Samaroli, but the options are few and far between.

[JaRiMi]

Most of us in America literally have no access to indie rums. Total Wine has Berry Bros, but not everyone lives near a TW that sells hard liquor (vs beer and wine - my own closest spirits-carrying TW is a 40 minute drive away in another state), and I found one shop in DC that had the AD Rattray 15 year Caroni....and that's pretty much it. Astor Wines in lower Manhattan sells Samaroli, but the options are few and far between.

With much respect to all, we could try to change this. We can as individual persons ship rums across..? Full bottles, or samples of say 4cl? If you do not want to trust just anyone, I for one can provide my personal details, and I am a fairly well known person here. No need to worry that I'd poison you, seriously. I am the organizer of the only spirits festival in Finland, and the president of the oldest Whisky society here, operational since 1998.

[The Black Tot]

Personally I think we should do some Rum Project barrel selections.

We already have the ad department.

Mrs Tot and I would be willing to travel for sampling.

Somebody who is regularly available (I don't know, maybe in Florida or someplace) could manage receiving.

Maybe Pusser's would let us at something interesting. Mr Seale, Demerara. Lots of people want the best of their best to get to America.

[The Black Tot]

Another idea:

What about if we started helping each other and the limited rums by having a section of the forum devoted to publishing the distributors of the good rums?

We want to shop at our local mom and pop stores, but they don't know what we're asking for or how to get it most times.

What if we had a section in the forum where we listed the distributors associated with the high end quality rums (Like Cadenhead's and Berry Bros), so we could provide our local store with the contact details and a printout such that we can shop where we want, and not be forced into Total?

This break I'm getting ready to start working with some locals to see if they can get me stuff, but I haven't been very lucky with the bourbon side of things. I'm doing it wrong somehow, but I have to figure out how. Something gets broken between my request, their interpretation of my request, the difference between the product name and the presentation in the distributor catalog, the competition between the distributors, the allocations, etc, etc.

I think that's the state we're in - we've got to roll up our sleeves and help these stores to help us.

[bearmark]

In addition to the Berry Bros. selection at Total Wine, Spec's has recently added a decent selection of Duncan Taylor rum to their shelves, including a 109° 23 Year Old Uitvlugt for $140, 107° 12 Year Old Mount Gay for $80, 105.8° 22 Year Old Hampden for $140, 106.2° 12 Year Old Hampden for $80, 109° 10 Year Old Dillon for $90and a 104° 14 Year Old Bellevue for $110. These prices are much higher than the Berry Bros. offerings, so I plan to try some of those first.

[Blade Rummer]

I've always been jealous of the offerings from the indie-bottlers in Europe. It's near impossible to find any indie rums (maybe bc most of Canada is under govt. controlled liquor monopolies?). It bothers me that I can't get access to more limited bottlings, especially now that we are aware that most of what we have been drinking as "rum" is in fact an altered spirit.

Unfortunetly, it's illegal to ship alcohol in most of Canada, so I can't really partake in shipping samples, unless we all agree to identify them as "cooking ingredients" or something similar

[Hassouni]

With much respect to all, we could try to change this. We can as individual persons ship rums across..? Full bottles, or samples of say 4cl? If you do not want to trust just anyone, I for one can provide my personal details, and I am a fairly well known person here. No need to worry that I'd poison you, seriously. I am the organizer of the only spirits festival in Finland, and the president of the oldest Whisky society here, operational since 1998.

I think we all definitely trust you! The problem is shipping liquor internationally is expensive and runs into customs difficulties. Once it's in the US, shipping to Washington, DC is permitted, but it's getting it to the States first.

I think we're talking shipping from Europe, some of the German, Italian, and British sites would be the way to go - I know Master of Malt frequently ships to the US, for example.

In addition to the Berry Bros. selection at Total Wine, Spec's has recently added a decent selection of Duncan Taylor rum to their shelves, including a 109° 23 Year Old Uitvlugt for $140, 107° 12 Year Old Mount Gay for $80, 105.8° 22 Year Old Hampden for $140, 106.2° 12 Year Old Hampden for $80, 109° 10 Year Old Dillon for $90and a 104° 14 Year Old Bellevue for $110. These prices are much higher than the Berry Bros. offerings, so I plan to try some of those first.

Not sure what Spec's is (will Google immediately), but rest assured, the two Berry's rums I have are both superb.



Whatever happened to the Rum Project group buy of the Black Tot rum?

[The Black Tot]

Whatever happened to the Rum Project group buy of the Black Tot rum?

If that's even still possible let's resurrect this. I'm in heavy.

[The Black Tot]

Just because this tread opens with how to get Cadenhead's bottlings, I'll add for the sake of someone arriving late to the party (a rare thrill, since this is usually me), I'll add that Cadenhead's rum bottlings are now available online.

I don't know about US shipping, but they do ship at least to the UK, and pretty sharpish, too. I had my order within 2 days of placing it.

http://www.whiskytastingroom.com/cadenheads-rum?page=1

[Hassouni]

Whatever happened to the Rum Project group buy of the Black Tot rum?

If that's even still possible let's resurrect this. I'm in heavy.

Yep. I think I can add a +1 to my share, too.