Post #703333 by AceExplorer on Mon, Dec 30, 2013 7:33 AM

I have a couple spiced rums in my bar, and there are times where I question their presence. But having said that, I can share the following personal observations:

• I find that Kraken must be mixed. So far I have not enjoyed it straight or on the rocks. Surprisingly good in coke, though, and that's why I have it. Friends who want rum & coke really like it, and it's a quick-hit combo at any party I'm invited to.

• Seven Tiki is surprisingly smooth and tasty considering it is a Bacardi product. Good for them for stepping up their product offering! I live 20 minutes from their plant and have met several of their employees, and they always tell me the company puts quite a bit of time and money into R&D.

• Sailor Jerry is one spiced rum that I have not had much success with. I have only had one single bottle of it and it's all gone now. I'm not feeling moved to buy another bottle at the moment.

My challenge with spiced rums is that I'm kind of in a rut where I use syrups and other things for flavoring instead of the spiced rums for flavoring. This does not make the spiced rums bad in and of themselves, except for the fact that some spiced rums are low-end with cheap or artificial flavorings. They seem as if they are sold purely to cash in on the spiced rum craze. Quality spiced rums are harder to find and, as other taste testers have said here in this thread, are probably lightyears better than the old Capt. Morgan low-end stuff.

I'm sure that spiced rums are a worthwhile study, and I'm going back to re-read tofukulele's blog article http://inuakena.com/spirit-reviews/spiced-rum-challenge/. Without more research, I won't be able to get myself inspired enough to invest the money and the time when there are so many other cocktail options open to me for experimenting behind the bar. Nevertheless, if someone here raves about a particular rum, I just may run out and get a bottle. TC guides a surprising number of my liquor purchase decisions and tofukulele's blog may cause that to happen.

Jeff Berry once said at a Hukilau seminar that, at a rum industry event, someone asked him how rums could be taken more seriously in the world of distilled spirits. His reply was to tell them to stop selling crappy flavored versions of their products. I often wonder if the same is true for spiced rums -- stop making so many crappy spiced rums and educate consumers about bitters, syrups, and other flavorings which pair well with various rums. In other words, return to the roots of what people did in "the old days" when they made the cocktails which many of us on TC have rediscovered today. Now there is some solid and actionable advice for rum cocktail drinkers!