Post #726667 by AdOrAdam on Mon, Sep 1, 2014 2:12 PM

@Lunavideogames ~ I have likewise come to the realisation that I enjoy the more popular & widely available Clement VSOP & Saint James Rhum Vieux the most out of all I have tried.

My collection at home remains:

However, I am enthusiastic about rum & can't do a short answer, so here's a longer post... in two parts! :wink:

Part one:

French styles of rum are a little bit less enigmatic to me now I've tried a few (about a dozen). Those which are aged 4 years + (like VSOPs or Rhum Vieuxs) are generally more to my taste. They are refined & sippable without breaking the bank.

In part my favouritism of Clement VSOP & Saint James Rhum Vieux may stem from that were my 'bench mark rhums' but also you know when you've got a good rum & those are both great.

I think that having the two rhums I favor on hand is comparable to having Appleton 12 or El Dorado 12 on your mixing shelf: there are are other rums but you arguably don't need necessarily need to explore them, those are top shelf expressions to mix with & sip.

IMO: The Clement makes an outstanding Donga Punch & the SJ Rhum Vieux makes a great Three Dots & A Dash. For a Mai Tai I favor non agricole combos.

I have previously said I thought Clement VSOP & LH151 makes a hairs breadth better ...- but from the people I tried both combos out on, they preferred the SJRV. I also prefer SJRV for sipping & in light of popular opinion / the LH151 shortage, I now use it in ...- in my home bar.

Part two:

I'm not exactly 'done' trying out new agricoles, I'll always try new things :) I have just returned from one of two holidays in France where I sampled a few :)

You wouldn't believe the cheapness of the aged agricoles, £16 / €20 / $26 a bottle (that's half price for me). The range is wider as you might expect but several whites, aged versions of Saint James / Clement / Dillon / Trois Riveras are freely available in different stores.

I tried La Mauny Blanc & discovered it to be not too dissimilar to the Trois Riveras Blanc. I quite like ti punch with white agricoles but it takes a little getting use to. I think I'll eventually replace the white in my collection with a new one but wouldn't have more than a bottle on hand at any one time.

I also tried some more expensive aged agricoles (Damoiseau 5 year & Trois Riveras 5 year) & asked a few sommeliers who said Clement VSOP / SJRV were both good rums for mixing.

So I restocked my faves, here with the ends of my previous bottles (left to right = old, new, old, new):

One thing to note is the Clement in that pic is not labelled VSOP but is a 'rhum vieux' (aged 4 years+, the same as the VSOP) & is bottled at 44% instead of 40%.

The other interesting thing is the bottlings of each brand are subtly subtly different when tasted neat (I tasted them blind with the assistance of my glamorous assistant).

With the Clement you might expect that (different proof & label n all), I picked the older opened bottling as preferable with a little more bite ~ I did not expect that, I thought the higher proof would be preferable. This maybe due to a difference between the formulas used. This does spur me on to try some Clement Rhum Vieux Single Barrel but that's a lot of Donga Punches if I snatch up another bottle right now!

With the Saint James Rhum Vieux (besides the different label, the proof is the same) the newer bottling has a little more bite which again could a slight change in formula or oxidisation of the old bottle.

Considering the face I first pulled at Saint James Amber, you could say I have grown to be a fan of agricoles!

Anyway, most likely on my next trip to France (to see the Tiki Pop exhibition at the end of this month) I'll try a couple more, there's no harm in that :)