Post #298077 by Scottes on Tue, Apr 10, 2007 6:14 AM

Ron Zacapa Centenario 23-year-old. That covers the top 15 or 20 spaces on my list. :)

A close second could be the Pyrat Cask 23, but at that price I could buy 6 bottles of Zacapa so I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon. It was very, very nice though. Highly reommended if you have the cash to burn.

But some other very fine sipping rums:
Zaya
Pampero Anniversario
Ron Zacapa 15-year-old
Cruzan Single Barrel Estate
Pyrat Pistol
Pyrat XO
Montecristo 12-year old

Others I like a lot, but don't make it up into the top lists:
Doorly's XO
Kaniche Martinique
Prichard's Fine Rum
Ron Matusalem Gran Reserve
Appleton VX
Appleton Extra
Clement VSOP
Mount Gay Eclipse

For general mixing, I like the Appletons and the Mount Gay. For a notch up in general mixing the Kaniche and Prichard's would be excellent. The others are sipping rums, though some sip better than others.

For specific mixing (Mai Tai, ti' punch, caipirinha, mojito, etc) I have to say that I have yet to collect enough similar rums to try. But I'm trying. There are some standards, like St. James Hors D'Age for a Mai Tai, though I prefer the St. James Royal Ambre for it's complexity so I really need to do a Mai Tai comparison trying both. Lemon Hart demerrara is a standard for many tiki drinks, though I have to wonder how some of the El Dorado demerraras would compare. I've yet to find a good white with enough complexity to make a mojito kick butt, but I've only managed to try a few and the real Cubans are not among them. I'm currently trying to hunt down some good, unaged agricoles and cachacas - good cachacas are hard to find in my area, though moderate ones abound. White agricoles have been non-existent in my local searches - I'm looking at 2-4 hours of driving by the looks of it. One of these days...