Rum: Margaritaville Rum

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Capn Jimbo
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Rum: Margaritaville Rum

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Hello! Hello! Margaritaville Rum, Margaritaville Rum...

Note: Link to Margaritaville Dark Rum Review


I'm not a Parrothead, nor will I parrot the marketing hype from our Key West Pal Jimmy. Now I know there is a cocksure group of rhum snobs that tend to put down new ventures, particularly those by a - horrors! - a singer songwriter (btw, this didn't stop them from buying Sailor Jerry).

Now I'd be less than honest if I didn't say I have my doubts, but I intend to keep my big mouth shut until I've given M'ville Parrot Rum a fair chance. Of course in Florida we usually get first dibs on any new rum and Jimmy's brew is no exception.

For the record, Margaritaville rums include a silver, dark, spiced and coconut (how apropos):
SILVER.
80 proof; 40% ALC/VOL
Clear. Light vanilla, cane stalk, warm custard, and nougat aromas. A soft, silky entry leads to a dry light-to-medium body of attractive cane, vanilla bean, and pepper flavors. Finishes with a zesty, peppery powdered sugar flavor.

SPICED.
70 proof; 35% ALC/VOL
Pale golden amber color. Creamy vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, and white chocolate aromas. A rich supple off-dry medium body with notes of white pepper and toasted nut. Finishes with a long, warm cinnamon and spicy vanilla fade.

COCONUT.
42 proof; 21% ALC/VOL
Clear. Rich fresh-cut coconut and soft vanilla bean aromas follow through to a mildly sweet medium body of toasted coconut flavor. Finishes with nice length and creaminess.

DARK.
80 proof; 40% ALC/VOL
Deep golden amber color. Vibrant aromas of brown sugar, buttery caramel, roasted nuts, and crème brulee. A buoyant entry leads to a dry-yet-fruity medium body accented with vanilla beans, nut, and peppery brown spice flavors. Finishes with a dark caramel toffee and peppery spice fade.
Now the red flag zone of my medulla of course notices the abundance of meaningless marketing drivel (eg "soft, silky entry... fresh cut coconut... dry-yet-fruity... creme brulee... buoyant entry..."), as well as hard-to-believe complexity for what are likely relatively young rums.

On the other hand I was intrigued by the claim of "Jamaican rum" on the label. If Jimmy has engaged a good Jamaican distiller, his rums may be a lot better than you think.

Stay tuned...
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sat Oct 23, 2010 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Capn Jimbo
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Comin soon!

Post by Capn Jimbo »

A pleasant surprise...

This is both a tease and a bump. The backstory here is not a new one. The usual suspects over at the Shillery dumped on "Margaritaville Rum" for four pages, based on the pseudo-criteria of its entertainer ownership (Jimmy Buffett, of course). Buffett is a musician and natch, his rum has gotta be a loser, they opined. "Crappy rum from a crappy company".

This is nothing new. Please recall the five pages of Shittery dumping on "The Lash" - which went on and on despite the fact that no one either owned or tasted it. Finally - finally - when (a) a few brave souls spoke out against this hypocrisy and (b) someone finally did taste it...

It wasn't so bad after all.

As with the The Lash, we begged the rum world to be patient and fair, and to await an actual tasting and review before trashing a new rum. That is soon to happen. The hard-to-find Margaritaville Dark was found, tasted and reviewed. It was a pleasant surprise.

Stay tuned...
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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You could wipe that off with a piece of rye bread...

Post by Capn Jimbo »

You could wipe that off with a piece of rye bread...

Yes, it's morning, and yes I had a nice egg, with some nice turkey bacon, and yes some of the egg ended up on my face. Although Margaritaville Rum seemed fairly new to me, it turns out it's been out since 2008 (btw, when you get older 2 years is like 2 months)!

Ouch. Double ouch.

The apparent truth of the matter is that M'ville Rum was not a smashing success. Believe me, in south Florida we have the best, most complete and most economical selection of rum in the world. We are blessed with a population well seasoned with people from all over the islands, South and Central American, ie the Caribbean (the Badassitor should take note). Not to mention some great and intuitive Indidan businessmen who run practical and profitable liquor stores with surprisingly broad selections of wine, beer and spirits at often amazing prices.

With all these in our favor, we simply hadn't seen Buffett's products until quite recently. Quite naturally I assumed (oh No Mr. Bill!) they were new. They were not. It's no wonder I'm called the Compleat Idiot of Rum.

I earned the honor.

Still, I have yet to see the first real review of this near impossibly hard to find rum, so at the least, I can take heart - and considerable pride - in providing an early, if not the first one. I think...

My deepest and most sincere apologies.
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Post by Rum Warrior »

I saw a bottle of this yesterday at my local funky liquor store that has lots of unusual and dusty bottles hidden in the shelves. A lone bottle of Margaritaville Silver was on sale for $10. Who knows how long it's been there. Why not celebrate Mr Buffet's ode to escapism through alcoholism with a nice cheap bottle?

I wondered if it would be good or not. I was scared, but it clearly said product of Jamaica, and I never met a Jamaican rum I didn't like. I hoped that this would be a project that was important to Jimmy Buffet, and would represent his brand well. Maybe it would be like when I bought a discounted bottle of Tommy Bahama rum at that same store, which ended up being a nice Foursquare product. On the other hand, it could be really nasty too. While Margaritaville wanted to conjure the image of a thatch beach bar on white sand with bright blue water, I also had anxious visions of sunburnt Texan college kids vomiting artificial strawberry daquiris outside a tacky tourist bar in Cancun, while an amused and disgusted Mayan bar staff talks shit about them in Nahuatl.

You can't judge a rum by looking at the bottle. A cheap looking label can be awesome, and a fancy bottle can be overpriced mediocrity. At the end of the day, the rum will speak for itself.

I took a sip. It's sweet. Not what I was expecting. I was hoping it would be something closer to Appleton White or RumFire, but it has no funk. It tastes like pears. It's almost too sweet for me. I was puzzled. Is this good? Do I like this or not, and are my biases factoring into it? Did it have a stevia-like aftertaste, or was I imagining it? It this flavored or have sweeteners added? I don't really drink white rum, so maybe I'm just not used to the flavors. What am I going to do with this?

Then it hit me... Soursop cocktails. I will buy a half gallon carton of Soursop juice and mix it in a jug with this bottle. It will be perfect. Soursop is like a pear-mango. I might add coconut milk. I think this rum was designed to be a mixer, so I'll let you know how it goes. Stay tuned.

I'm not sure I'll ever buy it again.

Here's my Haiku Review:

Margaritaville
Prepared a tree of pears for
Soursop cocktails
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

A haiku review?

Count me in. Thanks, Warrior...
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Post by Rum Warrior »

I've written quite a few haiku reviews for you to peruse in these forums. Others have written poetry about rum, and I just found out that others have written haikus to review movies, but I might be the first and only to do it as a rum reviewer. A quick online search seems to confirm this historic feat.
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