Rum Review: Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum

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How do you rate Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum (5 is best)?

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Total votes: 1

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Capn Jimbo
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Rum Review: Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum: deep, dark, powerful...


To be sure, not your Grandma's rum, or maybe it was. We live in a time of the deterioration of what little respect rogue rum retains, with the shelves being literally dominated by cheap, artificially flavored and spiced rum and the super-premiumization of otherwise ordinary products. Accordingly, the question of the day...

Where does Mount Gay Eclipse Black fall?

You might be surprised. We've always been huge fans of the world's oldest rum distillery and their fine products from Eclipse White and Gold, Special Reserve, Sugar Cane Brandy or Rum, Mount Gay Extra Old and 1703. Mount Gay's Jerry Edwards aims for a profile that includes banana, vanillan, sweet pecans, and moca (chocolate/coffee) - pure and unaltered, and a blend of both pot and column stilled rums.

In general he's succeeded. The Eclipse Black fits right in, but with a couple of additional attractive features. First is that the pot still element is greater, to its benefit we think. Second is its bottling at 100 proof. More about this later, but for now...

Sue Sea
:
Although Jim is a big fan the Mount Gay classic bottles and labels which, as he puts it "...properly reflects Mount Gay's 300 year history and tradition", I have to admit I very much like the new bottles which I find rich, solid, heavy and attractive. These features are only emphasized by the Eclipse Black square black label. I should now address Black's 100 proof - although it surely can be sipped carefully at this strength, the addition of a 1/4 teaspoon or two of water is appropriate and will improve your experience.

Still, we always taste at full strength, then dilute the dram very cautiously to ascertain the result. When approached high, the Mount Gay Eclipse Black presented with a vanillan leather spice. Go too deep and you'll pick up a alcohol prickle, not unexpected. Altogether this rum presents an enticing, out of the oven baked aroma, even more than the Mount Gay Sugar Cane to which we compared it.

The early palate warms up with emerging spices - ginger, clove, even a hot cinnamon which just keep building to a spicy leather and peppery finish and consistent lingering aftertaste.

This is a hot rum, muy caliente, which makes it less approachable for the new drinker, but a real treat for more sophisticated and experienced folk. With the addition of a 1/4 teaspoon or so water (start small) the reedy/caney aspects were revealed, as well as a bit of leather. The addition balances this rum, revealing more sweetness, as well as a bit of licorice and banana. Very nice.

Eclipse Black Rum would make a dandy after-dinner cigar rum, perfect on-the-rocks, or even with a bit of fresh cream or coconut milk. Lovely.
Me: For me the Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum opened similarly, with a vanillan leather spice, over a deep alcohol, and a background of tar. My palate opened sweet and full bodied, as a spicy leather grew to a black, then white pepper finish. Eclipse Black left a spicy leather aftertaste - deep, dark, powerful and savory.

With water this rum opened up nicely to reveal raisin, licorice, prunes, and plums. I am very pleased that Mount Gay once again has shown its leadership by avoiding the rush to the cheap flavored/spiced category, but instead releasing a truly classic and powerful rum, featuring an increased pot stilled element.

That you can buy a full liter at 100 proof for under $20 is simply amazing and makes this a very good buy. It has the punch to mix superbly, but as you have read, Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum is a solid and classic sipper (with a bit of water). It's hard to do better than that.


Score (10 is best): Sue Sea - 9, Jimbo - 8.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Another sign of the times...


If you didn't already know Eclipse Black is no more, and no longer appears on the Mount Gay website. This is a shame, and yet another consequence, I believe, of the USVI subsidies. This was particularly sad because of three things: first, the price was right (less than $20); second, that this bought you a full liter (!); and last, that this product was 100 proof. And there's more...

This also had a larger pot still, flavorful element and as I'm trying to recall, there was some indication of age (around 7 years as I recall). It fell into place beautifully between the Eclipse the MGXO. Yet it was withdrawn and without much fanfare, and for what?

Mount Gay Black Barrel.

This release allowed the marketing mavens to retain the new buzzword "Black", but now applied to a lower proof, less flavorful, younger rum - and get this - for a higher price! Does that make sense? Not at all - unless you are feeling the heat from the USVI subsidies and you have to cheapen the product while trying to squeeze more profit. Thus "Black Barrel" relies upon a fakate story of double aging and removes the relationship to Eclipse.

To be fair I've yet to taste the new Black Barrel, but I know this: when you replace age, pot stilling, volume and proof with lesser amounts of each, it can't be good...

ps. if this is how easy it is to mislead people I think from now on I'm gonna become Capn Black, lol...
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Post by bearmark »

I just found a bottle of Mount Gay Eclipse Black last week ($19 for 750ml) for the first time. Maybe I should go back for another!
Mark Hébert
Rum References: Flor de Caña 18 (Demeraran), The Scarlet Ibis (Trinidadian), R.L. Seale 10 (Barbadian), Appleton Extra (Jamaican), Ron Abuelo 12 (Cuban), Barbancourt 5-Star (Agricole)
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Post by Dai »

bearmark wrote:I just found a bottle of Mount Gay Eclipse Black last week ($19 for 750ml) for the first time. Maybe I should go back for another!
What is the difference between Eclipse and Eclipse Black?
I take it that Eclipse Black is not the Black Barrel rum?
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Some of this is speculation, but...


Eclipse is what is usually called (insufficiently) a "gold" rum, ie a very young gold sold as a mixer, but can be sipped (see review, Barbadian section). The Eclipse Black was older (I believe four to sever years), was marketed as having a higher pot stilled component, and was delivered as a full liter, and at 100 proof. I believe the Eclipse Black was intended to fill the gap between mixer Eclipse and Mount Gay Extra Old (10 to 15 years). We believe it did that, and brilliantly, at least in terms of taste. It was an incredible bargain.

Yet Eclipse Black has apparently - apparently failed, and has been discontinued. Our speculation is that this is a both a marketing failure - and -a consequence of the USVI subsidies. By naming the rum "Eclipse" Black many purchasers incorrectly saw it more as a mixer, not a sipper, so kept buying the Eclipse gold. Also there is no doubt Eclipse Black was not nearly as inexpensive to make, with more pot stilled rum AND a much higher bottle proof AND a full liter to boot. This was a dearly produced rum, and mismarketed. Had it been given a new name not affiliated with Eclipse gold, but more reflecting Extra Old, I believe this would have been a real winner. We loved it.

We believe the USVI subsidies also play a role. Thus the marketing team developed a new rum - Black Barrel - that is NAS, young, less pot still than Eclipse Black, sold in a 750 ml bottle and at the usual 80 proof - and - sold at a higher price. Less cost, more profit. Less volume, less pot still, less aging, lower proof and higher price. The black barrel part refers to the heavily charred barrel finish used to make what is surely a younger rum more palatable.

Hope that helps...
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Re: Rum Review: Mount Gay Eclipse Black Rum

Post by Hassouni »

Capn Jimbo wrote:
You might be surprised. We've always been huge fans of the world's oldest rum distillery and their fine products from Eclipse White and Gold, Special Reserve, Sugar Cane Brandy or Rum, Mount Gay Extra Old and 1703. Mount Gay's Jerry Edwards aims for a profile that includes banana, vanillan, sweet pecans, and moca (chocolate/coffee) - pure and unaltered, and a blend of both pot and column stilled rums.
A propos of our current discussion on pure unadulterated rums, do we know if that's true? My local hoocheria has it on monthly special but otherwise it's not on their website, so I can probably buy the last few bottles. I'm comparing it now to Seale's 10, and it's of course not as sophisticated but it has an oomph to it that ought to really stand out in cocktails. The thing is, it's only $4 less than Seale's, so is it worth it...
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

It's not for me to say, but...


The Mount Gay family of rums has an identifiable profile that is different from say, Seale's 10. Keep in mind that the Eclipse Black is also (a) a full liter AND (b) 100 proof, so in terms of value received it's pretty impressive. Buy all you can find, but...

It's not for me to say, lol.
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