Modern piracy with integrity.
If you don't know of the Bilgemunky, shame on you. Way back when I was just an ordinary idiot in search of credible guidance, it was not long before I ran across El Machete (sadly inactive), Count Silvio, the Beverage Tasting Institute, the Shillery of Rum and god knows how many others.
It's like being keelhauled.
If you're like me - pity you - you read through review after review, desperate to find some sort of consensus and having found same - you then shell out your hard earned shekels for what you hope is something nice. Then you go through your early fumbling efforts to nose and taste it, and then once again consult your short list of favored reviewers to see if you agree.
Rum after rum, one Andrew Jackson or - gulp - one U.S. Grant after another.
In time you get better and you weed out the preaching, "...it's all good" promotors and settle on couple or three reviewers whose descriptors best fit your own, or perhaps your own begin to accomodate theirs. And if you're really, really lucky you'll find a reviewer that you can trust.
The Bilgemunky floated my boat, and in more ways than one.
First of all, I liked his in-your-face attitude. Like me, he has no problem in calling shit, uh shit. Or maybe "...really bad shit!". Very uncommercial very honest. Like us, Bilge likes serious rums that talk back to you. The kind pirates and British seamen toiled for and enjoyed. Good, great and relatively pure, hearty rums. No pussy he. And without being able to explain just why, after those of BTI, we came to trust the Bilgemunky and his rollicking reviews.
Let's first look at the mega-analysis:
If you've had the opportunity to examine the other three Reviewer's Reviews (of the Beverage Tasting Institute, the Arctic Wolf and RnD's Rum Reviews) you'll already have reached the inevitable conclusion. The Bilgemunky's reviews exhibit an impressively normal distribution, approximating a lovely bell curve - exceeded only by BTI (and not by much). Nicely balanced with the bulk of the reviews scoring around the median, and appropriately fewer at the high and low end.
Indeed, Bilge is one of the only reviewers to give not one, but two scores of zero! And another two of just "1". This takes cajones. And to examine the bell more dramatically, here's the same analysis in terms of a typical 5-star analysis:
This analysis makes Bilge's "bell" curve even more obvious. Although there is a very slight bias to just above the median/average, Bilgemunky shows a remarkable lack of bias, and an equally remarkable propensity for honesty. Good on him! So what does this all mean?
Summary:
1. Bilge has a preference for real and classic rums.
2. If your tastes and descriptors approximate his, you can depend on his ratings.
3. Honesty? How 'bout a "0" for Mount Gay 1703? Just "3" for El Dorado 25? And for good reason.
4. What Bilge may lack in descriptors, he makes up with honest and reliable ratings. Feel free to base your purchases on them.
5. Only criticism: it's hard to find a rum, but if you google "Bilgemunkey (name of rum)" it'll come up.
Now yes, of course, we have some disagreements: Barbancourt Five Star, Mount Gay Eclipse and Old Monk to name just a few - but for every rum on which we disagree, I am in head nodding agreement on ten more. Works for me. Keep it up Bilge!
Rating (ten is best): 7 for a very skilled amateur. Consult him for every rum you've tried or wish to...
