Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum

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:

Capn Jimbo · Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 4:40 am Post subject:

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 Yet it was withdrawn and without much fanfare, and for what?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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bearmark · Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:44 am Post subject:

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!
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Mark Hébert
Rum References: El Dorado 15 (Demeraran), Matusalem 18 (Cuban), R.L. Seale 10 (Barbadian), The Scarlet Ibis (Trinidadian), Appleton Extra (Jamaican), Barbancourt 5-Star (Agricole)

Dai · Cap'n Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 140 Location: Swansea

Capn Jimbo · Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:15 am Post subject:

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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