Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum

[Capn Jimbo]

It's hard to be green...


There's a place called "The Expert's Corner". Here's how it works. You're just another rum rep, with just a few lines when you decide to establish one of the early websites. You make up a piratey story and then establish a commercial site which pretends to promote rum in general. But here's the key...

A certain number of monkeys will come to actually believe you're an expert and buy the story.

Now whether you are or not, the furbearing public treats you like one so what do you do? Simple. You celebrate your marketing success and proceed to play the role. And play, and play. You have to. It becomes unthinkable to go out of role and voila!


You've painted yourself into "...the expert's corner".

This week's episode...

Another innocent Shillery monkey managed to get his paws on a bottle of 151 and wanted to dilute it to 80 proof. Based on his calculations he figured he needed to add 22.35 oz of water to do so - so he posted simply to confirm that his math was correct.

Enter the preaching Preacher.

As the intergalactic knower and seer of all things rum, the Preacher demonstrates his superior knowledge by gently prodding the simian and fine tuning his calculation...

[Capn Jimbo]

How bout a lil' deconstruction?


1. Limestone filtered water from Kentucky: this fails simply on the basis that historically most distilleries are built next to a handy source of water. Spring water, mountain streams, limestone filtered, river water and yes, even city water. Limestone-filtered water from Kentucky is unique to, yup, limestone-filtered water from Kentucky. It would only make sense to add this water if the spirit was distilled in - yes, again - Kentucky. And the 151 in question isn't.

2. Deionized water: this too fails on simply availability and cost. First of all, it's very hard to find, and when you can expect to pay about $10 to $15 a liter (!), or from $40 to $60 a gallon. Oh, plus shipping. A fackin stupid suggestion. But delivered with great confidence!

OTOH, plain old everyday distilled water is just as pure, just as tasteless and available for about a buck a gallon. Not to mention that many distillers already use distilled to dilute for bottling. Any "expert advice" to the contrary is plain horseshit...
_________________


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[Capn Jimbo]

So how'd it all turn out? The end story...


When we left the Preacher and his erstwhile, rum-diluting monkey the Preacher's final stone tablet advised the use of either "limestone-filtered water from Kentucky", or $60/gallon "deionized water". I, on the other hand, suggested ordinary and tasteless distilled water, but of course the monkey in question is held in close confinement at the Shillery Zoo where the computers are all equipped with Rum Project filters.

So what'd the poor furball do?

It really was rather impressive. The monkey finally decided to use mineral water, and made sure to use the Preacher's suggestion to stir - not shake - it in over a few days. Here's what he ended up with...



He now had three rums to compare: Lemonhart 151, the 151 diluted to 80 proof, and a bottle of El Dorado 5 year. He then proceeded to compare the diluted 151 to the ED5. His findings?

[NCyankee]