Bombshell: A dilemma at the Shillery

[Capn Jimbo]

An IEO (improvised explosive opinion) strikes the Shillery...

Note: I truly hesitate addressing this one, particularly because the paranoic Preacher may somehow infer my direct participation, which could not be further from the truth. Heaven to Preacher: I had nothing whatever to do with this poster. Leave the poor guy alone...

Lately the Shillery has become a truly boring website, featuring dumbass threads like "What did you drink today?" or "What's on your bar shelves?" and the like. B-o-r-i-n-g. This is what happens on a commercial website dominated by handful of insiders all of whom parrot the "...it's all good" line.

But every once in awhile a rum innocent wanders into their midst and unknowingly drops a real bombshell...

un de Budel Rum: Hi, I have a bottle of the Pyrat XO for a few days now. The orange smell and taste is much stronger than I expected. I can hardly tast any caramel, vanilla, spicyness or anything else exept oranges in it. Does anybody know if this taste is achieved just by ageing and blending rums? Or do they add something like orange peel or something similar to give it this flavour?

Hard to believe that just rum, barrels and time can create such an orange taste.

Fantastic!

As most of you know by now, I have long lamented the common use of unlabeled additives and flavorings to product "rum". The stinky elephant in the room. If only the Preacher had the cajones, I'd actually join the Shillery once again, if only to really have it out with the rep-tiles therein.

But now I don't have to.

This poor innocent has raised this embarassing question at the "...it's all good" corral. Out of the mouths of babes. And what was the reaction? So far the insiders have audibly gulped and pretty much avoided this thread at all costs. It took another outsider, Ruminsky van Drunkenberg, to finally address the question...

Ruminsky: Pyrat's does indeed use orange peel extract (or so I've read - I'd hate to think they're using an artificial additive).

Aha! But not much of an admission for anyone who has actually tasted Pyrat XO, so drippingly and thickly orangey sweet you can practically gag on it. Our innocent newcomer - now relieved that his impression is correct - now drops the bombshell!

un de Budel Rum: That's what I presumed.

The orange taste ist so strong that any other taste will be covered by that. One could get the idea, that they want to hide something behind this wall of orange flavour.

What I don't understand is, that it is sold as a "rum" without any additional information. It's not that I don't like it (sometimes it is nice), but when something is sold as "rum", I want a "rum" in the bottle. Not an orange flavoured rum.

Bjorn

Now this is the magic question, posed in the midst of the Preacher's professional "...it's all good" butt buddies, especially the trusting Artic Malemute. A true bombshell too as the honest answer puts most of their products at risk for being rightfully doubted.

Will they respond, or simply ignore this thread (keep in mind that nonchallenging dumbass threads seem to go on forever)? Will the Preacher shut down this thread, or "liberate" this poor innocent soul? Was it a mistake for me to draw attention to their dilemma?

Check it out (here). And Bjorn, if you want the real answer, it's this: sadly, due to distiller cheating, vague regulation and lax enforcement, it is all too common for products labeled "rum" to contain unlabeled flavorings and additives to "tweak" an otherwise unremarkable product.

But don't wait for the reps to tell you that...

[Capn Jimbo]

Update...

What an amazing thread! While the crew were busy posting all around this thread, not single reply to this one for nearly a week. Crickets! However, I do know that the Preacher and a fair number of his pets do check in here (a few even post). Posting here brings light to issues, and I hoped the embarassment and challenge would finally awaken the Prophet.

It did.

Just over one week later, a Shillery regular posted yet another confirmation of our long held position:

Patapouf: "To me it's a terrible rum... or not a true rum like you've both mentioned. It's utterly obvious that there's additive(s) in it. It seems they've taken a run-of-the-mill rum and added orange flavoring to ease the taste (or imho made it worse). Plus, in my market it's almost 60$!"

I just love seeing the words "true rum" and recognition of alteration with "additives". The word is getting around. Actually this reminds me of the early days after this website was one of the first to out Z-23. Although early reaction was one of denial, the truth always outs and began to spread in viral matter.

The Preacher, no doubt influenced by our post and a those of several of his flock finally made an admission he's advoided or minimized for years:

Preacher: "In the US, blenders can add up to 2.5% additional flavors without declaring it on the label. Though I have not been able to confirm this with the company that bottles Pyrat, I believe there has been significant orange and sweetener added to some batches of Pyrat rums. I have also observed significant differences between batches of these rums."

While this is a misleading and gross simplification of the actual voluminous regulations, it is an admission that unlabeled flavorings are common! As notable as his admission is, what's really notable are the many additives and flavorings he has failed to note in the many other rums that play the same game.

Seriously, you could spend a lifetime poring through years, and many thousands of Shillery posts and find but one or two mentions of this misleading practice. And this is one of them. The Preacher has been scrupulous about avoiding a subject that makes a mockery of his sales proposition "Rum... the noble spirit".


*******

Next: Watch the Shillery shenanigans to see if the sycophants now chime in. I'd have to guess that right about now the fawning Frozen Wolf is lifting his leg to mark his own spot in the "debate". I can't wait to see... (link here)

[Capn Jimbo]

Last words...

It was quite a run, and I'm really quite pleased that more rum drinkers have taken hold of the notion of "pure" or "true rum", free of unlabeled additives.

mario12974 (a Bavarian poster): "Normally the German law insist on every ingredient which is in the bottle. I couldn´t find anything about this."

And...

lesist (a senior member): "It's quite easy why they do that good reviews on it. It's damn sweet, orange flavour and because of that easy to drink. And secondly, I could bet at least half of them never had a 'true' rum like El Dorado,English Harbour or Mount Gay."

und ne Buddel: "Rum...? I don't know what is in this bottle, but it is no rum for sure."

And an especially heartening post, from a "senior" member yet (!)...

SeldomSeen (senior): "In the meantime, like you, I'm voting with my dollars and supporting other Rums. I hope Patron will get the message."

Bottom line

The net is a funny thing. Time and time again I've seen myths become established through simple repetition and uncritical acceptance. Of course the commercial sites promotes this sales hype for as long as possible. How and why change finally occurs is this:

A few brave and thinking souls speak out against the weight of mass misinformation. And of course, they suffer the early slings and arrows from the many whose favorite oxen are being gored. However, if they perservere the obedient monkey masses finally see that a new train is leaving the station, and start scrambling aboard.

This was so when this website was one of the very first to dispute Zacapa's "23", to point out WIRSPA's protective marketing scheme and here, to note the common and disappointing use of unlabeled additives.

Last words...

1. All of these notions have taken hold and are now being bravely posted at the Shillery, home of myth making monkey madness. Quite meaningful.

2. The Frozen Wolfie, usually a licking, pandering pet of the Preacher, surprisingly sat this one out. Probably because I predicted he'd jump in, lol...

3. Still, a surprising number of other "senior" member were using terms like "true" and "pure". That too is important. Wolfie, take note!

Still, there is work to be done. It's one thing to - rightfully - dethrone Pyrat XO. It's another to reject the practice at large. But this will happen. I guarantee it.

[JaRiMi]

Funnily enough, some of us were thrown out from that same crappy forum, for A) suspecting & suggesting that additives are used, and B) suggesting that rum makers aren't openly telling us the truth, but instead hide the additive-factor as best as they can from the consumers. As they do.

I am still to find a website where a rum maker tells us the story of their rum, including the part where ---"Jorge and Julio put in the additives to the new make, in order to infuse the taste".

Amen.

[RT]

So I saw in the news today that some groups are going after the use of caramel coloring in soft drinks. Apparently some of the compounds in the caramel additives can cause cancer, specifically 2-MEI and 4-MEI. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is seeking a ban, and California will begin requiring a warning label next year.

I presume its only a matter of time before they start to go after the use of caramel in alcoholic beverages, too.