Rum Review: Mount Gay Extra Old Rum

Barbados: the defacto home of the original reference classic rum as we know it. God bless the Queen! And Mount Gay!

How do you rate Mount Gay Extra Old Rum (5 is best)?

5
8
62%
4
4
31%
3
1
8%
2
0
No votes
1
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 13

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Capn Jimbo
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Rum Review: Mount Gay Extra Old Rum

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Mount Gay Extra Old Rum: "Rum's Reference Standard"

I'm not gonna kid ya. Mount Gay Extra Old stands alone among reasonably affordable rums. At $32 it's approaching the top of that reasonable range, but it is worth every single penny. It needs to be the first rum you buy, and the one to which you refer in later tastings. It's the rum you pull out when someone asks "What does rum taste like?". It is a real rum - classic, complex, memorable and worthy. Let's review it:

Sue Sea:
On my nosing the first aroma is like that of a fine wooden cabinet. Black cherry. A leather chair. Nutty vanilla appears. A bit of nutmeg, a touch of citrus. Spice and clove. And caramel. Even a touch of maple syrup. Like all better rums, the taste is consistent and I pick up almond, just a touch of orange, clove and the black cherry. The MGXO is buttery with a medium heavy body. Heavenly. But I can't say enough about the finish which reflects the aroma and is simply unending! This more than anything is what brings me back and makes me want more.
Me:

One of my lasting memories was after my early tasting of MGXO in an ordinary three inch, straight-sided tumbler. Later that day - and the next - I had the opportunity to nose the MGXO's remnants in the now empty glass. Amazing. I dare you to do this a half hour later, an hour, later in the evening, even the next day. All of the complexity and wonder of MGXO will be revealed. You'll know what was in that glass. In closing, when we were speculating over what best to say about this great rum, Sue Sea accidentally capsulated our feelings when she said:

"Just what doesn't this rum have?". She was so right. I urge you to also read the Seales 10 review, the only rum scoring a perfect 10. Actually, Seales 10 and MGX0 are both great, classic rums. Compared to Seales, the XO presents with more woody and vanilla aromas, and takes a more careful approach to appreciate. MGXO presents a rum of a truly lustrous darker amber with the hard to find green edges of aging.

Rating (out of 10):Sue Sea - 9, Jimbo - 10.
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Tue Jul 20, 2010 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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It's a darn shame!

Post by Capn Jimbo »

It's a darn shame!

As some of you may know I have a background in marketing among other things. One of the reasons I finally left was simply that I got tired of forcing a continuous smile on my face, and having to say "Great! Fabulous!" all the time.

Although there are a few honest successes in this nether world - take "With a name like Smuckers it has to be good", most marketing follows the lead of our good old Snake Oil purveyors. Astounding claims for ordinary products. Real marketing requires real competition making really good products promoted honestly, all sadly gone. Next thing you know MGXO will be made in China and show up at Walmart. But I digress...

Some months ago some slick and wiseass marketing department must have taken the MG folks to a three day cocktail hour, dinner and multimedia presentation and convinced them to do something amazing!

To toss away over 300 years of tradition and dump the Mount Gay classic bottle and label design. Yup, just like that - gone! In its place. A faux modern noveau riche concept designed for one thing, and one thing only.

To look expensive. Very expensive.

I was shocked and disturbed and immediately traipsed about the net, far and wide, exclaiming my horror and predicting that a price increase was in the works. As sometimes happens to great soothsayers these posts drew forth typical derision and skepticism. A lot of otherwise knowledgable bozos even liked the damn change. Idiots all.

Turns out I was right. As always (well, almost).

Not only was there a price increase, it was stunning. MGXO had been selling for close to $30, maybe $32. I would have expected maybe a 15% increase, 20% at most, to say $38. Nope. The marketing mavens were out for blood. Yours.

The new price is now - gulp - $50.

Now mind you, I thought $32 was high but worthy of a rum which consistently earned our top ratings, 10 of 10. I could maybe - maybe - fathom $36 or $38. I wouldn't like it, but it's really really hard to set aside your absolutely, positively favorite rum.

But I have.

I've scoured the stores and picked up a few of the remaining old bottles (and prices). But when these cease, so will my purchases of what was one of the world's great rums, and the flagship rum of the Barbadian style. Fortunately Richard Seale - whose Seales 10 Year runs neck and neck with MGXO stands ready to lead the Barbadian parade.

As well it should. Seales 10 used to sell in the mid $30 range, a tolerable value for a truly superb rum. But unlike the nut cases at Mount Gay who have priced their rum out of the market, Richard has actually lowered his price - to $25 - making a good value into an exceptional one - a true must buy.

And so it goes...
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Post by BillConnelly »

So the old bottle looks like this:
http://www.proof66.com/Images/Mount%20G ... %20Old.gif

and the new one looks like this:
http://intoxicologist.files.wordpress.c ... bottle.jpg

right?

I've got to be honest, I like the new bottle. I like the old bottle too... but the new bottle is nice. At least is isn't shaped like a pirate ship or a skull, or a blunderbus.

What I'm curious about is, are you sure about the price? I just bought a new bottle, and I payed $25 for it.
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Trust me!

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Would I tell a lie?

When the cracked marketing department first came up with the horrid new design - designed solely to justify a massive price increase - I saw prices in the very high $40's, say $48 or $49.

Fortunately, this brazen ploy failed and I've watched the price steadily fall to about $39.95 at Total Wine and Spirits - a huge retail chain. And mind you Florida is well known for some of the lowest prices in the nation.

If you got if for $25, I'd buy all you can - and I'll gladly make arrangements for you to obtain 6 bottles for moi. I'm serious.
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Post by Garick »

I just got some online for $34. As I mentioned in Scuttlebut, the prices varied wildly, but several distributors were offering it in the $35-39 range. $25 sounds even better, though...
Cheers,

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Post by RT »

Seems to be stuck at $44.99 here in Pennsylvania. So don't pay more than that anywhere else! At $34 I'd buy all I could carry.
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Post by Stefan »

Here is a video review of the XO from Ralfy. He is apparently quite famous among whisky people but have done a series of 5-6 rum reviews too. In one of the previous episodes Dave Broom recommended rums. I have only watched 3-4 episodes but found them quite entertaining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juDutlFh ... ideo_title


*******

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: Stefan, I hope you were more than entertained, as Ralfy is one of the great hidden resources on the net. You can do no better than to make a daily stop at Ralfy's to be educated and broadened.

I suggest you start at the beginning (he's done several hundred reviews) and learn about glasses, age, nosing and tasting techniques. Yes, Ralfy is entertaining, but he is deadly honest, non-commercial, highly skilled and a great teacher.

He is a free master class, and if all you readers don't take advantage of Ralfy - and The Rum Project - you are not idiots... but fooles. BTW, he gives a stunning review to MGXO, one of the very few 10's we have ever given.
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Post by Uisge »

I had to find this review to see if my noting a buttery-ness in the tasting was valid, as I was noticing a distinct butter flavor on the long finish.

Glad to know I'm not losing my mind! :)
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Post by da'rum »

I agree, a fantastic rum, I pay 34€ for it and that's about the limit of my comfort zone for a 'regular buy'. I won't try flavour descriptors but will say it's a rum that is a must try rum for anyone looking for recommendations.

Edit: spelling.
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Post by Guevara88 »

Here in Germany the prices of MGXO and Seales 10y are actually similar, we pay around 38-40€ (50$) for 1l MGXO and 30-32€ (38$) for 0,7l Seales. After trying both I'd say they are worth the money although some other brands like Doorlys, Appleton and Diplomatico give them quite a run for their money.




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Capn's Log: Diplomatico is a Demeraran sweet bomb, and Appleton is a Jamaican style neither fairly comparable. Doorly's XO is quite good, but not great, but Seale's 10 year is another matter.
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Post by Stefan »

"Mount Gay Rum refinery closed, future uncertain"

http://m.jamaicaobserver.com/mobile/new ... -uncertain
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Stephan, thanks for the link...


You may have missed it among the nearly literal near E-ton of brilliant posts by our very special hand-selected members, but member JaRiMi posted some of the very first news of this, a subject that was not quite so simple but well, well worth the read, here...

http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=1167

Do be SURE to read it. A consensus seemed to have developed to the end that Mount Gay was revealed to hardly be the continuous source since 1703. Now that may have been marginally fair as long as the Wards were fully in charge but the sale to Remy pretty much changed everything.

It is completely fair to say that when a company falls from the active and long term control and management of a skilled single entity fully committed to top quality, purity and consistency (think Seales and Foursquare) to what? To a far distant owner who owns only the brand and marketing but who jobs out the production to the hired distiller of the day (think Bacardi) then we must face the facts.

Yes, MGXO may still have some remaining good stocks, but things have definitely changed. That one of the first casualties is what was known and widely promoted as "The Originator and Flagship of Rum", well...

We're kinda facked, or better, we are finally now realizing just why we've been needing a good ass cream (original Capn Jimbo quote, patent pending)...




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Post by Stefan »

Yes, I didn't check scuttlebutt before posting. I saw it on Reddit and thought it might be of interest here.

I do agree with the general opinions expressed in the main discussion regarding this. It's the beginning of the end. The giants will buy up most of the small companies and "re-invent" and "optimize" the products... Then we will be stuck with generic coloured and sweetened rums plus the silly priced ultra premiums.

I buy a lot of my rums out of curiosity but I think independent bottlers is where more of my money will go in the future. I still have a few rums from the big companies left that I want to try but the independents are a lot more fun. Some of them give out more information about the contents in the bottle, making it feel a little bit less fake. There are of course no guarantees as long as money is involved.

Mount Gay 1703 was on my list of rums to buy sometime when I found it at a good price but at that cost there are a lot of options...
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Post by PassionForTravel »

Finally got to taste this rum along with some others that I haven't wanted to buy a whole bottle of on a Carnival Cruise. Five 1/2 shots of various rums for $16, not bad. The others were Pyrat, Bacardi 8yo, Gooslings old, and Cruzan Single Barrel.

Of the ones I tasted this was my favorite. The one I was supposed to taste was Zaya (which I bought before finding out about the whole sugar thing) but I talked them into swapping in the Mount Gay XO since they were both the same price per shot.

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What goes down, must go up!?!?!?!?

Post by sleepy »

For the past few weeks, MGXO has been going for $29.99. A reasonably fair price for the not-as-good modern version.

I went in today and almost fell down when I saw it priced @ $48.99!!!!

Ugh - WTF would spend that much? Oh, yeah, the dopes who spend that for Richland pseudo-rum!

Time to make the long drive for TW for Seale's!
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