Greetings from up north

Yes, the obligatory introductions section, but serves a good purpose - like a good, soft toilet paper - used only once but truly wonderful! "Here's to you and here's to me, may we never disagree - if perchance we ever do, here's to me and to hell with you!"
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morgbug
Oscar
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:59 am

Greetings from up north

Post by morgbug »

Jeez, I've been letting this slide so best to get my introduction done. First, thanks for approving my reg.

Second a brief introduction...I'm from Canada so we're a little spartan on the number of rums available to us, notably where I am, about 500 miles north of Minneapolis. I'm more of a single malt guy to be completely honest but was looking to branch out a bit and have always enjoyed rum, though primarily as a mixed drink. I was/am getting a bit frustrated by what's happening with Scotch whisky and the non-age statement (NAS) movement that is gathering steam so I thought I'd start expending some more cash towards rum. Thankfully someone at one of the whisky sites I hang out at warned me that the rum industry was little different from the whisky industry and might even be worse. That warning led me here and here saved me from buying some products that while probably tasty have been adulterated, something I really can't support.

Not all that much rum in the collection at the moment due to both a lack of availability and a leaning towards Scotch.
4 bottles of Appleton 12
2 bottles of Diplomatico 2000
1 bottle of Appleton 21

Sure would appreciate some suggestions. Will also say thanks to the site and members in general in advance because otherwise I'd have probably been out there buying up Flor de Cana believing it was age stated rum. As it is I pestered our provincially run liquor board to change their advertising to remove the "years old" aspect with respect to Flor de Cana.

cheers
morgbug/brent
JaRiMi
Admiral
Posts: 313
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:14 am

Post by JaRiMi »

As a fellow whisky fan and an immigrant to Canada many, many years ago, welcome to Captain's fine pages!

As for the rum recommendations, well - it is a wee bit difficult due to the very different availability on each side of the Atlantic.

Right now, here in Europe we're very lucky to get true Rums - without added essences, sugars to sweeten and numb the flavours, or other chemical additions to soften mouthfeel whatnot.

As is, it is possible to entirely overlook the "mainstream" big brand bottlings, out of which a vast majority suffer in my humble opinion from the very flaws mentioned above: They are not true rums, but rather akin to liqueurs, where a near-neutral alcohol made with modern, gigantic multi-column stills is the flavoured to sell as "rum".

Speaking as a fan of fine malt whiskies (and high quality Bourbons as well as Irish pure pot still whiskeys), the additions, especially the sweeteners, render these mainstream rums rather unappealing, at least most disappointing. If I wish to purchase a liqueur, I shall do so - but when I wish to enjoy a Rum, by Jove I'd like it to taste like a RUM - not a laboratory concoction.

Do try and get some Richard Seale's marvelous Rums from Barbados. Foursquare distillery has very good products for a very reasonable price. Doorly's XO is one of them.

Berry Brothers & Rudd bottlings of various Rums seem to be available at least in the USA. They are fine products that are sold "as is" without the additives.

Other brands we enjoy here are RumSwedes, Cadenhead's, Velier, Silver Seal, Bristol Spirits, Duncan Taylor's - to mention but a few.
morgbug
Oscar
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:59 am

Post by morgbug »

Thanks kindly for the recommendations. The biggest difficulty I face is where I'm at - Manitoba has a provincially (=state) run liquor board so there is little variety available to me. A quick search turns up the following brands and only the following brands:
  • Angostura
    Appleton
    Bacardi
    Brugal
    Captain Morgan
    Coruba
    Cruzan
    Diplomatico
    El Dorado
    English Harbour
    Favells
    Flor de Cana
    Goslings
    Havana Club
    The Kraken
    Lambs
    Legendario (liqeur, not really rum)
    Lemon Hart
    Malibu
    Mount Gay
    Newfoundland Screech
    Plantation
    Ron Carioca
    Ron de Jeremy (snicker)
    RonDiaz
    Ron Matusalem
    Ron Zacapa
    Royal Jamaican
    Sailor Jerry
    Saint James
    Wray & Nephew
    Zaya


So yeah, a little thin pickings. I know I can get Seale's in the U.S. but then I run up against import limits and my desire to buy better and far cheaper Scotch on those journeys.
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Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Posts: 3550
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Welcome and thanks for introducing yourself. I defer to JaRiMi and won't repeat his observations.

I believe that Canada makes mail order difficult, but it surely beckons. I'd point you toward Appleton's Extra, Reserve and V/X, W&N's overproof, Flor de Cana's 7 year (or what's left of it, as they have abandoned "7 years" for just the meaningless "7"), Mount Gay, anything by Seales (broke my word already, lol), the Royal Jamaican, and the Saint James (a pure cane juice base).

Again, welcome...
AK9
Cap'n
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:50 am

Post by AK9 »

Hi and Welcome!

A good alternative to whisky/rum , at a lower alcohol volume, is dry sherry. The stuff is very good and very cheap. You can get VORS sherry for £20-£30 (Vors stand for over 30 yrs solera aging).
Again this is for dry sherry not PX/Cream sherry. Try an amontilado or an oloroso or a palo cortado!
morgbug
Oscar
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:59 am

Post by morgbug »

Thanks gentlemen for the welcome and further recommendations.

Canada does indeed make mail order difficult. I've tried previously with whisky and have had no luck. The main couriers won't move it through Canada due to poorly understood regulations (they will move it into Alberta and within Alberta but only because of different regulations there). It's a definite no-no in the mail. Like the U.S. states, Canadian provinces have different regulations and most of them are barely beyond the prohibition era in some senses. Additionally, aside from Alberta most are non-competitive, government run situations, as I am in.

For example, I brought back an extra bit of whisky on my last sojourn into the U.S. Canada Border Services very kindly allowed me to claim two full 26 oz (750 ml) bottles, which is over the limit of 1.14 liters but dinged me on the third bottle I was carrying - the cheapest of the bunch a Macallan 12. So I had to pay the taxes (13% on the converted value as the Canadian dollar is currently sucking wind compared to the US dollar) in addition to a $0.45 per oz duty AND $13 in provincial liquor fees, whatever that may be. So a $65 CAD bottle of whisky became a $90 CAD bottle of whisky. It's barely worth it. In that instance though we can't get age statement Macallan's of younger ages here and it was for my boss, so he was paying all the fees anyway.

I will go off the recommendations here and see about acquiring some Mount Gay, Royal Jamaican and Saint James. I'm sort of surprised to see the recommendation for Flor de Cana given they've strayed from the "years" aspect. I'd sort of taken myself to the point of not supporting them already...

Will be out in Alberta in a couple of months and will see if I can't find some Seales out there. Will also look into AK9's recommendation for dry sherry. I'm very much an oloroso finish fan with respect to whiskies so that may go over well.
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