Post #774985 by Hurricane Hayward on Tue, Apr 11, 2017 10:02 PM

mmaurice: Pusser's compares favorably to Smith & Cross (though I much prefer the latter). But the main problem with it as a Kohala Bay sub is that it's not purely Jamaican. In the Navy tradition, it's a multi-island blend that includes rums from Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados. That being said, it's a great blend, but not what we're looking for as a Kohala Bay sub.

I ran into this with Plantation Dark, and I can see the same issue popping up with O.F.T.D. I love what Plantation does with their blends, and I actually have the new, funkier Dark rated higher than Kohala Bay, Corbua, and Appleton Reserve in my personal rum ratings, but it's not the same as a pure Jamaican. It lacks the full-blown hogo and edge that those others do. Same with O.F.T.D., to a point. I think the extra 138-proof firepower takes this rum to another level, but again it's not a pure Jamaican rum like Dagger was.

So I didn't even bother blending Plantation Dark with O.F.T.D. As a Kohala Bay sub on its own, I rank it below Appleton Reserve in my updated list:
http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/2012/05/08/rums-of-the-mai-kai-legendary-lemon-hart-returns-to-the-promised-land/#kohala-bay-substitutes

Next on my agenda was blending O.F.T.D. with just one other rum. Coruba was my choice, and a 6:1 blend seemed to work best. This would rank above Corbua on its own, but I'm not sure exactly where yet. I also tried Scaramouch's blend of 5 parts Coruba, 1 part Smith & Cross and 1 part LH 151 ... excellent! But I held off on further testing until this recent arrival ...

So now that I have Hamilton Jamaican Black in hand, I'm preparing to test all the other blends suggested by Quince_at_Dannys, lll888, jokeiii, CincyTikiCraig, and LeftArmOfBuddha. Let me know if I missed anybody. The plan is to compare Kohala Bay to a blind tasting of these new blends, along with the ones I've already ranked, and see if I can come up with a definitive list of Kohala Bay substitutes.

Stay tuned ...