Reviewer's Review: El Machete's Rum Reviews

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How do you rate El Machete's Rum Reviews (5 is best)?

5
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No votes
4
2
100%
3
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No votes
2
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1
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Total votes: 2

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Capn Jimbo
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Reviewer's Review: El Machete's Rum Reviews

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Bueno Machete! Honest, competent and eloquent...

I've known El Machete for some years now. From the beginning he was a great inspiration and there was something about his reviews that told me his claim was true:
"This site is dedicated to honest reviews of the sophisticated and versatile sugar-based spirit: Rum."
Notice he didn't call rum "noble". Let's get to the nub of it:

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Folks it doesn't get much better than this near perfect, normal distribution. Although it is a bit flat (due to only 26 widely varying types of rum reviewed), I have little doubt that if Machete had the time, he'd have one of the best independent rum review sites on the net.

His scoring is based on a 100 point system of his own invention. Please do take a moment - not to note the scoring - but to examine his thinking:
Appearance (0-5): Rum is an experience of the senses, and it begins with sight. From the color, purity, and consistency of the liquid to the bottle itself, this is a general critique of the initial presentation.

Aroma (0-25): The aroma from the bottle, from the glass, spalshed with water, as it hugs ice or is mixed with other drinks should be appetizing and inviting and offer hints of what's to come. More points are not necessarily given to complexity, though full, interesting, varying, and complementing aromas do help the grade.

Flavor (0-35): Obviously, the most important category. The quality of the array of flavors are judged. As with the aroma, I will try to pinpoint the contributing flavors and judge how they complement one another. I will establish how sweet the rum is, or isn't, and if the sweetness is balanced with the rest of the flavors. Here, complexity plays a bigger role, but essentially this is a critique of how palatable the rum is.

Smoothness (0-10): This is almost a continuation of the taste category. Here I will judge the rum's smoothness and harshness. Although good rums should of course have a nice bite, drinking rum should be a pleasant experience.

Body (0-5): This category is relating to the liquid's general texture and fluidity as it is consumed, and should be generally consistent with rums of the same type. For example, a dark rum should not be thin and wispy as true aged rums become thicker, richer, and more concentrated in the aging process.

Overall Quality (0-20): This is the capstone category, taking all the rum's characteristics and judging them as a whole while taking into account any additional intangibles.

Despite flaws, a rum has an intrinsic quality that is a result of special and careful care in its creation. This category will take this into account. But ultimately this is the category where I determine how much I personally enjoyed the rum.

It's the final analysis that determines whether it was a pleasurable experience that I would like to try again, or not. This category will likely be the one with the greatest bit of personal bias. So please note that being Cuban, my tastes tend to lean to the sweeter rums (hey, we sometimes put sugar in our beans!), but overall I simply enjoy quality.
Now if you've read some of the other Reviewer's Reviews you may recall that - in general - I am opposed to disintegrative approaches. But every rule has it's exception, and El Machete is that exception. And the reason...

He places great emphasis on and values "Overall Quality". Enough to shift a rum two categories (say from simply "average" to "exceptional"). This is appropriate and professional. These important overal qualities include what he calls intrinsic quality, the intangibles, personal enjoyment and overall quality.

The "X" factor. Bravo mi compadre!


Observations:


1. Machete's reviews are both accessible and eloquent, if that's possible. Compare to BTI and their accurate but flowery and somewhat inaccessible reviews. BTI writes for reviewers, Machete writes for you. Like us.

2. Although the analysis (above) is a bit flat (like a squashed normal distribution), it is reassuringly balanced. This is due to both the limited number of reviews - just 26 - and the wide variety of rums included: white, gold, dark, spiced, infused, cane juice and cream rums.

3. Despite these limitations, Machete's thinking and reviews are a treasure for the learning rum taster. Although we certainly disagree on his views on some of the highly altered rums - eg Angostura 1919 and Pyrat XO - he has managed to zero in on some of the finest rums in the world - MGXO, Ron Matusalem, Doorly's XO - and nails them.

4. El Machete is a great first rum website for new and even, uh, used rum drinkers. Machete's reviews include the good, the bad and the ugly and unlike almost every other review site he spends time analysing some of the popular flavored rums and cachaca. He has an eye for the new and interesting too, like 10 Cane and Starr Rum.

5. Even more valuable are Machete's sections on tasting, and on rating rums. These should be must reading by all budding rum tasters.

A newbie might even base an initial collection on his recommendations. A marvelous website that is sadly dormant. Machete, vaya con dios!


Score (ten is best): 8 (due to only 26 rums reviewed).
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