Have not heard much about him here, but I occasionally read a website called Bahama Bob. He is part of the Rum XP circle jerk so I don't expect much. But I've begun to notice a theme on his website - plagiarism. He often cut and pastes work by others and passes it off as his own. Here is a sample from today.
http://bahamabobsrumstyles.blogspot.com ... l?spref=fb
Not like he ever gets to the point, but the first two paragraphs are stolen directly from The Spirits Business website. This brings me to a question for you all. Is there a good journalist/website that focuses on rum? Outside of this forum I have not found one.
What's worse - bad writing or plagiarism?
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Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
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No.
And BTW, the Frozen Wonder is yet another. His bit is to regurgitate the company's marketing material as though it were his personal knowledge (occasionally with a partial attribution - "according to the distiller" - but often without. Consider calling this what it seems to be: a free ad, and for what? Freebies for "review", trips to Guyana, invites to the Miami Death of Rumfest, et al.
In the beginning, the focus here was on those new rums, and set forth a path to understanding just what rum is, where and how it developed both geographically and historically, and a number of early articles on how to taste and appreciate it.
It was not long before we discovered the facts of alteration, thanks largely to a personal meeting we'd enjoyed with Richard Seales in Miami. Our focus then changed to working to identify and distinguish the pure from the impure. JaRiMi was on pretty much the same track back then. Post after post led to the outing of the Zee rums and a few other VERY obvious cheaters.
More recently...
A little more recently though (perhaps a year or two ago) we came to the conclusion that it was time to stop trying to domesticate the monkeys and meece, er moose and focus more on identifying and speaking to the relative few who truly understood the issue, and in many cases who weren't afraid to speak out and get political about it. Many of these - like moi - were alumni of the Shillery and considered our mutual "liberation" a badge of honor.
Thus the articles became longer, better written and edited, cited and documents in proper literary or journalistic fashion. Not one other website that I know does this and it's really a shame. Most of the other rum websites are either out-and-out commercial, or wannabees who remain commercially beholden for their freebies.
As for the other rum sites...
At a point I tried working with some of these, particularly when they first appeared. We spent months exchanging many emails with the Frozen Wonder (answering his many questions) but to no avail, later too with Ruminsky, and a few others with similar results.
As far as Bahama Bob goes, he's cited nothing that hasn't been repeatedly reported here over the last eight years; he could easily have quoted any number of posts by our own Project posters, and probably to better effect. There are a few sites that recognize the issue, but more in passing
So be it...
Such is life. Rum is facked, bourbon is not far behind, which leaves the single malts hanging on for dear life. I'd assumed that the drinkers of bourbon - traditionally the most pure spirit by definition (new, charred oak, no additives, no coloring, etc) - would have been MUCH more aggressively defended against illegal sherry finishing but that just isn't so. Bourbon is on a roll and there's MUCH money to be made, and it is. If this means a "whiskey made from bourbon mash" (per the regs) can be called "Sherry Signature", with even real sherry being added, and then is still labeled as a "Straight Bourbon" (and sold for $150), so be it. Even their leading journalist - Chuck Cowery - doesn't get it.
They will when bourbon becomes as undefinable as rum. Whose left then (journalistically as well)? Single malt lovers who as a group tend to be relatively knowledgable, loyal and outspoken. There are many more whiskey journals, blogs and websites. But for rum? When the "leaders" are those like the Preacher and his minions, don't expect much.
And BTW, the Frozen Wonder is yet another. His bit is to regurgitate the company's marketing material as though it were his personal knowledge (occasionally with a partial attribution - "according to the distiller" - but often without. Consider calling this what it seems to be: a free ad, and for what? Freebies for "review", trips to Guyana, invites to the Miami Death of Rumfest, et al.
In the beginning, the focus here was on those new rums, and set forth a path to understanding just what rum is, where and how it developed both geographically and historically, and a number of early articles on how to taste and appreciate it.
It was not long before we discovered the facts of alteration, thanks largely to a personal meeting we'd enjoyed with Richard Seales in Miami. Our focus then changed to working to identify and distinguish the pure from the impure. JaRiMi was on pretty much the same track back then. Post after post led to the outing of the Zee rums and a few other VERY obvious cheaters.
More recently...
A little more recently though (perhaps a year or two ago) we came to the conclusion that it was time to stop trying to domesticate the monkeys and meece, er moose and focus more on identifying and speaking to the relative few who truly understood the issue, and in many cases who weren't afraid to speak out and get political about it. Many of these - like moi - were alumni of the Shillery and considered our mutual "liberation" a badge of honor.
Thus the articles became longer, better written and edited, cited and documents in proper literary or journalistic fashion. Not one other website that I know does this and it's really a shame. Most of the other rum websites are either out-and-out commercial, or wannabees who remain commercially beholden for their freebies.
As for the other rum sites...
At a point I tried working with some of these, particularly when they first appeared. We spent months exchanging many emails with the Frozen Wonder (answering his many questions) but to no avail, later too with Ruminsky, and a few others with similar results.
As far as Bahama Bob goes, he's cited nothing that hasn't been repeatedly reported here over the last eight years; he could easily have quoted any number of posts by our own Project posters, and probably to better effect. There are a few sites that recognize the issue, but more in passing
So be it...
Such is life. Rum is facked, bourbon is not far behind, which leaves the single malts hanging on for dear life. I'd assumed that the drinkers of bourbon - traditionally the most pure spirit by definition (new, charred oak, no additives, no coloring, etc) - would have been MUCH more aggressively defended against illegal sherry finishing but that just isn't so. Bourbon is on a roll and there's MUCH money to be made, and it is. If this means a "whiskey made from bourbon mash" (per the regs) can be called "Sherry Signature", with even real sherry being added, and then is still labeled as a "Straight Bourbon" (and sold for $150), so be it. Even their leading journalist - Chuck Cowery - doesn't get it.
They will when bourbon becomes as undefinable as rum. Whose left then (journalistically as well)? Single malt lovers who as a group tend to be relatively knowledgable, loyal and outspoken. There are many more whiskey journals, blogs and websites. But for rum? When the "leaders" are those like the Preacher and his minions, don't expect much.
