Give me a break Dept: Denizen Reserve 8yo

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Capn Jimbo
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Give me a break Dept: Denizen Reserve 8yo

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Denizen Merchants Reserve 8 Year...


...a 43% blend of four Plummer grade (average ester) Jamaican molasses-based rums, diluted with some new make molasses rum made in Martinique (called an "arome"). It is NOT a cane juice rum. Now it’s not news that bottlers are always creating “new” products that are sourced and often sold via clever marketing. Thus they need a story to hang their brand on

In this case it’s “Trader Vic’s Mai Tai”.

I recently spotted a nice review by Josh of Inu a Kena, in which Denizen claims that when Vic Bergeron ran out of the now famous 17yo Wray & Nephews, that he replaced it with a combination of a molasses-based high ester Jamaican - with - a cane juice rhum from Martinique. The inimitable Beachbum Berry stated that Vic's combination is best represented today by a combination of Appleton Extra 12yo – a modestly high ester molasses rum – plus the flavors unique to cane juice rhums, in this case Clement VSOP.

Now along comes this new rum which is alleged to be a blend of four Jamaican Plummer quality (average ester) rums aged for 8 years, which is then diluted with some new make molasses-based rum from Martinique. The point: all the rums are molasses-based, and do not offer the cane juice profile recommended by Berry. Now why would Denizen eliminate Vic's cane juice component? Well, bottler Nick claims he did some research and “learned that the Martinique component in Vic’s Mai Tai was not an agricole, but an arome - a molasses-based rum born of the French style”. Is this correct?

Not according to Berry (with whom I’ve communicated in the past about this very issue).

Berry – whom I consider by far the most informed source about all things Mai Tai – made clear to me that the Mai Tai as made by Vic himself did NOT use a molasses-based arome for his Martiniquean component, but instead DID use a cane juice rhum, specifically St. James rhum agricole (for which Berry felt Clement VSOP was a reasonable substitution). In sum, while I have no doubt that the 8 year old Denizen Jamaican blend is a good one, it is more than a reach to suggest that it in any way replaces Vic’s Martiniqean, cane juice component. This is not to say it won’t contribute to an interesting and enjoyable Mai Tai.

It just won’t be Vic’s.

I'd add that $30 for this molasses rum is rather dear, particularly when Barbancourt's Three Star pure cane juice rum is both authentic and faithful to Vic's reciper, and can be had for just $17.




*******
http://inuakena.com/spirit-reviews/rum- ... mment-8979
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sat Sep 06, 2014 5:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

And one other thing...


Why these guys keep trying to piggyback on the Mai Tai is beyond me. First the new Lemon Hart - which despite the alleged excitement and demand - did not take off; indeed they stopped making it until next year (2015). Maybe.

And now this - a clever bit of alleged research that is specifically and clearly denied by Berry. That's a foole's errand, inasmuch as no one can speak with more authority than the good Bum...
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