Post #183898 by Rum Numb Davey on Fri, Sep 2, 2005 10:28 AM

Cheeky:

I am befuddled. If Trader Vic Bergeron created the first Mai Tai in 1944 utilizing the Wray & Nephew 17 year old expression, we know that the distillery under Lindo leadership laid down stock he utilized in 1926-27. Vic claimed that by 1946, that Mai Tai's had become so popular that he utilized all the remaining 17 year old stock that Wray & Nephew had in bond. Vic then adjusted his original Mai Tai to the 15-year old J. Wray Nephew Rum, but exhausted a second supply by the mid Fifties. Finally, the Trader had his own 8 and 15 y.o Jamaican rum under the Trader Vic's label, but because it lacked the nutty rancio of the original J.Wray rum, he vatted an ounce of Martinique Rum into his Mai Tai recipe. Let us note, that Victor Bergeron was a very critical and forceful VIP client in his day. If Wray and Nephew had stock to sell and satisfy him they would not hold stock from him. No rum company would have.

That means for Appleton to have an actual 17 year old Wray & Nephew Rum available for you that they laid down a batch in sometime in 1987-88. Not in 1926-27, which was the birth of Vic's batch. That would make your rum a 79 y.o J.Wray rum, and if you put that in a Mai Tai instead of a snifter, it would be a tragic waste of aged rum, my friend. It certainly would taste nothing like the original Trader Vic mai tai of 1944.
I was led to believe from many sources that Wray & Nephew had ceased to produce a standardized 17 y.o. rum decades before. By the late 80's, the Bacardi Silver Rum phenomenon had led the standardization of Appleton brands, as opposed to the older Wray & Nephew branding.
Like these brands:
APPLETON SPECIAL JAMAICA RUM
APPLETON ESTATE V/X JAMAICA RUM
APPLETON ESTATE 12 Y.O. JAMAICA RUM
APPLETON ESTATE 21 Y.O. JAMAICA RUM
APPLETON WHITE JAMAICA RUM
I believe the only continuous Wray & Nephew brand to be Wray & Nephew White Over-proof Jamaican Rum, and is likely to have been so for a few decades.
If this is an actual 17 y.o. rum, would you ask your Ms. Spence or Appleton Representative to inquire with HQ, how and why this mystery cask was produced with no standard commercial purpose? Highly unlikely there would be a one-off produced for nostalgia sake. Managing aging stocks and depletions is job one for distillery managers in the international liquor trade. I am not Doubting Thomas, but in the spirits world their are lots of "smoke and mirrors" employed in marketing and that includes half-truths and flat out lies.
Regardless, the Lascelles, deMercado Group is a fine rum distiller, and they are carrying forward the oldest name in commercial rum production. It will always be the Holy Grail to taste the original Mai Tai as Vic concocted it. It is part of the mythos that appeals to us young un's. Our grandparents never knew how lucky they had it in there day. Like Jab, I value Coruba as a perfect foil to my rush hour aggrevation and keep it stocked on the bar. I would just like more explaination to the provinance of this unique cask.

Before the Revolution, the per capita consumption of RUM in the Colonies was 3.7 gallons PER person. We have become a Neo-temperant nation of wimps and quitters! We must rise, Tiki Nation, and raise our ceramic mugs in resistance to teatotaling!

[ Edited by: Rum Numb Davey 2005-09-02 10:39 ]