Sue Sea and I have tasted many rums and other spirits, over much time and with much consideration. We have learned - as you will - that many products are simply the latest wet dream of a large corporate marketing department. In the case of say vodka, it's more about the bottle design and product positioning that it will ever be about the actual contents.
As Andy Grananteli once said of STP (the fuel additive) when asked "What part does marketing play for STP?", he replied "STP IS marketing". Same goes for Grey Goose, the vodka that made Sidney Frank famous for establishing "super-premium" vodkas (akin to super-premium water).
Not Scarlet Ibis Rum.
This small batch, copper pot-stilled rum, unfiltered and a blend of 3 to 5 year old, small cask aged rums was made to order for "Death and Co.", a prestigious New York establishment who specializes in the world's finest spirits of all kinds. Scarlet Ibis Rum is unfiltered and bottled at 98 proof.
In the world of spirits this sounds more like an expensive single malt whisky, and on paper at least, is a must buy. We did ($36) and fasten your seat belts...
Sue Sea:
Me:Jim and I have reached the point in rum tasting and reviewing that there are no longer any rums of note left to taste. Nor are we any more easily impressed. Our collection of rums, single malts, Irish whiskies, cachacas and a few other selected spirits (like armagnac, calvados, cognac, tequila, vodka) have finally been well organized and selectively displayed).
But Jim had found a bottle of Scarlet Ibis, kept his eye on it for months and finally convinced me that we simply had to taste it. After all the rums we'd tasted I was skeptical that this rum could be all that much different than the many we'd experienced.
I was wrong.
Let's start here. Scarlet Ibis Rum comes in a perfectly ordinary bottle, with a relatively ordinary square label, much like many of Jim's precious single malt whiskies. What made the bottle special was the color and its name, "Scarlet Ibis". In south Florida it's hard not to love nature and the many wonderful birds common to us, from gliding pelicanshuge frigates, chattery Clown seagulls, beachcombing tall herons, and tiny plovers and sandpiper.
Not least are the gorgeous ibis that find our yard full of tasty morsels with their long, curved bills. I loved the name. Even though this rum is unfiltered, its color was a brilliant lighter gold, again like fine aged single malt.
The aroma was stunning, and it was here that Jim discovered that Ibis is bottled at 98 proof and warned me to approach it carefully. First and foremost was lovely vanilan, followed by caramel and a deep oak, leather, and all spice (clove, ginger and cinnamon). And I must mention, oddly enough its synthetic ridged cork made an unusually distinct, champagne-like "pop". It was lovely - pleasant and enticing.
I loved the palate. Early on Scarlet Ibis opened with the very same vanilla honey - creamy, thick and lightly sweet - then developing smoothly into a reflection of the spicy aroma, deep dry fruits and caramel, and finally slipping into a growing spicy hot finish featuring deep raisin/prune, pastry baked brown sugar, a bit of licorice, cacao and leaving with long and lingering cinnamon kick.
As you gain experience you will find that it's not so much the components or flavors, but much more how they work together. In the case of Scarlet Ibis, this rum starts "cool", then heats up to a deep, baked finish, much like baking a pie. It's as though you taste and sprinkle raw brown sugar on a pie, and then experience it as it "bakes" in your mouth. This is stupendous!
Despite its 98 proof, Scarlet Ibis Rum is smooth as silk. To call it "delicious" would be faint praise. As truly fine spirits tend to be, it is complex yet simple, sophisticated yet plain. Scarlet Ibis Rum is extremely well done, consistent and deceptively smooth. I only had two drams, or well maybe three, but when I got up I decided to sit down again, ha!
This is what a fine, fine rum is all about.
Blame JaRiMi for my purchase of Scarlet Ibis Rum. I'd come to highly respect this gentleman, his talent and experience, fine research and competent observations. Like all true talent, he too was liberated from the Shillery by the smug and easily challenged Preacher. Bravo!
Let me carry on from Sue Sea's brilliant observations. To me Scarlet Ibis Rum was made in the tradition of the finest single malts. No caramel color, no additives, and produced in batches using classic copper pot stills. Some marketing saturated reviewers like Druminsky would reject this rum based solely on its age (3 to 5 years), but these neophytes have little understanding of the aging process or of its production method.
Copper pot-stilled rums, skillfully done, are brimming with flavor and intensity, so much so that many more flavor components are captured for the aging. As Phil Prichard has amply demonstrated, very expensive small barrel aging, based on vastly increased oak interaction and exposure, can achieve in few years what ordinary, large cask rums require double or triple the years. Compare Scarlet Ibis to much older rums.
Spotting Scarlet Ibis Rum on a shelf might lead you believe it was a single malt whisky, from its uncolored, brilliant gold color to the label exclaiming "unfiltered" and 98 proof. Scarlet Ibis Rum stands alone in these claims, and frankly in its production and aging. That it failed to really gain national traction is both a shame and a condemnation of the cheap crap that has taken over the shelves. Think Batcardi Dingleberry.
Quite simply, Scarlet Ibis Rum is magnificent, and surprisingly smooth and drinkable despite its proof (98p). Normally an overproof rum requires exceptional care, which rules out most of the rum monkeys who prefer their flavored, sugar laced rum-like spirits. However, the small cask aging has taken care of this, and the spirit delivered is unexpectedly smooth. Still approach your nosing high, and give yourself a couple of small sips to accomodate. And with a bit of airing, no worries, mate.
Scarlet Ibis opened with vanilla, over a spicy background (largely clove), ginger and what I'd like to call "cotton candy" (which Sue Sea related to baking brown sugar, or toasted marshmellow). No matter, it is lovely. In the world of rum there are those that are relatively simple, and distinct individual flavors are easy to determine. Some rums with a bit more complexity demonstrate a few more identifiable flavors. But truly fine and complex spirits are another matter.
These take time. There are so many flavors that these combine into overall, combined sensations that seem simple, but are not. Take Sue Sea's baked raisiny pie for example - seems simple, but in time you can pull out the numerous elements, but then again, why bother? Baked raisin pie with brown sugar is elegant and enticing in the whole. And that is what you'll get with Scarlet Ibis - deceptive complexity. It is the mark of quality.
Ibis opening palate is a smooth, cool honey sweetness, which then moves into spices enveloped in a white pepper blanket. The finish is a magnificent slow and lasting fade as the opening sweetness emerges over dark raisin, prune and licorice.
One final note: most of the "sweetness" you will experience in rums is added. Ibis' sweetness is more a sensation, not at all syrupy and borders on a lovely and sophisticated dryness. A dry sweetness if you will.
Like Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva or perhaps Santa Teresa Anejo, Scarlet Ibis Rum is definitely a dangerous rum. Way too easy to drink, and at a designated driver, 98 proof. I'm serious.
Last and most important...
JaRiMi once insisted that Trini rums were really a style of their own. Sue Sea and I felt the same about the corky Dominican rums, but even though we found several, these did not instigate a new section.
Trinidadian Scarlet Ibis Rum did.
This arose when Sue Sea and I simply couldn't agree on a style for Scarlet Ibis. Cuban hotness, but heavier. Jamaican aromatics, but no dunder. Barbadian smoothness, but more intensity and heat. Same for Demeraran. And no Cane Juice rum qualities at all. Sue Sea's best placement: Demeraran, followed by Cuban. Mine led with Jamaican, followed closely by Barbadian and Cuban.
Bottom line: JaRiMi was right, we understand why and we beg his everlasting forgiveness.
Score (ten is best): 10.