Post #309795 by The Gnomon on Wed, May 30, 2007 11:00 AM

I almost forgot about this.

Ever hear of Joy Spence? She's the Appleton Master Blender/Chief Blender, responsible for kicking out the likes of V/X, Extra, Legacy, and 21 (succeeding Owen Tulloch).

Joy's favorite rum is the V/X Jamaica Rum which she drinks with soda water, and she also enjoys Wray and Nephew White Overproof Rum and Ting (a Jamaican grapefruit soda).

From the Appleton site under The Joy of Rum

I was reminded of that when I saw this...

On 2007-05-23 01:27, cheekytiki wrote:
Or with "Ting" Jamaican grapefruit drink

Of course, Joy's indirect endorsement could be company hype to sell more OP, but the combination does sound like it has merit. Even though I'm not a big fan of mixing cocktails with any kind of overproof rum, I've been definitely planning to give this a try. Every few weeks or so the county liquor stores here have been putting W&N OP on sale, so (with Ting already in the house) I'm waiting for the OP sale price to come around (if it doesn't take too long).

Ting is expensive around here—usually $1.25 for a little 10 oz. bottle, sometimes more, and definitely more if you order one in a Jamaican restaurant. But Ting is really great, especially, if you knew and loved a soda in antiquity called Squirt. They make a soda called Squirt now (same logo, etc.), but it's not the same soda (doesn't come close). The cheapest way to get Ting around here is to go to a Jamaican/Caribbean grocery store and buy it by the case. If you just want to try it, I see it sometimes in supermarkets that require a more elaborate than average ethnic food section.

In the 50's and 60's, Coca Cola tasted like Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper tasted like Dr. Pepper, and Squirt tasted like Squirt. I think it was in the late 60's that Coke changed its formula, ruining it. I don't think Dr. Pepper was ruined until the early 70's. I have no idea when Squirt lost its identity. None of these sodas today taste anything like they were when they were great. Schweppes owns Squirt now, but it's produced in the US by Dr. Pepper/7-Up.

Anyway, while a real Coke and a real Dr. Pepper are things of the past, you can get the effect of a real Squirt because Ting tastes just like original Squirt. In fact, Squirt used to be the only soda I recall that was sold in little 10 oz. bottles, dark green, just like Ting. I think Ting copied Squirt in every way possible, but fortunately, Ting still tatses like Squirt. Now Squirt tastes awful.

Sorry. Didn't mean to rant. Getting back to the W&N OP and Ting. Ting is a strong grapefruit soda and could very well stand up to the power of an overproof. I'm particularly hopeful, considering it is supposedly a favorite of Appleton's Chief Blender, whose taste in rum I very much appreciate.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-05-30 11:12 ]